Maslennikov secures pole position at Moscow Raceway

With an impressive last lap in Q2 at the Moscow Raceway, Andrej Maslennikov secured his second pole position in TCR Russia. The Lukoil Racing driver and his CUPRA completed a lap in 1:41.825, outpacing the rest of the field, as nobody else was able to go under the 1:42 mark.
The first three drivers in the standings, Dmitry Bragin, Klim Gavrilov and Kirill Ladygin qualified in third, second and sixth positions respectively. Ladyigin’s teammate at Rosneft LADA Sport, Mikhail Grachev did not take part in either the free practice and Qualifying as he was unwell. Mikhail Mityaev was called by the team to replace him, he qualified in tenth position, but will start Race 1 from the pit lane because of the change from the RUMOS Racing SEAT León he uses to drive to the LADA Vesta Sport.
At the beginning of Q1, TAIF Motorsport teammates Pavel Kalmanovich and Bragin set the pace, but then Gavrilov (1:42.753), Aleksey Dudukalo (1:42.724) and Maslennikov (1:42.406) were the first to break the 1:43 wall and followed one another on top of the timesheet. Among those who improved were Grigoriy Burlutskiy (1:42.849), Ladygin (1:42.870) and Ivan Chubarov (1:42.777), but none of them was able to make the top-three. Eventually Bragin placed himself in second position with a last lap if 1:42.684, while Ivan Lukashevich and Kalmanovich were the last drivers allowed to Q2 in ninth and tenth positions.
Q2 began with Gavrilov setting a provisional fastest lap of the day of 1:42.085, with Dudukalo (1:42.158), Bragin (1:42.489) and Maslennikov (1:42.546) in second, third and fourth positions. Only a few improved on their second attempt: Ladygin (1:42.604) moved provisionally into the fifth place, but was demoted by Burlutskiy’s 1:42.483 and Bragin’s 1:42.136, as they provisionally placed themselves in fourth and second respectively. But Maslennikov had the last word and secured pole position with a lap of 1:41.825.
The first race will start tomorrow at 12:55 local time (11:55 CET); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.    

Qualifying
1. 1:41.825 – Andrej Maslennikov (Lukoil Racing, CUPRA)
2. 1:42.085 – Klim Gavrilov (VRC Team, Audi RS 3 LMS)
3. 1:42.136 – Dmitry Bragin (TAIF Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N)
4. 1:42.158 – Akeksey Dudukalo (Lukoil Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
5. 1:42.483 – Grigoriy Burlutskiy (Carville Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)

Championship points
1. Bragin 152 pts; 2. Gavrilov 147; 3. Ladygin 140