Good news to report today, with LADA confirming that it has secured the services of British touring car ace James Thompson for its ‘toe in the water’ return to the World Touring Car Championship this year.
The Russian carmaker recently announced that it would be evaluating a full-time return to the series by entering two rounds of this year’s championship – the Races of Hungary and Portugal – running two of its Super 2000-spec Granta Sport models.
Thompson’s last forays in the World Touring Car Championship were with LADA, and he gave the marque its best-ever result with a pair of sixth-placed finishes at Imola in 2009, driving its Priora challenger.
Since he left the championship, Thompson raced in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship with Volvo (both parties split mid-season) and he made a one-off appearance at the season-ending round of the British Touring Car Championship.
“I’m really pleased to have this deal,” Thompson is quoted as saying by AUTOSPORT.
“There’s a totally new structure at LADA as far as racing goes, and that gives me a lot of confidence that this can go somewhere.”
[Images via FIA WTCC Media and LAT]
Richard Bailey
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