The hot Japanese weather spilled over to deliver heated racing for the LADA SPORT ROSNEFT WTCC team in today’s two races (4th September) as the Russian Manufacturer’s drivers were made to fight hard to salvage points in difficult conditions.
Catsburg starting the opening race in P4 found himself dropping into the pack after a sluggish start but emerged in P5 after a hard fought first lap which saw the Dutchman brave out a move around the outside of the Citroen of Tom Chilton. Behind, Tarquini made the better start of the three Lada Vesta TC1 cars to move forward to the cusp of the top ten. The team’s third driver Hugo Valente fared less well sustaining damage from contact with Gregoire Demoustier’s Citroen forcing the French LADA SPORT ROSNEFT driver to retire from the race after just one lap.
Catsburg was in the thick of a battle for most of the race with the Volvo of Ted Bjork in front and the two factory Citroens of Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller behind. As the race progressed Catsburg moved to pass Bjork only to find Lopez, who had not been able to pass the Lada to that point taking an opportunist chance and passing the Dutchman pushing him wide in the process and helping his teammate Muller to squeeze through at the same point.
Tarquini had made it into the TOP-10 and the points whilst an angry Catsburg brought his car home in P7 for points to maintain his Championship position.
Race 2, the Main Race saw much of the same. Catsburg fell back in the pack at the start, ceding his place to Tarquini who again made good progress from his grid position. The pair of Lada Vesta cars then became embroiled in a battle with James Thompson’s Chevrolet for 10th. 11th and 12th positions in a race long tussle that eventually fell in the favor of the Lada pair, Gabriele taking 10th and the Championship point. Valente just behind after an equally battling race in P13.
Catsburg was far from happy despite taking the highest finish for the team in P7 “Not a very good weekend for me, I lost some pace at the start in both races, and the driving standards of some drivers today left much to be desired, I got pushed wide in both races. However, I had a good fight with James (Thompson) in the Main Race and finally overtook him. I was also struggling with the heat in the car. I think we could have gained more points today. Anyway, we can be happy with the progress we make compared to the previous season”.
Gabriele Tarquini “I could overtake in both races but it was very hard. I was happy with the set-up and the race pace of Vesta. This race showed how important the starting position is. We must make a progress in qualifying. Yesterday we could have 6th or 7th position in qualifying but due to the lack of flying laps we finally got starting positions outside the TOP-10. But the positive thing is that we won’t have a big ballast next round in China. I am still very optimistic, because the car is much better than in Argentina. I am very happy with the balance of my car. Now we have to find a very good set-up for Chinese round and I am sure we can fight for the podiums in the rest of the season”.
Hugo Valente like Catsburg was less than pleased with some of the driving standards “I am disappointed with the Opening Race, I had to retire after Demoustier pushed me wide. I am looking forward to China. I guess we should have a good pace there, because we will have less ballast. It should be interesting for us, there are long straights that could be good for LADA Vesta. These two weekends in Argentina and Japan were really hard for me so I hope for better results in China”.