The English round of the WTCC (World Touring Cars Championship), which took place last weekend at Brands Hatch circuit, demonstrated how much the development carried out by HRS Motorsport on the Lada Priora (a new type of the official Russian House which debuted in the previous Portuguese appointment) is moving in the right direction. Driven by the very fast James Thompson, with its excellent knowledge of the circuit, the Lada House’s saloon car suffered a malfunctioning with the new differential during the official practices, thus penalizing the position in the grid. After a proper setup, Thompson was able of excellent performances in the warm-up (he improved the lap time achieved in the qualifying by about one second), obtaining the 8th time overall, which is the best performance ever reached by Lada in an official session of the WTCC, demonstrating the wide margins of improvement not yet explored. Also during the two heaths the Lada fought hard, even if it was repeatedly forced to avoid the multiple collisions that characterized the early stages of the English event.

In race 1 (won by Alain Menu with the Chevrolet Cruze) Thompson, showing a great character and wisdom, obtained the 18th place overall among the 27 drivers at the start, overtaking even the more tested 110 (previous type used by Lada in the WTCC).

The final 22th position in Race 2 (dominated by Augusto Farfus on a BMW 320 Is) confirmed once more the excellent level of reliability reached by the Priora already from its second public entrance, half-revealing a good driveability and a remarkable cornering speed during some fights against the BMW 320 and the Seat Leon, especially when going fast. The ninth round of the series will take place after the summer pause, on the German circuit of Oschersleben on the 17th and 18th September.