Zakhar Slutskiy claims his first TCR Russia pole at Fort Grozniy

Zakhar Slutskiy topped the TCR Russia Qualifying at Fort Grozniy. This was the first pole position for the Carville Racing driver who set the fastest time right at the end of the 20-minute session in his Hyundai i30 N. Slutskiy demoted the LUKOIL Racing Team’s trio of Ivan Lukashevich, Andrej Maslennikov and Egor Orudzhev to second, third and fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s first race.
The reigning champion and current leader Kirill Ladygin set the seventh fastest time in his LADA Vesta Sport, just ahead of his closest rival in the title fight Dmitry Bragin.
The point awarded for the pole position helped Slutskiy to move into third in the standings on equal points with Lukashevich. They are now lying 47 points behind Ladygin and three behind Bragin, while Maslennikov and Pavel Kalmanovich follow in fourth and fifth positions with gaps of 54 and 55 points from the leader.
Kalmanovich was the first on a flying lap, but his provisional fastest time of 1:21.512 didn’t last for long as Slutskiy took the lead briefly six minutes into the session. However, that wasn’t yet the lap time that gave him the pole, because several drivers improved. In the second half of the session, Orudzhev topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:20.076, but with two minutes left on the clock he was demoted to third by his LUKOIL Racing teammates Lukashevich (1:19.962) and Maslennikov (1:19.995) who were the first two drivers to break the 1:20 wall. 
And that was not the end yet, as Slutskiy improved his time in the final minute, winning the pole position with a lap of 1:19.843. The last driver to improve was Egor Fokin who clocked a 1:20.319 and advanced to fifth.
Live streaming of both races will be Saurday at www.tcr-series.com; Race 1 at 11:45, Race 2 at 16:15 local times (10:45 and 15:15 CEST).

Fort Grozniy - Qualifying
1:19.843 Zakhar Slutskiy (Carville Racing, Hyundai i30 N)
1:19.962 Ivan Lukashevich (Lukoil Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N)
1:19.995 Andej Maslennikov (Lukoil Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N)
1:20.075 Egor Orudzhev (Lukoil Racing Team, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:20.319 Egor Fokin (A.M.G. Motorsport, LADA Vesta Sport)

Championship points:
1. K. Ladygin 176 pts; 2. D. Bragin 132; 3. Z. Slutskiy 129

Picture: SMP/Grigory Golyshev