LADA’s Hugo Valente claims that he ‘can’t complain’ about his début for the Russian team at his home round of the World Touring Car Championship, after picking up a pair of top ten finishes in France.
What had originally looked like a low-key start to life at LADA soon became much more promising as Valente, who had originally qualified in 11th, was given a late pole position for the reverse-grid opening race of the season when Volvo’s Thed Björk was excluded from the qualifying results.
Although the Frenchman was beaten away from the line by Honda’s Rob Huff and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani, he was then able to hold a podium position for much of the race.
Unfortunately for Valente the dream of a début podium for LADA came to an end on lap 13 when Honda duo Norbert Michelisz and Tiago Monteiro got past, with Valente struggling with tyre wear issues.
In the main race an early bump from team-mate Gabriele Tarquini threatened to cause problems, but Valente was able to continue and finish in seventh following a race-long duel with the independent Citroën’s of Bennani and Tom Chilton.
“I’m very happy with how the opening round has panned out,” said Valente. “I was disappointed with the outcome of race one; I can’t pretend to be happy with fifth after starting from the front, but I can’t complain too much because we weren’t originally on the reversed grid pole and we came away with solid points.
“I never got to drive last year’s Vesta, but it’s clear that the team has taken a big step over the winter. I have to step up my game because Nicky (Catsburg) was very fast today, but that’s a good challenge.
“I have been able to adapt my driving to the LADA Vesta as the weekend has progressed and that has helped in a lot of ways, so I’m encouraged for the rest of the season.”
Valente heads to the next round in Slovakia in an encouraging sixth overall in the driver’s championship standings.