Disappointment at Lada after Monza, could Dudukalo be out?

LADA Sport Lukoil had a terrible debut weekend at Monza after a crash between Aleksei Dudukalo and James Thompson during qualifying meant both cars were unable to race on Sunday.

Team Principal Viktor Shapovalov had mixed feelings, caught between the joy of the great performances shown by James Thompson throughout free practice and the disappointment of not being able to see the result of the team’s work on Sunday, after both cars were eliminated when Dudukalo crashed into Thompson at the Rettifilo. Dudukalo was trying to get past Norbert Michelisz’s Honda and rejoin behind Thompson to get in the slipstream for the next lap.

“We’re really proud to be able to be at the start of a full season,” said Shapovalov to TouringCarTimes. “The good news for us is the performance of the car, but we were not able to see it in a race situation so it’s disappointing. We still have to do a lot of different things on the car, but basically it’s fast and I’m happy with that.”

Shapovalov did not comment on speculation that Dudukalo has already lost his seat at Lada due to his error in qualifying. The Russian was conspicuously absent from the paddock on Sunday.

“It’s hard for me to make comments, I think it’s not worth it because we have what we have, it’s time for us to concentrate on Marrakech. I’m not in charge of the drivers choice so I can’t make comments on this, it’s up to LUKOIL but I hope their decision will be smart. All I will say is that we want to have two cars on the starting grid and we all have to work in that direction.”

The damage on Thompson’s car was so extensive that the car will not be repaired and there will be a completely new Granta on track at Marrakech.

“James will get a new chassis for Morocco because it’s not possible to repair it so quickly, the second car will instead be repaired in time for the next race.”