Tarquini, Valente confirmed alongside Catsburg at Lada
Lada Sport has confirmed that Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente will join Nicky Catsburg at the Russian squad for the 2016 WTCC season.
Photo by: FIA WTCC
As reported by Motorsport.com last month, Tarquini will continue in the championship for a 12th successive season in 2016, effectively swapping seats with Honda-bound Rob Huff.
The 53-year-old Italian had been informed his services would no longer be required by the Japanese manufacturer last December, saying he had been told he was "too old".
Valente, meanwhile, moves across from the Campos Racing Chevrolet squad, which has yet to confirm its 2016 drivers after running Valente alongside John Filippi full time last year.
Catsburg will have his first full season at Lada in 2016, having been drafted in from the Moscow round onwards last year to replace the departed James Thompson.
The Dutchman's best results of his part-campaign were two fourth places, with Huff securing the Russian team's best result of second in the reverse-grid race at Moscow.
The team finished a distant third in the manufacturers' standings behind Citroen and Honda.
Nicolas Lapierre formed part of Lada's line-up in the closing stages of 2015 alongside Huff and Catsburg, but will focus his attentions on the European Le Mans Series in 2016 with the new DragonSpeed team.
Lada is promising "significant updates" to its Vesta WTCC machine for 2016, including new suspension and chassis components as well as an upgraded engine.
2016 WTCC field so far:
Names in italics are unconfirmed
Team |
Drivers |
---|---|
Citroen |
Jose Maria Lopez Yvan Muller |
SLR Citroen |
Mehdi Benanni Gregoire Demoustier Tom Chilton |
Castrol Honda |
Tiago Monteiro Rob Huff Norbert Michelisz |
Zengo Honda | TBA |
Nika Honda | TBA |
Lada |
Gabriele Tarquini Nicky Catsburg Hugo Valente |
Volvo |
Thed Bjork Fredrik Ekblom |
Munnich Chevrolet | TBA - Tom Coronel could join if ROAL withdraws |
ROAL Chevrolet |
TBA - team needs two full-time entries to continue |
Campos Chevrolet |
John Filippi |
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