James Thompson, a Lada Sport driver, speaks about the upcoming WTCC season and prospects of the Russian team in the context of the new technical regulations. During his career in motor sport James Thompson achieved a lot in touring races. The 39-year old pilot from Yorkshire is the owner of two championship titles in the British Touring Car Championship and almost 50 wins in other different races. He scored victories almost in all competitions he took part in — World and European Championships, British and Danish series. In 2009 Tomo, a name given to him by fans and journalists, started his cooperation with Lada in WTCC and resumed it last year when the Tolyatti-based company returned into the World Touring competitions. This year James will be driving a Lada Granta prepared in compliance with the new technical regulations which are intended to make the cars faster and more spectacular.
“I’m looking forward to the upcoming season and perhaps with even more enthusiasm than ever,” said James Thompson. “Our team evolves, we are going to have a new pilot — Rob Huff, 2012 World Champion — which definitely upgrades out team’s profile. We are evolving and apart from that the new regulations will become a serious challenge for all pilots and teams. Faster cars are always more interesting for the drivers.
New regulations mean that we can make a big step forward in terms of reducing the gap from our rivals. We now have more freedom in upgrading the suspension as last year lack of such possibility became a serious disadvantage for us. But we need to introduce the right technical solutions and that is why in 2013 the team was paying so much attention to the test of various components for the purpose of getting ready for the next season. And we know that we had chosen the right direction. But at the same time I cannot set aside the problem of a short wheelbase of Lada Granta Sport in comparison with other cars which will require looking for additional solutions in order to increase the car’s competitive performance.
I’m definite that the new performance level of the vehicle — increased speed, more effective brakes and increased size of the wheels — would have a great impact on lap time though it is not easy to forecast whether it would be more difficult to control the car. I think that all in all, the car is really well-balanced.”
First tests of the new racing version of Lada Granta are scheduled for the mid-February. So far the best result achieved by the AvtoVAZ factory team in WTCC was the fifth place taken by Thompson in the first race of the previous season held on Moscow Raceway. Next season James plans to bring the first podium to the Russian team.
“It is going to be my 20th season in touring races, I’ll be 40 years old and most of all I wish that Lada enters the new level in WTCC,” said the British driver. “And of course I will do my best to step on the podium and do it constantly! I love my job but podiums mean a lot not only to me as a pilot. It is also really important for me to share this success with the entire team. I want everyone to see the result we’ve been trying to achieve so hard — to see Lada among the winners of World Touring races.”
Who knows, maybe the first victory will be scored by Lada during the Russian stage of WTCC which will be held on the Moscow Raceway in the beginning of summer. We will be able to support our team and its three pilots — James Thompson, Rob Huff, and Mikhail Kozlovskiy — in the competition with the drivers from Citroёn, Honda and Chevrolet teams from the spectator stands of the raceway near Moscow on June 7–8, 2014.
Source moscowraceway.ruPhoto: motorsport.com и wikimedia.org