Maiden pole for Egor Ourdzhev on his home racetrack

St. Petersburg-born Egor Orudzhev claimed his maiden pole position in TCR Russia at his home racetrack, the Igora Drive.
The 25-year-old driver of the Lukoil Racing Team jumped on top of the timesheet in the second half of the Qualifying session when his Audi RS 3 LMS completed a lap in 1:38.421 and then improved to 1:38.179 that was good enough for the pole. 
The first driver to break the 1:40 barrier was Aydar Nuryev who was clocked at 1:39.778, but he was soon ousted by Kirill Ladygin’s 1:39.433. Dmitry Bragin set the next provisional fastest lap of 1:39.227 that was then beaten by Ivan Lukashevich’s 1:39.112. Then, Orudzhev began his own show and was not to be beaten.
Behind him there was a fierce battle for the other positions. Egor Fokin moved into P2 with a lap of 1:39.112 but Nuryev’s last attempt of 1:39.039 demoted him to third. However, Mikhail Mityaev – whose previous fastest lap of 1:38.530 had been disallowed for track-limit infringement – became second fastest with a lap of 1:38.369.
Bragin was then able to improve once again to 1:39.028 that was good enough to rank third, beating Nuryev by 11 thousandths of a second.
Ladygin, who is the leader of the standings, qualified sixth, one seconds off the pole, while Pavel Kalmanovich who is currently second in the points will start Race 1 from P8.   
Live streaming of both races will be on Sunday at www.tcr-series.com; Race 1 at 11:45, Race 2 at 16:15 local times (10:45 and 15:15 CEST).

Igora Drive - Qualifying
1:38.170 Egor Orudzhev (Lukoil Racing Team, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:38.369 Mikhail Mityaev (LADA Sport Rosneft, LADA Vesta Sport)
1:39.028 Dmitry Bragin (TAIF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:39.039 Aydar Nuryev (AG Team. Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:39.112 Egor Fokin (A.M.G. Motorsport, LADA Vesta Sport)

Championship points:
1. K. Ladygin 75 pts; 2. P. Kalmanovich 52; 3. D. Bragin 51

Picture: SMP