Lada bids farewell to Granta model at Macau

The FIA World Touring Car Championship season finale at Macau this weekend marks the final race for the Lada Granta.
”My Lada Sport team has a taste for victory after Beijing and it would be a great to give the Granta a bit of a send-off. While we might struggle through sector one of the lap, our chassis’ mechanical grip should suit the middle and last sections of the lap,” said Rob Huff, who scored Lada’s first ever WTCC win in Beijing.

Team mate James Thompson came close to claiming Lada’s first WTCC podium finish in Macau last year, but crashed out of the final race after contact with Pepe Oriola in the closing stages of the race. The Brit hopes for revenge this year by carrying on the strong form of the past couple of races.

”We were much closer to the pace that expected at the previous race in Japan, so there are many positives to take to Macau. The truth is, our focus has always been on Macau, as we see this as our most realistic chance of taking a result. Both Rob (Huff) and I like it there and I was on course for a podium finish last year until I was involved in an incident with Pepe Oriola. We’ve always had one eye on the season finale,” said Thompson.

Lada debuted the Granta model in the 2012 WTCC season, a model which will be replaced by the new Vesta model next season.

Huff is the so far best placed Lada driver in the championship this year in 12th position with one victory and a second place as best results while Thompson is 15th with sixth as best result. Mikhail Kozlovskiy is one position behind Thompson in 16th position with fifth as best result.