Ladygin is TCR Russia champion, as Gavrilov wins race 1

They made it! Kirill Ladygin and LADA Sport Rosneft secured the TCR Russia title one race before the end of the season, giving the LADA Vesta its first national crown. In a sunny morning at Fort Groznyi, P7 in Race 1 was enough for the veteran Russian driver to bring home the championship. 
The race was relatively uneventful until the very last stages and saw the third win of the season for Klim Gavrilov, in the VRC-Team Hyundai i30 N. The young driver from Saint-Petersburg kept the advantage of the pole position in the first corner and pulled away, followed by the LADA of Mikhail Mityaev and the AG Team CUPRA of Pavel Kalmanovich. The three men filled the final podium. Rustam Fatkhutdinov, in the AG Team Audi was the fourth in the leading quartet until the last lap, when a technical issue slowed him and brought his car to a halt after taking the flag. He was then demoted to P6 by Dmitry Bragin – who abdicated after four consecutive TCR Russia titles – and Ivan Lukashevich. 
Ladygin ran in P9 for most of the race, which was not enough to secure the title, but was the able to move into P7 in the closing laps, benefitting from the fierce battle between Carville Racing teammates Andrey Radoshnov and Grigory Burlutskyi and LUKOIL Racing’s Alexey Dudukalo who were fighting door-to-door. 
Race 2, the last round of the season, is due to start at 16:45 local time (15:45 CEST); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. 

Race 1
1. Klim Gavrilov (VRC-Team, Hyundai i30 N), 17 laps
2. Mikhail Mityaev (LADA Sport Rosneft, LADA Vesta Sport), 12.569
3. Pavel Kalmanovich (AG Team, CUPRA), 16.995
4. Dmitry Bragin (TIF Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 23.223
5. Ivan Lukashevich (LUKOIL Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N), 23.411

Championship points
1. Kirill Ladygin 200 pts; 2. Klim Gavrilov 173; 3. Aleksey Dudukalo 166

Picture: Grigory Golyshev