Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Ladygin involves, van Lagen comments & Aleshin suggests


Third Lada 110 in the entry list

Fiawtcc.com confirmes that the Russian Bears Motorsport team will add a third LADA 110 car for the remaining four events of the season.
The third driver is Kirill Ladygin from Russia. Ladygin is LADA Motorsport's official tester and is currently working on the technical development of the WTCC version of the new Priora, that will be raced from 2009.


Jaap van Lagen comments

Additionally, Jaap van Lagen, in his interview to TouringCarTimes.com referred on the Lada team hard work during 2008:
"I think the season has been great so far! At the start of the season we were five seconds behind the top of the field, but now we are much closer. The main problem with the car is the top speed. We need more power to fight against the top teams. The team is working really hard and we have a good atmosphere. I do want to continue with the team and I hope that we get factory status for 2009!"

About the strong points of Lada 110, Jaap said:
"The chassis is very good. The balance is ok and so is the suspension. The car is also very light, so we can play a lot with the weight distribution. That is a big advantage. All in all it is an easy car to drive, we just need more power."

About the coming races:
"I think we can keep up the performance from Oschersleben at Imola. But Monza and Macau will be a different story as they have very long straights. Then we will most likely be at the back of the grid."

He also referred on his future participation in the Porsche Supercup and said that if he gets the chance again to drive for a top team in the Supercup, he will be on the grid.


Lada plant team in 2009 / WTCC event in Russia in 2010

WTCC organizers are interested in a futute WTCC event in Russia and Moscow, st Petersbourgh and Togliatti are the candidate cities. According to AvtoVAZ Press service, Boris Aleshin, president of AvtoVAZ Group, said:
"This year the LADA car as a private team made its debut in WTCC. Next year we are going to participate in the championship as representatives of the car plant. We are going to use LADA PRIORA cars in the championship and as well as other promising models in future. “AVTOVAZ”, in its turn, offered the WTCC organizers to hold WTCC in Tolyatti in 2010".


And a Lada WTCC video clip

Monday, September 8, 2008

Thoughts about 2009 season...


Lada in WTCC officially...


It seems that a Lada works team will be in the 2009 entry list of the World Touring Car Championship. According to TouringCarTimes.com, Victor Shapovalov said the Lada WTCC is a three-years project:

"This year is only testing and next year we would like to have a new car. When we would have the new model we also would have more technical support from Lada. They want to change their image and for Lada the WTCC is a good base to show what they want to be in the future."

But which car?

The production of the Lada 110 has already stopped and the new Lada Priora (2170) is now in production since April of 2007. Actually the car is a face-lifted 110. This would mean that the S2000-specs development of the Priora is not so difficult as a completely new car. The problem is that there is no a 2-litre version of the car to be homologated. Maybe a 2-litre "sport" edition should be unveiled soon just like Lada 110 2.0 GTI (21106) back in 1996 (at Paris Motor Show in October maybe? why not?). And I think that it will be a "powered by Renault" edition since the Opel C20XE is already old enough and of course now Renault Group owns the 25% of AvtoVAZ.


On the other hand the 2007 Lada Project C (2116) developed by AvtoVAZ and Magna-Steyr is a modern and beautiful car. It could increase the sales of AvtoVAZ dramatically but unfortunatelly it remains just a prototype although it was announced to be in production in 2009. The industry news are lack of information about this vehicle.
However the Lada 2116 sedan participated in the EuroCarBody benchmarking for the first time as “SPECIAL GUEST 2007” (see 9th European Car Body AWARD Event, 2007):
"The clean-cut and well-structured car body positively surprised many conference participants with its low weight", according to the organizers of the event.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

WTCC Rounds 15&16 – Oschersleben, Germany – 30-31 August 2008


photo: fiawtcc.com

RACE 1 RESULT

1. 3 Augusto FARFUS - BMW 320si
2. 7 Robert HUFF - Chevrolet Lacetti
3. 8 Alain MENU - Chevrolet Lacetti
4. 18 Tiago MONTEIRO - SEAT Leon TDI
5. 9 Jordi GENE - SEAT Leon TDI
6. 10 Rickard RYDELL - SEAT Leon TDI
7. 20 Tom CORONEL - SEAT Leon
8. 5 Felix PORTEIRO - BMW 320si
9. 26 I Stefano D'ASTE - BMW 320si
10. 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ - BMW 320si
11. 12 Yvan MULLER - SEAT Leon TDI
12. 4 Alessandro ZANARDI - BMW 320si
13. 78 I Marin COLAK - SEAT Leon
14. 29 I Jaap van LAGEN - Lada 110
15. 15 James THOMPSON - Honda Accord Euro R
16. 49 Duncan HUISMAN - BMW 320si
17. 43 I Andrei ROMANOV - BMW 320si
18. 60 I Kristian POULSEN - BMW 320si
19. 13 I Ibrahim OKYAY - BMW 320si
20. 28 I Viktor SHAPOVALOV - Lada 110
21. 45 I George TANEV - BMW 320si
22. 16 I Olivier TIELEMANS - BMW 320si
23. 62 I Aytac BITER - BMW 320si
24. 11 Gabriele TARQUINI - SEAT Leon TDI
25. 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS - SEAT Leon
26. 2 Jorg MULLER - BMW 320si

------NOT CLASSIFIED------
1 Andy PRIAULX - BMW 320si
42 I Franz ENGSTLER - BMW 320si
6 Nicola LARINI - Chevrolet Lacetti

------FASTEST LAP------
3 Augusto FARFUS - BMW 320si (1:36.699 min)
23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS - SEAT Leon (1:37.629 min)



RACE 2 RESULT

1. 5 Felix PORTEIRO - BMW 320si
2. 20 Tom CORONEL - SEAT Leon
3. 7 Robert HUFF - Chevrolet Lacetti
4. 9 Jordi GENE - SEAT Leon TDI
5. 1 Andy PRIAULX - BMW 320si
6. 3 Augusto FARFUS - BMW 320si
7. 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ - BMW 320si
8. 12 Yvan MULLER - SEAT Leon TDI
9. 2 Jorg MULLER - BMW 320si
10. 49 Duncan HUISMAN - BMW 320si
11. 6 Nicola LARINI - Chevrolet Lacetti
12. 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS - SEAT Leon
13. 26 I Stefano D'ASTE - BMW 320si
14. 60 I Kristian POULSEN - BMW 320si
15. 42 I Franz ENGSTLER - BMW 320si
16. 11 Gabriele TARQUINI - SEAT Leon TDI
17. 78 I Marin COLAK - SEAT Leon
18. 16 I Olivier TIELEMANS - BMW 320si
19. 4 Alessandro ZANARDI - BMW 320si
20. 10 Rickard RYDELL - SEAT Leon TDI
21. 45 I George TANEV - BMW 320si
22. 29 I Jaap van LAGEN - Lada 110
23. 28 I Viktor SHAPOVALOV - Lada 110
24. 62 I Aytac BITER - BMW 320si

------NOT CLASSIFIED------
43 I Andrei ROMANOV - BMW 320si
8 Alain MENU - Chevrolet Lacetti
15 James THOMPSON - Honda Accord Euro R
18 Tiago MONTEIRO - SEAT Leon TDI
13 I Ibrahim OKYAY - BMW 320si

------FASTEST LAP------
3 Augusto FARFUS - BMW 320si (1:37.556 min)
42 I Franz ENGSTLER - BMW 320si (1:38.020 min)


The standings after Germany are:

Drivers Championship
1. Yvan Muller ……………....66
2. Gabriele Tarquini ……….64
3. Andy Priaulx ………….....53

Manufacturers Championship
1. SEAT ……………………....216
2. BMW ……………………....192
3. Chevrolet …………………157
4. HONDA …………………….26

Yokohama Independents’ Trophy
1. Sergio Hernandez …………112
2. Stefano D'Aste ……………..109 (2-point handicap)
3. Pierre-Yves Corthals ……..86
…………………….
9. Jaap van Lagen ……………...16
………………..
16. Victor Shapovalov …………..4

Yokohama Teams’ Trophy
1. Proteam Motorsport …………..223
2. Liqui Moly Team Engstler …..124
3. Exagon Engineering ………….....86
……………………………….
9. Russian Bears Motorsport ……20


What's up next?

The Race of Europe will be the next event on 20th & 21th of September at Imola, Italy. Russian Bears Motorsport team is preparing a third car for that race. Kirill Ladygin, the Lada Sport team driver, will be behind the wheel of this Lada 110.