Portugal. Lada Priora starts off in the WTCC with HRS Motorsport.

Lada Priora, the new car trimmed by HRS Motorsport and designated by the Russian House to attend the WTCC, began as planned in the seventh round of the World Touring Car Championship in Portugal.

On the Porto Street Circuit the technical work of the team led by Marco Calovolo was aimed to achieve the first feedback in order to identify the right direction towards which to develop the base set-up.

The effort gained by James Thompson, HRS’ and Lada’s "official" driver, was great. Already from the warm up he managed to get a significant 16th time immediately behind the Seat’s official drivers Gene and Rydell on a wet track.

In Race 1 the Priora led by the British champion got the 18th place, finishing before the more tested 110 lined up by Lada till nowadays in the world championship, while in Race 2, the team scored a significant 15th place overall, dropping by more than half a second the best lap time of the first fraction.

Even though in a stage in which all the parts of the car have still to be optimized, the Portuguese debut of the Priora showed that the car has a good potential in a perspective of further developments.
 
HRS Motorsport is already working on the basis of the first acquired data to prepare the next race which will see Thompson and the Priora engaged in the English circuit of Brands Hatch on 19th July.