Following the announcement that Lada would be withdrawing its factory-supported WTCC team from the 2017 championship, the race-winning and highly developed Vesta’s looked to be redundant ahead of this season. However, France-based RC Motorsport has agreed to field two of the cars throughout the forthcoming season.
Based at Magny-Cours in France, near to Oreca who developed the Vesta’s turbocharged engine, the RC Motorsport team has already signed Yann Ehrlacher, nephew of four-time WTCC champion Yvan Muller, on the back of several impressive testing performances, two national championships in France and a class win in the European Le Mans Series last season driving for Yvan Muller Racing.
“While we’re pleased a solution has been found for the race-winning Vestas to continue competing in the WTCC, we’re also very excited at the prospect of welcoming another talented rookie in Yann Ehrlacher, who has been trained by Yvan Muller, no less, and has been really fast in testing,” stated François Ribeiro, head of Eurosport Events, the WTCC promoter. “Along with Aurélien Panis, the WTCC has two more young drivers with big potential and it will be interesting to watch their progress and performances in 2017 when I am sure they will both make their mark on the championship.”
RC Motorsport will reveal the identity of its second driver in the coming weeks.
