Klim Gavrilov wins a chaotic Race at Igora Drive
Klim Gavrilov was the most disappointed driver after TCR Russia’s season opener at Smolensk, two weeks ago. His brand-new Hyundai i30 N run by VRC-Team suffered from technical issue and he couldn’t make the start in any of the two races.
The young driver from St. Petersburg got his revenge today in the second race on his home racetrack, claiming a brilliant victory after starting from fourth on the reversed grid. It was a chaotic race that saw many of the top drivers involved in incidents that forced them to retire or pit for repairs. Eventually, with both LADA Sport Rosneft men Kirill Ladygin and Mikhail Mityaev out of the race, this played in favour of the LUKOIL Racing Team’s pairing of Aleksey Dudukalo and Ivan Lukashevich who moved into second and fourth in the standings, each one of them one point behind Ladygin and Mityaev respectively.
At the start, Pavel Kalmanovich sprinted from row three when the lights were still red and took the lead from Rustam Fatkhutdinov and Andrej Radoshnov. During the first lap Grigory Burlutskyi and Dmitry Bragin collided while fighting for P5, the former retired, while Bragin pitted to change a rear wheel. Andrej Maslennikov, Ladygin, Mityaev and Lukashevich were in a close fight for P6, but all of a sudden Ladygin’s car slowed and dropped several places.
Gavrilov overtook Radoshnov and Fatkhutdinov, moving into P2, but then Maslennikov and Mityaev came together in lap 4 and the safety car was deployed to recover the former’s Hyundai, while Mityaev returned to the pits. Kalmanovich was given a drive-through for the false start and managed to serve it just before the entrance of the safety car.
The neutralization lasted four laps and when action resumed, Gavrilov pulled away from Radoshnov and Fatkhutdinov who were chased by Lukashevich and Dudukalo. In lap 10, Dudukalo passed Fatkhutdinov for P4 and one lap later Lukashevich stole P2 from Radoshnov. At the same time, Ladygin went off with a broken suspension and collected one of the LADA Sport Rosneft Super Production cars in the process.
Gavrilov took his maiden win of the year, ahead of Lukashevich and Radoshnov who resisted to Dudukalo and claimed his first podium. Kalmanovich and Bragin recovered to finish sixth and 11th respectively.
TCR Russia will resume at Kazan Ring in two-week time, on August 8/9.
Race 2
1. Klim Gavrilov (VRC-Team, Hyundai i30 N), 15 laps
2. Ivan Lukashevich (LUKOIL Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N), 3.161
3. Andrej Radoshnov (Carville Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.649
4. Aleksey Dudukalo (LUKOIL Racing Team, Audi RS 3 LMS), 5.029
5. Rustam Fatkhutdinov (AG Team, Audi RS 3 LMS), 5.799
Championship points
1. Kirill Ladygin 63 pts; 2. Aleksey Dudukalo 62; 3. Mikhail Mityaev 53
Picture: Grigory Golyshev
