Mikhail Kozlovskiy says he is pleased with his weekend, after the Russian finished as the top LADA driver in both races of the World Touring Car Championship for the first time during the races at Spa-Francorchamps.
Kozlovskiy beats his two experienced team-mates Rob Huff and James Thompson in Sunday’s two races, finishing 14th and 12th respectively. Whilst the Russian scored no points at the weekend, he was happy with his first visit to the iconic Belgian circuit.
“I am pleased with the weekend, as it was my first time here at Spa-Francorchamps and to beat my teammates is really satisfying,” said Kozlovskiy. “I particularly enjoyed race two, where I came out on top in a great battle with Rob and managed a good fight with [Mehdi] Benani and [René] Münnich also.”
Whilst it was a relatively good weekend for Kozlovskiy, it was a challenging weekend for former champion Huff. The Brit was also competing in the Nürburgring 24 Hours for Rotek Racing.
Huff had little to celebrate, however, with Rotek’s Audi retiring with engine problems and his LADA being hit by Chinese Citroën driver Ma Qing Hua in race one, leaving him to finish in 16th position. Race two was little better, as Huff followed Kozlovskiy home in 13th.
“It has been a very challenging weekend and LADA Sport LUKOIL, my teammates and I all did our best throughout,” admitted Huff. “The car had a great balance all weekend – the team has made progress in the development of the car.”
Huff explains that the team were closer than anticipated to the other TC1 cars at the fast Spa circuit, with the Brit being ‘only’ 3.162 seconds off pole position around the long 7.004 km circuit.
“We were closer on time to the other TC1 cars than we expected and, in race two particularly, we stayed close to the main pack,” said Huff. “Unfortunately, Ma running into the back of my Granta and breaking the suspension in the first race didn’t really help and I have to praise the mechanics for getting me to the grid for race two in double-quick time.”
James Thompson was less positive than his two team-mates, reflecting on his two BTCC titles as a reminder of the end of the grid he feels he should be competing at.
“It’s hard for me to find good things to say about my race weekend, as 15th and 17th places are not where I want to be,” said a downbeat Thompson. “As a double British Touring Car Champion I’ve proven myself to be a consistent frontrunner and that’s where I want to be with my LADA Sport team.“