Gabriele Tarquini has hailed his LADA as being ‘uncatchable’ in the World Touring Car Championship races in Russia, as the Italian scored victory in the Opening Race and then followed his team-mate home in the Main Race.
In wet conditions, the experienced Tarquini scythed his way through the order on the opening lap of the Opening Race, from ninth on the grid.
He was then able to pick off firstly Citroën’s José María López on lap two, Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani on lap three, and leader Yvan Muller on lap four to move to the front of the field.
The Italian then held that position comfortably for the remaining ten laps to score his first win in almost two years, and the 21st of his career in the WTCC.
Tarquini believes that the key to the conditions was the wet weather, which had played to their strengths throughout the weekend at the Moscow Raceway.
“Honestly I was thinking if it could rain we could fight for the podium in both races, and starting 1-2-3 was much more easy in the Main Race. But fortunately for us the rain came in the last few minutes before the grid and I took the chance. I had nothing to lose because I am not playing for the championship.
“I made a really good start and was able to fight with the guys in front. As soon as I reached the leading position I could manage my pace and the car was really amazing, the car today was uncatchable for everybody on this track.”
Neither Nicky Catsburg, who went on to win the Main Race, nor Tarquini were challenged in the second race of the day, allowing a second podium of the season in quick succession for Tarquini.
“The key of the weekend was Free Practice 2 because in Free Practice 0 [testing] and 1 we were quite happy with the dry set-up and the car was almost competitive, probably a bit better than usual.
“But in Free Practice 2 we tried something new for the wet. Fortunately, I tested many times this winter in Magny-Cours where the weather was more or less like this, the track is very slippery and we had some idea with the car and team to improve performance in the wet. For the first time we worked on this special set-up for the wet, and to be honest the result was impressive.
“My team-mate was far away, I was the fastest car on the track and also I hide a little bit of the performance of the car because the car was very good, I was on very old tyres and everybody was very happy. We focused on developing these small things.
“It’s true we share all these details and information, which is unfortunate for me but fortunate for the team. Altogether qualifying was the key to this result; we had 1-2-3 and also this fantastic result today.
“To be honest we must thank a lot the work all the LADA Sport Rosneft team because they worked very hard over the winter in very difficult conditions and this is a big thanks to them.”