Muller's nephew enters WTCC with privateer Lada

The team have been testing the car, bought from the now defunct Lada Sport team, at their base in Magny-Cours today ahead of a planned two-car entry in the championship.

“This is such an amazing opportunity for me and I really can’t believe it’s happening,” said Ehrlacher, who's also the son of ex-Exagon Motorsport team owner and former racing driver Cathy Muller.

“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.”

WTCC promoter François Ribeiro said: “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."

Ehrlacher has won titles in Mitjet 2L and the French Supertouring Championship and was part of Yvan Muller Racing's LMP3 set-up in Road to Le Mans and ELMS last year.

Ribeiro continued: "Along with Aurelien 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 confirm their second driver in the coming weeks.

2017 WTCC grid so far:

Team	Car	Drivers
Honda JAS	Honda Civic	Tiago Monteiro Norbert Michelisz Ryo Michigami
Volvo Polestar	Volvo S60	Thed Bjork Nicky Catsburg Nestor Girolami
Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen C-Elysee	Tom Chilton John Filippi Mehdi Bennani
Munnich Motorsport	Citroen C-Elysee	Rob Huff
ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	Tom Coronel
Zengo Motorsport	Honda Civic	Aurelien Panis
RC Motorsport	Lada Vesta	Yann Ehrlacher