LADA Sport will field just two cars on its Nürburgring début, with Nordschleife expert Jaap Van Lagen praising the car, calling it a “huge step forward” over the car he raced when he last competed in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in 2009.
Van Lagen returns to the WTCC this weekend after a five-year absence from the series. The Dutchman previously raced with LADA in 2008 and 2009, scoring a best finish of tenth at Oschersleben in the 2009 season.
“The LADA Vesta is for sure a big improvement, a huge step forward, and I believe it has a lot of potential to be at the front of the grid,” enthused Van Lagen of his new car for this weekend. “I am happy to be back in WTCC with LADA Sport – the team I drove for in 2008-2009. Hopefully we can have good results here.”
Van Lagen has been brought in at the Russian team because he has extensive experience of the Nordschleife, having raced around the circuit in GT machinery in recent years.
“I know this track very well, and the knowledge of the track is critical here and could be a big advantage, because Nordschleife is really difficult for the drivers,” added the Dutchman.
LADA will not field a third car this weekend, putting Mikhail Kozlovskiy on the sidelines. The Russian crashed into the back of team-mate Rob Huff in Marrakech, damaging the Brit’s chassis and forcing him to use a spare car in Hungary. However during private testing in the days after the Budapest event, Huff also suffered a crash in the spare car, limiting the team to just two cars whilst they carry out repair and rebuild work on the chassis.