Moscow Raceway 2016

Fui o mais rápido hoje no treino livre. Vamos com tudo amanhã na qualificação. 12:00 no Eurosport 2.

P1 today in Free Practice! Let's push hard tomorrow in qualy 💪🏻👊🏻💪🏻 #tiagosworld18 #honda #thepowerofdreams — em Moscow Raceway.

https://www.facebook.com/WorldTouringCarChampionship/?fref=nf

Pole position for the 🇷🇺 opening race tomorrow and P10 for the Main Race. I believe we can bring it 🏆 home! Races live in Eurosport!

Estou na pole para a primeira corrida de amanhã e 10º para a segunda. Acredito que podemos trazer a 🏆 para casa, vamos com tudo! Corridas amanhã em direto no Eurosport as 10:00 e 11:00

Tiago Monteiro

LADA SPORT ROSNEFT dominate qualifying at the Moscow Raceway with a sensational 1-2-3

LADA SPORT ROSNEFT racing at their home event in the FIA World Touring Car Championship turned on the style with a devastating display of qualifying pace to take the first three places on the starting grid for Sunday’s Main race at the Moscow Raceway today (11 June, 2016)

Nicky Catsburg, marking his 1 year anniversary with the team here in Moscow claimed his and LADA SPORT ROSNEFT’s first ever WTCC pole position with a sensational lap 1.4 seconds quicker than his teammate Gabrielle Tarquini and Hugo Valente who completed an historic 1-2-3 result for the Russian car brand supported by Rosneft.

The Russian squad were untouchable for speed on a wet track that seemed to suit the Lada Vesta TC1 car perfectly with the team finding a balance and set up that could not be faulted.

Nicky Catsburg was surprised and delighted in equal measure by his and the car’s performance: “This shows the constant progress for the team and I could not be happier than to get this result in Russia. Sometimes in the wet you have to get everything in line, tyre pressure, camber, etc., and I think we got everything right on my car today although I am surprised by the margin over our rivals. Actually we were not so quick in the wet in FP2 after being quick in the dry in FP1 but Gabriele (Tarquini) gave me some advice on the car and set up and I translated that into this result, I am super happy today!”

Gabriele Tarquini, P2 said “I am very happy, I don’t know if I am a good teacher or Nicky is a good student but he beat me today in Qualifying! He deserves it he made a fantastic lap. I am satisfied with our teamwork, we are like a family and we share everything. I am very proud of this and the team!”

Hugo Valente, P3 and making his first WTCC-2016 appearance in the Q3 shootout “Thank you so much to the LADA SPORT ROSNEFT team, it is amazing to be 1-2-3 and we made history today. Thanks as well to Gabriele for his experience and sharing with us some ideas for driving the Vesta in the wet and congratulations to Nicky for pole position, he was on another planet today!”

The Russian LADA SPORT ROSNEFT squad will now be hoping that they can translate today’s qualifying pace into a similar race result in front of their home fans in tomorrow’s Main race.

Hi-res photos are available here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ladasportwtcc

LADA SPORT ROSNEFT is a racing team, participating in the World Touring Car Championship since 2015 with specially designed LADA Vesta WTCC cars. The General Sponsor of the team is a global energy company Rosneft. Supporting the Russian team in the World Championship, Rosneft together with the leader of the Russian automotive industry – LADA – joined their efforts to promote Russian brands at the world markets.

Story of the Day - LADA walks on water!
1,2 in the first race; 1,2 in the second race, the LADA Sport WTCC boys became real heroes for their home race in Moscow.

FIA WTCC

Hoje trago para 🇵🇹 o maior número de pontos possível. 6º e 5º nas duas corridas e continuamos na luta pelo vice campeonato. Bom trabalho de toda a minha equipa / familia!

Today I bring home the most possible points. P6 and P5 and we stay on the fight for P2 on championship. Good job by my team / family Honda Racing WTCC! ✌🏻️ ‪#‎tiagosworld18‬ ‪#‎honda‬ ‪#‎thepowerofdreams‬

Obrigado a todos vocês que quando corre bem ou mal estão sempre comigo! É o PORTUGUESE POWER 🇵🇹. Agora que venha o Circuito Internacional de Vila Real!

A LADA domíniu no Moscow Raceway duas vitórias e duas dobradinhas na visita do FIA WTCC ao circuito moscovita. Tiago Monteiro obteve um 6º e 5º lugar nas duas corridas a contar para o Campeonato do Mundo de Carros de Turismo.

Honda secured an 11th podium finish of the year and six points finishes out of six in challenging conditions at the sixth round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at Moscow Raceway in Russia.

Norbert Michelisz, who had gone fifth fastest in qualifying, made a superb start to the main race and overtook two cars in as many laps to finish third in his Civic WTCC; the Hungarian managing his tyres perfectly on a damp, but drying, track surface to achieve the result.

Behind him, superb recovery drives from Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team-mates Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro netted the pair fourth and fifth places after they started 11^th and 10^th on the grid.

A sudden rainshower during the opening race formation lap brought about a delayed start and a switch to wet tyres for the entire field.

In fully wet conditions, finding grip on the Moscow track surface proved difficult for all three drivers and Tiago was unable to capitalise on his reversed-grid pole position.

The Portuguese finished sixth with Rob right behind him; the pair proving the quickest drivers on the track during the race’s damp phase, but suffering with grip issues whenever fresh rain fell.

Norbert was running ahead of the pair when a drive-through penalty, issued for him starting slightly outside his grid box, dropped him to 12^th. A hard charge during the second half of the race enabled him to climb to 10^th – the final points-paying position – by the chequered flag.

The events of the weekend both on and off the track mean that the WTCC takes on a very different look. Tiago lies fourth in the drivers’ championship with Norbert seventh and Rob eighth; but only 15 points – the equivalent of a third-place finish – away from second overall. Honda maintained second place in the manufacturers’ championship.

The seventh round of the 2016 WTCC takes place on the streets of Vila Real, Portugal, on June 24-

26.

LADA SPORT ROSNEFT celebrate their greatest day with a double 1-2 result at the FIA WTCC Race of Russia

LADA SPORT ROSNEFT reaped the rewards of several years of participation in the FIA World Touring Car Championship with a sensational result at their home race in Moscow today (12th June 2016) with a sensational 1-2 result in both the Opening and Main races.

The Russian team were absolutely dominant with a commanding display that saw Gabriele Tarquini bring his Lada Vesta TC1 across the line first closely followed by Nicky Catsburg in second position in the Opening race despite starting the reverse grid race in 9th and 10th places respectively. The team’s third driver Hugo Valente bringing his Vesta home in P4 for an incredible result for the team.

The day’s Main race saw the trio start 1-2-3 on the grid and grasp the opportunity to capitalize with Catsburg and Tarquini never challenged from great starts as they pulled clear of the chasing pack to achieve the teams second 1-2 finish of the day, this time with Catsburg scoring his maiden win for the team.

Extraordinarily this result puts the Dutchman in his first season of WTCC in second place in the World Drivers Championship the highest position ever held by a Lada driver since the outset of their participation in the Championship.

The result was even more satisfying as it gave the chance to the home fans and the guests of Rosneft and Lada the chance to witness first hand the result of the team’s efforts with the fantastic support that they have provided.

Victor Shapovalov who has masterminded Lada Sport’s campaign in the FIA WTCC said “This is a great day. To achieve a 1-2 result at our home event is incredible and to achieve it twice in just a dream result. This is the culmination of incredible hard work from the team and all that have supported the programme along the journey. LADA SPORT ROSNEFT have firmly arrived at the top of the WTCC on merit and I am immensely proud!”

Nicky Catsburg, scoring his maiden WTCC pole position and victory this weekend and sitting 2nd in the World Championship standings “If you had told me one year ago that I would have got a P1 and P2 on the same day, in Moscow in the LADA SPORT ROSNEFT Vesta and been second place in the World Championship I would not have believed it. It is a dream result!”

Gabriele Tarquini who had the privilege of achieving the first ever victory for the Vesta and was credited by his team mates for bringing the experience necessary to the team to achieve such a result “I spent a lot of time developing the Lada Vesta in Magny Cours in the winter in similar conditions and I suggested some changes that made a big difference. Unfortunately my team mate also used this to his advantage and was quicker than me in qualifying! I am very happy to have won today, especially from P9 on the grid. The car was fantastic and everybody did a great job. Who knows if it rains every weekend then we can fight for the Championship!”

The team now hope to carry the momentum forward to the next round of the Championship in two weeks time on the streets of Vila Real, Portugal which will present and entirely different challenge for the Russian team.

Hi-res photos are available here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ladasportwtcc