It’s LADA 1-2-3 in Grozny Race 1, but Bragin is champion

The LADA Sport Rosneft claimed a dominant 1-2-3 finish in TCR Russia’s penultimate race of the season at Fort Grozny, while a sixth position was enough for Dmitry Bragin to be crowned Russian champion for three years running.
At the start, Mikhail Grachev’s LADA Vesta took the lead from pole position followed by the sister car of Kirill Ladygin, Anton Badoev’s Cupra and the third LADA of Vladimir Sheshenin. Bragin was fifth, ahead of the Lukoil Racing duo of Ivan Lukashevich and Aleksey Dudukalo.
Before the end of lap 1, Sheshenin overtook Badoev and completed the LADA trio in the lead, Bragin followed him and moved up to fourth.
The three LADA cars pulled away, while Bragin put in a great defensive drive to reject Badoev’s assaults; in the second half of the race Lukashevich overtook Dudukalo and joined the Bragin-Badoev fight.
Nothing changed until the final lap, when Bragin, knowing he had secured the title, lifted the throttle and let Badoev and Lukashevich through; then on the final corner, Grachev handed victory to Ladygin who can still aim to finish second in the championship as he lies fourth, four points behind Dudukalo and two behind Lukashevich.
The second race will start tomorrow at 13:30 local time (12:30 CET); live streaming at www.tcr-series.tv.