Ladygin wins and Bragin retakes the points lead

Kirill Ladygin and Dmitri Bragin delivered a thrilling fight for the victory in TCR Russia’s Race 2 at the Smolensk Ring. Eventually, the LADA driver prevailed overtaking his rival after their cars clashed a couple of times and claimed his second victory of the season that relaunched his odds in the title fight.
Bragin resisted to Ivan Lukashevich’s assault and by finishing second retook the lead in the standings, three points clear of Aleksey Dudukalo and seven ahead of Ladygin.
At the start, Bragin took the lead from the pole position, followed by his teammate Pavel Kalmanovich, Ladygin, Anton Badoev, Klim Gavrilov, Lukashevich and Dudukalo who had made a poor start. It was a turbulent first lap: Gavrilov made a mistake and lost a couple of position, while Race 1 winner Andrej Maslennikov was sent into a spin and rejoined at the back.
Soon Lukashevich overtook Ladygin for third and then they both passed Kalmanovich moving up to second and third. Ladygin stole second from Lukashevich and began to close the gap from Bragin. On lap 9, Ladygin took the lead after a couple of contacts, but on the following lap Maslennikov and Mikhail Grachev crashed and the safety car was deployed.
When the race resumed, with four laps left, the light rain that was falling from the beginning of the race intensified a bit. Bragin managed to resist Lukashevich’s attack at Turn 1; the latter lost momentum and Kalmanovich took the opportunity to pass him to secure his first podium result in the championship. Dudukalo finished sixth, behind Lukashevich and Gavrilov.
Rounds 5 and 6 of TCR Russia will be run at Kazan on July 13/14.

Race 2
1. Krill Ladygin (LADA Sport Rosneft, LADA Vesta Sport), 18 laps
2. Dmitri Bragin (TAIF Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 1.650
3. Pavel Kalmanovich (TAIF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 7.631
4. Ivan Lukashevich (Lukoil Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 8.179
5. Klim Gavrilov (Carville Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 9.625

Championship points
1. Bragin 96 pts; 2. Dudukalo 93; 3. Ladygin 89