Nicolas Lapierre happy with first touring car experience

Nicolas Lapierre made his WTCC debut last weekend with Lada Sport Rosneft at Motegi, picking up points on his debut despite a grip problem hampering his progress in both races.

The French endurance racing expert and 24 Hour of Le Mans class winner, has replaced Jaap van Lagen for the remainder of the season, and had his first front-wheel drive touring car experience at Twin Ring Motegi with the Russian manufacturer squad, finishing eighth in race two and just outside of the points in 11th in race one.

“The races were very tough,” said Lapierre to TouringCarTimes. “Qualifying went alright, I’m still learning, so step-by-step I’m improving. We made it into Q2 but then we had a problem with the battery, else we could have been in the top ten, so I think that was OK for my first race.”

“Then the races were very difficult for me. I had really low grip, I don’t know why, so I was struggling a lot and just tried to finish the races and get some experience. In the second race I finished in the points which was good, but we need to investigate what the problem was in the races.”

Adapting to the touring car format from his background as an endurance racer was also an experience, in addition to learning both the car and the circuit.

“Already the start was very different, I don’t think I’ve done a standing start since 2007, but it was OK, I think I only lost one place in both standing starts. Then the races were also very different with all the touching, which doesn’t happen in endurance racing, but it was nice, short races and to have direct fight.”