Lada is Ready for WTCC

Lada 110 WTCC

Russian Bears Motorsport to challenge establishment

By Frank de Leeuw van Weenen
May 5, 2008 4:39 am
Filed Under: Lada, Motorsport

It may not be the first name you associate with the World Touring Car Championship, plenty of people might even say that hell just froze over, but Lada is almost ready to compete in Europe's premier WTCC. BMW and Alfa Romeo ruled the WTCC for many years, and only recently did Seat and Chevrolet get a foot in the door. How will the Russian marque do? We will soon know.

Russian Bears Motorsport plans to enter two Lada 110, dubbed LADA 1106, into the WTCC for the next race at Valencia, May 16 – 18. The Lada 110 WTCC is powered by a 280 hp 2.0 liter Opel engine and has withstood its first tests on the Zandvoort track in The Netherlands.

Drivers Viktor Shapovalov and Jaap van Lagen drove the race car through about 40 laps with one unscheduled stop in the gravel trap, the car remained undamaged. Next trial will take place at the official two-day WTCC test at Oschersleben.

Jaap van Lagen drove the Russian car for the first ever time, but he was very optimistic: “ We're only at the beginning of the project, so we can still make a lot of progress. The Lada 110 WTCC really surprised me. We had very good lap times. I have a lot of confidence in the future. Perhaps we can get into the top three of the privateers at the end of the season”.

Source: RBM via autoblog.nl

email print digg facebook fark reddit delicious myspace

Comments

afterace2

May 5, 2008 10:06 am

this have to be a tought competition for the BMW

zorpas

May 5, 2008 10:13 am

I thought they stop making 110 model.

Clarky-boy

May 5, 2008 1:15 pm

i must say they look like they were ready in 1991 judging by the design effort, and just managed to get it to the grid now!!

good job the tow-hook is highlighted in red with the arrow as i do think it may be needed....lots! haha

vadizzel

May 5, 2008 2:52 pm

LADA is not a race car, they have not change the model for over twenty years. I drove Ladas, they are crap. This is not realy a Lada it has OPEL engine anyway. Since Lada started as an Opel look alike in 70s the company unfortunately did not continue to borrow the OPEL good looks. LADA needs to get some good designers, cause their designs suck big time.

Xanavi23

May 5, 2008 4:59 pm

I dont care if the designs are veyr old...i dont care if they use an Opel Engine...im a big fan of all motorsports and i respect anybody who tries to participate in a race championship. Even if they have trouble due to an inferior budget or inferior car...they still deserve my respect and i wish them all the best of luck. Motorsports always needs fresh faces and new teams even if the teams arent too competitive, everybody has to start somewhere.

ck314

May 5, 2008 6:13 pm

you sure it aint the lancer evo XI with camo??

amade.ch

May 6, 2008 5:59 am

i think it's pretty cool that they try to compete with all the big marques and their racing history in the wtcc. good luck, lada!

vadizzel

May 6, 2008 11:40 am

Im not saying they should not compete. What im saying is that LADA lacks the ability to compete with the giants of racing like BMW. Lada needs to make better cars period not just for racing. They are so behind the other manufacturers. Maby when Renault takes over part of the company, it will be better for Russian people and Lada.

Xanavi23

May 6, 2008 11:50 am

Well you're probably right, but the best advances for street cars come from racing...even safety features, so this should ultimitely make street LADAs better, as long as LADA sticks with it. Plus they are using a good engine, so LADA can also gleam lessons for their own future engine off of it.

vadizzel

May 6, 2008 4:17 pm

Unfortunately Russians still buy the older styled car and there is no need to improve the designs and quality. The new one if it ever comes out might be too expensive for the regular person to buy there.

norther

May 6, 2008 8:09 pm

phuck yeah! i want a special edition of this with this body kit :D

t.y.sport

May 16, 2009 10:48 pm

I hope they do well, I remember people Giggling at Skodas involvement in world rallying, not to mention the early laughs at toyota in the 70's and subaru in the 80's, not to mention Volvo in the BTCC. I Dont think they'll do much but its great to see another manufacturer trying to get into the GM/VAG/BMW playpen. lets face it if they do, by some miracle, end up doing well the ruling powers will soon change the rules to suit the existing status quo anyway, so good luck to them. P.S. I once drove an Eighties group B Lada VFTS (hotted up Riva) and it was more fun than the group4 escort I'd just been driving, motorsport should be fun even at world level, I hope the drivers have a hoot. RED POWER!!!