LADA Sport endured a difficult qualifying session for the World Touring Car Championship on the streets of Vila Real, with ninth-placed Nicky Catsburg the best of the Russian cars.
Due in part to having to carry more compensation weight than ever before – 70 kg due to the double victory in Russia last time out – all three LADA Vesta drivers struggled in qualifying.
In the end it was only Dutchman Catsburg who made it through to Q2, with Hugo Valente ending up 13th and Gabriele Tarquini down in 17th position after a day fraught with technical issues and a lack of track time.
In Q2, Catsburg’s performance did give the team some hope, however, with ninth place being good enough for a front-row start in the reverse-gird Opening Race.
“This is a very difficult place to drive,” said Catsburg, who was nearly two seconds off the Q2 pace. “It is very easy to make a mistake here and with the weight in the car and the proximity of the walls it can all go wrong for a driver very quickly.
“It was a tough session, the track surface is very inconsistent so I have to be satisfied to get the car through to Q2 and have a front row start.
“It is really important that I get off the line well tomorrow and try and keep the pack behind me but for sure it is going to be very hot and a very hard race.”
Valente had earlier been the best of the trio in the morning’s first practice session and felt that he could have gone faster than he did in Q1.
“I just lost the pace from the car when it mattered,” said Valente. “I was half a second faster on old tyres earlier in the day than I was in qualifying on a new set, so I am very disappointed not to have done better.”
For Tarquini, it was a number of issues which prevented him from doing better than ending up with a starting position on the back row of the grid for both races.
“I have had some small issues of one kind or another that we have not sorted fully,” said the Italian. “This meant I missed some running.
“In general, I think it’s a combination of factors – heavy weight, hot conditions and lack of experience exactly on this track. Tomorrow’s races will be very hard.”