Fourth consecutive TCR Russia title for Dmitry Bragin
Dmitry Bragin did it again! The driver from Togliatti clinched a fourth consecutive TCR Russia title, and he did it in style, winning the season’s final race at Sochi.
Bragin started from the front row of the grid, better than pole sitter Grigoriy Burlutskiy, but during the first lap he dropped to third while Klim Gavrilov, one of his rivals in the title fight, took the lead at T3 though driving outside of the track limits, while Burlutskiy took the occasion to move into second. The third contender in the battle for the championship, Kirill Ladygin, was running a distant ninth.
Gavrilov pushed to the limits to create a gap, but at no avail, as he was given a drive through for his daring overtaking manoeuvre and eventually finished the race in ninth position, but was then dropped to 16th after another penalty for track limits.
Although that penalty meant he was champion, Bragin – who was sandwiched in second place between Burlutskiy and Aleksey Dudukalo – did not settle with the result and stole the lead from Burlutskiy on lap 6.
Two laps later, Mikhail Mityaev passed Dudukalo for P3 and the latter found himself chased by Pavel Kalmanovich, Ivan Lukashevich and Andrej Maslennikov. With two laps to go, Dudukalo and Kalmanovich came together and the former dropped to seventh, while Kalmanovich was able to beat Lukashevich and Maslennikov in the final sprint for the fourth position.
Bragin took his third race win of the season from Burlutskiy and Mityaev; in the final standings he preceded Ladygin and Gavrilov by 35 and 41 points respectively. However, these results remain provisional pending an appeal lodged by Gavrilov against the penalties he was given.
Race 2
1. Dmitry Bragin (TAIF Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 11 laps
2. Grigoriy Burlutskiy (Carville Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 0.590
3. Mikhail Mityaev (LADA Sport Rosneft, LADA Vesta Sport), 2.086
4. Pavel Kalmanovich (TAIF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 7.948
5. Ivan Lukashevich (Lukoil Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 8.179
Championship points
1. Bragin 227 pts; 2. Ladygin 192; 3. Gavrilov 186
