RC Motorsport join WTCC grid with two Lada Vestas

With there being growing concerns in recent months about Lada's participation in the 2017 World Touring Car Championship, many fans were delighted to hear the news that RC Motorsport has acquired two of the three Vestas for their first WTCC season. Along with this news the team also announced their first driver, Yann Ehrlacher, who is the nephew of four time WTCC champion Yvan Muller.

The twenty year old Frenchman already has a fairly sizeable pedigree behind him, having won two national championships in France and taking a class win in last year's European Le Mans Series race at Estoril, driving a Nissan VK50VE for Yvan Muller Racing. He shared that car with fellow Frenchmen Thomas Laurent and Alexandre Cougnaud. 2017 will mark Ehrlacher's return to touring car racing, but in an international category for the first time. He has already tested his new car at Magny-Cours and with his family ties to WTCC legend, Yvan Muller, he should be a reasonably competitive challenger. Commenting on the situation, Ehrlacher stated “I’ve been really impressed with the car in testing and the team is working really hard too. Obviously there is a lot for me to learn and understand, but I know the team has valuable WTCC experience.”

The Vesta is a familiar car to WTCC fans but Ehrlacher is new to the sport this year.

The team, RC Motorsport, will be making their WTCC debut this year but the Lada Vesta is already a proven car, winning three races last year in the hands of Nicky Catsburg, Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente. It is also believed that the team have hired several personnel members from the Lada factory team who should prove invaluable to the team as they enter the world championship for the first time.

The field is now really beginning to take shape as the addition of these two Ladas now takes the championship up to sixteen confirmed entrants, two of whom have yet to be named, including the second Lada driver. There's no doubt that many fans will be delighted to see the Vesta return to the circuit next year and it will be very interesting to see how the team and Ehrlacher get on in their first season in the sport.

Image: www.fiawtcc.com (@FIA_WTCC)

Words: Jordan Hines (@JordanHines33)

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