Gavrilov to start from pole position at Kazan Ring
Klim Gavrilov claimed his second pole position of the season in TCR Russia’s fourth race meeting at Kazan Ring. The VRC Team’s driver emerged as the fastest of the pack in both Q1 and Q2, at the wheel of his Audi RS 3 LMS. He will share the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Race 1 with the Lukoil Racing Hyundai i30 N of Ivan Lukashevich, while Andrej Maslennikov and Irek Minnakhmetov will fill the second row.
Kirill Ladygin, fifth fastest was the best placed of the title contenders, while Aleksey Dudukalo qualified in 10th position and the current leader Dmitry Bragin in 12th.
In Q1, Gavrilov posted the fastest lap of 1:26.622 in the two final minutes and demoted Maslennikov (1:26.751) to second; Pavel Kalmanovich (1:26.816) and Ladygin (1:26.996) were the only other drivers who completed a lap under the 1:27 mark, while Lukashevich (1:27.001) ranked in fifth position. Grigoriy Burlutskiy, Dudukalo, Mikhail Mityaev, Minnakhmetov and Mikhail Grachev rounded off the top ten for Q2, while Anton Badoev (who was only 8 thousandths of a second slower than Grachev) and Bragin did not make the cut.
In Q2, Lukashevich posted a provisional fastest lap of 1:26.970, but that was beaten by Maslennikov’s 1:26.709 and Gavrilov’s 1:26.458. However, on his second attempt the Lukoil Racing driver improved to 1:26.666 and moved up into second.
The first race will start tomorrow at 12:15 local time (11:15 CET); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.
Qualifying
1. 1:26.458 – Klim Gavrilov (VRC Team, Audi RS 3 LMS)
2. 1:26.666 – Ivan Lukashevich (Lukoil Racing, Hyundai i30 N)
3. 1:26.709 – Andrej Maslennikov (Lukoil Racing, CUPRA)
4. 1:26.996 – Irek Minnakhmetov (Tschingiskhan Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
5. 1:27.036 – Kirill Ladygin (LADA Sport Rosneft, LADA Vesta Sport)
Championship points
1. Bragin 96 pts; 2. Dudukalo 93; 3. Ladygin 89
