LADA Sport has completed three days of testing at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal in preparation for the forthcoming World Touring Car Championship season, which begins in April.
All three of LADAs drivers, Gabriele Tarquini, Nicky Catsburg and Hugo Valente, were in action during the test, which was carried out in warm and dry conditions.
Experienced touring car racer and new signing Tarquini said he was pleased with the outcome of the test.
“I drove the car on the first day of the session,” said Tarquini. “We were lucky with the weather; it was a completely dry day, though the only problem was the strong wind. I did fifty laps without any mechanical problems.
“We tested different configurations and geometries on the front and rear suspension. For me, it was a great opportunity to discover the car as I only drove the Vesta in rainy Magny-Cours where the temperatures have been very low. In parallel we continued to improve the engine performance and torque delivery.
“I’m happy to see that the car is sensitive to the changes we made. I also followed the test with Nick and Hugo because I wanted to share with them the feelings of the car and the development plan for the first race.”
Catsburg, who is the only driver to be carried over from the 2015 season, added that the team had worked on improving their start-line performance, which was identified as a weak area in the previous season.
“I was very happy to be back at the wheel of the LADA Vesta,” said the Dutchman. “The team have worked effectively on the updates, and the car feels really good.
“We put a lot of focus and made big progress in terms of standing starts, which was our weak point last year and often made the races more difficult for us as we could not capitalize on the car’s qualifying speed. The new engine management system has been seriously upgraded, and this year we will be more effective at the start of the race for sure.
“Also the traction is much better now and the general power delivery has been improved. In general, thanks to the major changes in the engine and suspension, the Vesta looks really promising ahead of the WTCC 2016 season. It is also nice to see Gabriele’s experience already having an influence in a very positive way.”
Valente, who is the team’s youngest driver at 23 and less than half of Tarquini’s age, has had to rely on the feedback provided by his team-mates to know that the car is heading in the right direction compared to 2015.
“I’m happy with how the testing went so far,” added Valente. “I had limited dry running in the car so far so it was very important for me to do some dry testing and do a lot of laps. It was very useful in terms of both getting the knowledge of the car and regaining the confidence of driving the race car again as since the final WTCC race in Qatar last year I had not got my hands on a proper steering wheel.
“The updates brought by Lada Sport and Oreca seem to be working nicely. I had no experience of the 2015 car so it’s hard for me to compare, but the feedback from Gabriele and Nicky is positive on both engine and suspension so hopefully that Vesta will show a better pace and improvement in terms of reliability and consistency on the long runs.
“I am very much looking forward to beginning of the season, it will be the first time we will be racing with the other cars so we will get a better idea of where we are in terms of performance.”