Hugo Valente could be set to join the LADA World Touring Car Championship team for 2016, moving in to the seat left vacant by Rob Huff.
According to a source close to TouringCars.Net, Valente will leave the Campos Racing team with whom he has competed since 2013 and join the Russian squad, with the final details of the deal to be completed.
The move comes after the WTCC driver market was shaken up when Gabriele Tarquini’s contract at Honda was not renewed at the end of the 2015 season. That paved the way for Huff to take the Italian’s seat, with Hungarian Norbert Michelisz also benefitting from an increase in Honda’s official presence in the series.
Valente scored three podiums in 2015, equalling the three which he took in 2014 in his first year racing the Campos Chevrolet Cruze TC1 car. The Frenchman also finished as the best-placed Chevrolet racer last season, taking ninth in the overall driver’s championship.
Valente has confirmed that he is still working on his 2016 plans. “We are still working on it, there is nothing confirmed yet,” he said to TouringCars.Net. “There is still some stuff to negotiate in terms of the contract.”
Should Valente join LADA, he is expected to be joined by Dutchman Nicky Catsburg, who made his début with the team in 2015, and the experienced Tarquini, who has been linked with a surprise move to the Russian marque following his Honda exit.
No date has been set for the revealing of LADA’s driver line-up for 2016, although an announcement is expected within the coming weeks.