Lada to make WTCC debut at Valencia

The Russian Bears Motorsport team have developed a Lada 110 for the series and will enter two cars in Spain for ex-Formula Renault 3.5 racer Jaap van Lagen, and Russian Viktor Shapovalov, who contested four WTCC rounds with the team last year in a BMW.

Van Lagen initially shook down the Lada at Zandvoort, and both drivers joined the official WTCC test at Oschersleben this week. Van Lagen split the works SEATs of Jordi Gene and Tiago Monteiro on the timesheet yesterday, with Shapovalov just a second further back.

"Last year's pole position was a 1m48s and I did a 1m52s," van Lagen said of his run at Zandvoort. "There is still more time in the car, I think I could have driven a 1m51s lap."

The team are running their WTCC campaign without any works backing from Lada, although it is believed that the manufacturer could be interested in using the operation as a springboard into the series in future.