Two of LADA SPORT ROSNEFT’s Vesta TC1s will line up seventh and eighth for Sunday’s (12 July) first FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race and fill row in the second encounter on the unforgiving Vila Real street circuit in central Portugal – the championship’s final European leg, before heading for the Far East.
The Dutch pairing of Nicky Catsburg and Jaap van Lagen were all smiles after a strong showing in qualifying for the FIA WTCC Race of Portugal held for the first time on the streets of Vila Real, while Briton Rob Huff making a regrettable Q1 exit following a run of misfortune.
Huff will have his work cut out starting from 13th for both races on Sunday (12 July), but the master of street circuits and seven-time Macau winner is well qualified to make a charge, despite the limited overtaking possibilities available on the high-speed, barrier-lined Vila Real track.
The LADA Vesta TC1 cars, backed by Russian oil giant, ROSNEFT, had been gaining pace throughout practice and the team its drivers were hoping to make Q2, but, as events unfolded and the circuit’s close barriers came into play, the Vestas were looking for more.
With both Catsburg and Van Lagen safely inside the top 12 in Q1, Huff was expected to join them, but, firstly, a red flag for a stricken car interrupted his flying lap and he was then impeded by another car in sector one of his only remaining effort, therefore the former World Champion was eliminated.
The 15-minute Q2 session that determines the race two grid was immediately interrupted by Argentine Nestor Girolami’s Honda collecting the barriers and Mehdi Bennani’s Citroen soon joined him on the sidelines, but this left the door open for the LADA duo of van Vlagen and Catsburg to guarantee a decent starting position.
However, both drivers chose to push and get respectable grid slots for race one, while others jostled to contrive a tenth place finish that would gift them the reversed grid pole position for Sunday’s second race.