The LADA Sport Lukoil team experienced a sweet and sour weekend in Marrakech.
Mikhail Kozlovskiy claimed a fifth position in Race 2, scoring his first WTCC points and matching the make’s best result achieved last year by James Thompson at the Moscow Raceway.
“I’m really happy with my result. Both races were really tough and almost all the teams faced various kinds of problems. My personal goal for Marrakech was to finish both races and avoid any contact that would have damaged the car, but I managed to keep some formidable opponents behind me quite successfully and my pace was stable. With all of our teething problems solved, we will achieve even more, that’s for sure,” Kozlovskiy said.
On the other hand, Thompson and team’s new recruit Rob Huff were plagued by technical issues. Thompson had managed to finish tenth in the first race despite being intoxicated by the fumes coming from the Granta’s brake system, an illness that eventually prevented him from taking the start in the second race. As for Huff, he retired during the first race because of misfire; the team managed to replace the turbocharger during the repair time before the second race, but the 2012 WTCC champion could only complete a couple of exploratory laps.
“I’m obviously disappointed to have been sidelined by a mechanical failure, but this is inevitable given the lack of development time we’ve had with the new TC1 car. What’s encouraging is that there’s a great deal of desire and potential to win. The car clearly has pace when running smoothly too,” Huff said.