The Lada Vesta TCR made its debut at the Nordschleife at the third VLN race. The premiere failed due to technical problems and the participation at the next race again did not prove to be successful for Lubner Motorsport after an accident. Giving up is not an option – the team around Anja and Mirko Lubner will start a new attempt at the Barbarossapreis.
“It is true that it didn’t go as we expected”, admitted Team Principle Mirko Lubner. “Our first two races did not run according to plan. But we are far away from burying our head in the sand now.”
The participation of the Lada Vesta TCR is a personal concern of Lubner, last but not least as he has celebrated big successes with the Russian brand. The date of issue on his driver licence shows the year 1994. He took the title in the Trabant-Lada-Racing Cup right away. One year later, he was appointed junior works driver. “I started to be involved in motorsport quite late”, says Lubner. “When I was young, I concentrated onto weightlifting, I was even member of the national youth team. It was then my father Heiner, a great racer in the GDR era, who convinced me of finally starting to compete in races.” Three more titles in the championship followed.
When, after the Vesta, Lada announced the TCR project in the touring car world championship, Lubner was immediately excited: “The contact with Lada has always remained in place. And when the TCR car was launched, I quickly got the confirmation that we would be the first team out of Russia to get one of those.”
Lubner is frequently faced with the question whether the TCR-Vesta is a race car that has to be taken seriously. And as an experience racing team owner, he can only give the affirmative answer with a big smile on his face. “That is beyond any doubt. The four-cylinder turbo engine is supplied by Oreca. And even if the figures on the bodywork parts are in Cyrillic, everything is really very solid.”
Comprehensive repairs had to be carried out after their first lap accident at VLN race four. The delivery of the necessary parts, though, was quite slow. Meantime, the Vesta is rebuilt and underwent a comprehensive test in Most. Lubner himself was driving the car in this test. “We completed many kilometres and encountered no problem at all”, he says. “So we can now proceed to the next step at the Nordschleife.”
For the Barbarossapreis, Lukas Thiele and Andreij Sidorenko, Lada Sport Deutschland boss, will share the cockpit. It is their target to collect data in racing conditions – and to finally take the chequered flag. “That is our main focus”, says Lubner. “The result is completely of secondary importance.”
