Russian Bears Motorsport

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Russian Bears Motorsport was a Russian motorsport team from Moscow . Under the name LADA Sport , it was the Lada works team in the 2009 touring car world championship .

history

Viktor Shapovalov founded the Russian Bears Motorsport team in March 2007 with the aim of improving the image of Russian sport around the world. Initially, drivers Shapovalov, Lev Fridman , Evgeny Zelenov and Oleg Petrikov started the Dutch Supercar Challenge in older, but reliable BMW 320i . The first victories soon followed there. Shapovalov, Fridman and Zelenov also made guest starts in the World Touring Car Championship in Zandvoort and Valencia , making them the first Russian racing drivers to take part in the World Touring Car Championship.

Lada 110 at Brands Hatch 2008

In 2008 Russian Bears Motorsport decided to make a permanent commitment to the World Touring Car Championship. The vehicles chosen were the fully developed Lada 110 , with which Lada wanted to enter the World Touring Car Championship in 2006, but ultimately withdrew before the start of the season. At the third race weekend in Valencia , two Lada cars were launched for the first time. At Shapovalov's side, the Dutchman Jaap van Lagen drove the team's second vehicle. Kirill Ladygin took part in the last three races in a third vehicle. However, the team with the inferior vehicles had no chance against stronger competition.

Lada Priora in Okayama 2009

When Russian Bears Motorsport received works support from Lada in 2009 and was the fourth works team alongside BMW , Seat and Chevrolet , the vehicles were constantly improved. This made it possible to catch up with the competition and the Lada drivers were able to compete for places in the midfield at least. From the fifth race weekend in Valencia, a new engine was used that developed 20 hp more power. In Porto , alongside two Lada 110s, the first copy of the new Lada Priora was used. This was driven by the experienced British racing driver James Thompson . For the rest of the season he took over the cockpit from team boss Shapovalov, who now fully concentrated on the role of team boss. With the Lada Priora, Jaap van Lagen in Oschersleben had for the first time realistic opportunities to score world championship points for Lada. In fifth place, however, Nicola Larini drove into his car in the last corner and van Lagen fell off the track. At the subsequent race weekend in Imola , James Thompson finished sixth in both races and ultimately scored the first world championship points for Lada. However, these remained the only ones, as technical defects in Okayama prevented van Lagen and Thompson from scoring points. At the end of the season, Thompson finished 17th in the drivers' championship with six points.

At the beginning of 2010, there was initially a lack of clarity about a continuation of Lada’s work. No vehicles were shipped at the start of the season in Curitiba . Although Lada committed itself to a three-year program in the World Touring Car Championship in 2009 and contracts with drivers had already been negotiated, Lada unexpectedly did not enroll in the 2010 World Touring Car Championship . Instead, Lada decided at short notice to sponsor the Renault F1 team. Without support from Lada, Russian Bears Motorsport was no longer able to compete in the World Touring Car Championship and the team had to withdraw from the series.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "WTCC: The Russians are coming!" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 31, 2007)
  2. ↑ "Valencia: Lada is definitely coming too" (Motorsport-Total.com on May 9, 2008)
  3. ↑ "Lada confirms factory operation" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 22, 2008)
  4. ↑ "Lada update:" Now everything is ready "" (Motorsport-Total.com on May 28, 2009)
  5. ↑ "Confirmed: Thompson is the new Lada driver!" (Motorsport-Total.com on June 26, 2009)
  6. ^ "Lada: No happy ending in Oschersleben" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 6, 2009)
  7. ↑ "Lada celebrates the first points" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 20, 2009)
  8. ↑ "Technical problems throw Lada back in Japan" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 2, 2009)
  9. ↑ "World Cup kick-off without a Lada?" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 18, 2010)
  10. ↑ "Lotti on the Lada-Aus:" We are surprised and disappointed "" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 21, 2010)
  11. ↑ "Renault confirms cooperation with Lada" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 4, 2010)
  12. ↑ "Lada:" We have to close our doors "" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 5, 2010)