Frenchman and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Nicolas Lapierre, will join Rob Huff and Nicky Catsburg at LADA SPORT ROSNEFT for the final four rounds of the 2015 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Japan, China, Thailand and Qatar.
Lapierre, 31, is vastly experienced having first raced Karts from 1993 and successfully rose up the single-seater ranks with campaigns in Formula Renault, Formula 3, A1GP and GP2, before switching to the top flight of sportscar racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The Frenchman won two consecutive A1GP titles in 2005 and 2006 and most recently took a class victory in the 2015 edition of the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race and, while he is yet to race a touring car, he has already put the LADA Vesta TC1 through its paces in exclusive tests conducted at Circuit Paul Ricards and Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours earlier this summer.
“Driving the LADA Vesta TC1 in the FIA World Touring Car Championship is a very exciting challenge for me,” said Lapierre.” I have driven a lot of single-seaters and sportcars, but I’ve never been seated behind the wheel of a touring car. Turbo-engined, front-wheel-driven cars are new to me and I had a lot to learn when I initially stepped into the Vesta, but the LADA SPORT ROSNEFT team helped me a lot. I will do my best to learn how to race in the WTCC as quickly as possible and I hope to be able to grab some serious points for LADA SPORT ROSNEFT.”
Lapierre replaces Dutch racer Jaap van Lagen, who joined the team at short notice from the WTCC’s Race of Germany on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The Dutchman performed remarkably well from the very beginning of his spell in LADA SPORT ROSNEFT colours and the team would like to thank him for his efforts.
The next round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) is scheduled to take place at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi circuit (11-13 September), which lies 145km from the nation’s Capital, Tokyo.
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. In 2014 LADA Sport won two races in the WTCC. With the new Vesta car and the new sponsor LADA SPORT ROSNEFT team is determined to have more wins in 2015.