Kalmanovich beats Bragin to win TCR Russia’s last race
AG Team’s Pavel Kalmanovich was the winner of the second race at Sochi that concluded the 2021 TCR Russia championship. Kalmanovich won the pole thanks to the draw that reversed the top seven positions from yesterday’s Qualifying and led from the lights to the flag, resisting the assaults from Dmitry Bragin for most of the race. This was Kalmanovich’s third win the of the season at the wheel of his CUPRA.
The start was again very hot, with four cars – Kalmanovich’s, Egor Fokin’s, Artem Slutskiy’s and Grigory Burlutskiy’s – running abreast into Turn 1, with Bragin trying to squeeze among them. Bragin and Slutskiy made contact, creating a commotion that saw Burlutskiy, Fokin and Egor Orudzhev going wide in avoidance and dropping several positions.
Kalmanovich emerged as the leader, from Race 1 winner Mikhail Mityaev, Bragin, the freshly-crowned champion Kirill Ladygin and Artem Slutskiy. The latter was soon forced to retire for the consequences of the collision with Bragin.
Bragin passed Mityaev for second and began chasing Kalmanovich. Further down the order, Lukoil Racing colleagues Ivan Lukashevich and Egor Orudzhev advanced to fourth and fifth ahead of Ladygin; in lap 8, Andrej Maslennikov and Zakhar Slutskiy collided while fighting for P8 and so dropped to 11th and 12th.
Bragin’s Audi stuck on the tail of Kalmanovich’s CUPRA but couldn’t find a way through and Bragin had to settle in second position, three tenths behind the winner. The result meant that Bragin seized his second place in the standings behind Ladygin, while Mityaev’s third position in the race enabled the LADA Sport driver to complete the championship podium three points ahead of Maslennikov.
Sochi – Race 2
1. Pavel Kalmanovich (AG Team, CUPRA), 11 laps
2. Dmitry Bragin (TAIF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS) 0.315
3. Mikhail Mityaev (LADA Sport Rosneft, LADA Vesta Sport), 0.916
4. Egor Orudzhev (Lukoil Racing Team, Audi RS 3 LMS), 6.272
5. Ivan Lukashevich (Lukoil Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N), 9.385
Championship points
1. K. Ladygin 227 pts; 2. D. Bragin 198; 3. M. Mityaev 175
Picture: Grigory Golyshev
