LADA Sport drivers James Thompson and Mikhail Kozlovskiy are pleased with how their campaigns in the World Touring Car Championship went despite failing to score any points on the streets of Macau.
The final Championship standings show the Russian manufacturer finishing on 601 points after a season of highs and lows – the main high coming in Russia where James Thompson secured a top five finish, en route to a 14th place finish in the overall drivers’ Championship standings.
The two times British Touring Car Championship Champion had a chance to equal and beat that in the final race of the season as he lined up second on the grid, having been ninth fastest in qualifying.
He once again demonstrated the pace of the LADA Granta in the morning warm up session as he finished fourth fastest and had high hopes heading into the final two races of the campaign.
Race day didn’t go according to plan as he retired from the opening race with technical issues while in the second race, Thompson was on course for his first WTCC podium finish since Imola 2008 – his final victory was the same race – and the first for LADA in the WTCC.
After the second restart, Thompson was running solidly inside the top three before being taken out at Maternity by the Chevrolet of Pepe Oriola.
Despite the accidents and misfortune, Thompson is pleased with his first full WTCC Campaign since 2008 and has high hopes for the 2014 campaign.
“On the whole, it’s been a really good season for us,” Thompson said. “Our goal was originally to be somewhere in the middle of the grid, but by the first half of the season we were already fighting in the top 10. Then, by the time the Asian rounds came along later in the year, we were in very good shape: sixth in Japan, eight in China and fighting for a podium in Macau.
“But the fact that we had to retire from the second race in Macau after Oriola hit us was a big disappointment for everyone in our team. After the restart I lost a bit of pace in the first sector but I was confident that we would be able to make it up in the second sector, where we had been very quick all weekend. I reckoned that we could even fight Tom Coronel for first place. But then, after Oriola went into me, it was impossible to carry on: a real pity,” the British driver continued.
“Rather than just one race though, you have to look at the season as a whole, and our results have been great. I’m very proud of the whole team and I’ve got no doubt that we’re going to have another even more competitive car for 2014. Before then, we’ve got a lot of work to do and there are many tests ahead of us. I’m really looking forward to next year: the calendar definitely seems very interesting with some new tracks thrown into the mix as well,” he concluded.
Team-mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy made his Macau debut and gradually got faster every session and secured a 15th place finish in the opening race, after showing his potential with a top 12 time in morning warm up. P15 became P14 after the races as Pepe Oriola was given a penalty of 30s for contact in the race.
The young Russian drivers’ weekend came to a premature end in the second race as he got caught up in the first corner melee which took out 8 cars in one go.
Like his experienced team-mate, Kozlovskiy is taking a number of positives from his maiden campaign in the WTCC and is looking forward to returning to the Championship in 2014.
“In Race 1 at Macau our goal was just to finish, as if you have any sort of contact on this circuit you might damage the car too badly to take part in Race 2,” he said.
“So in Race 1 I would say that we met our objectives: we started 19th and finished 15th, so that was good. Race 2 was a lot less satisfying for me: it was basically all over after a big group of cars collided in front of me and there was nothing I could do: nowhere to go. I suppose the biggest surprise though was that I didn’t expect so many accidents and mistakes to happen under the safety car!
“And that’s probably because many drivers were pushing really hard in the last race of the season and weren’t especially thinking about saving their cars. The season as a whole was very positive for me: I learned loads of circuits that will be on the WTCC calendar next year and I am definitely feeling a lot more confident now.
The car is also progressing and I think it will be significantly faster next year. Soon I’m going to start my preparation programme for 2014, so that I’m in the best possible physical shape for the start of the season,” Kozlovskiy concluded.