Another testing weekend for Lada in Hungary

After a strong start to the season, LADA Sport Lukoil endured a trying weekend at the Hungaroring, at the track where they made their World Touring Car Championship return last season with the Granta WTCC.

With Mikhail Kozlovskiy still adapting to the car and the circuit, James Thompson missed out in qualifying after being called into the FIA scrutineering bay at the end of the first part of qualifying, scuppering his chances of gaining a good grid position for either race.

“The team installed a new suspension component and new set-up on race day and a great start saw the Englishman up several positions at the start, but he was an innocent victim of contact when the two BMWs of Fredy Barth and Darryl O’Young came together behind him going into Turn 2 on the first lap, and was forced to retire from the race.

With the car repaired for race two, Thompson was able to work his way up to 12th position after starting from the back of the grid, but still scored no points in the drivers’ title fight this weekend.

“Race one was unlucky because of the crash straight after the start in the first corner, but this is part of the sport sometimes,” said Thompson.”

“That’s the thing with touring car racing, the drivers fight wheel to wheel and as a result it can sometimes end up as a contact sport. Once more we saw that this weekend, when a few cars came together in race one and I was hit from behind and it was all over for me.

“Race Two was a lot more successful for us. On the whole I’m pleased with the speed of the car and the new parts we tested. Hopefully we’ll be able to show some even better results at the next round in Austria, and keep on testing new ideas that will help us get significantly faster.”

Mikhail Kozlovskiy finished both races, setting valuable laps in the Lada Granta, fighting with Hugo Valente’s Campos Racing SEAT for 19th position in the second race.

“On the whole this weekend wasn’t too bad for me, with the possible exception of the final results and outright lap times, which probably don’t accurately reflect our potential,” said Kozlovskiy.

“Hopefully the tests we’ve got planned at the Smolenskring near Moscow at the end of the month will be useful. I generally felt that we had good pace in race one this weekend. In race two we struggled a bit from the start, as the set-up wasn’t quite right. We got involved in a few scraps but our rivals benefitted from that. Over the final few laps I was fighting with Hugo Valente, first he overtook me and then I got the place back. On the final lap the pace of my car wasn’t particularly good so Valente was able to overtake me again. The main aim now is to find a set-up that works well for the whole race.”