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STANDINGS
REGIONAL & NATIONAL
Reigning champion Bragin leads
TAIF Motorsport’s 2016 champion
Dmitry Bragin began the season as the
early points leader with a fourth place
and a win in the two TCR Russia races
at Fort Grozny.
Bragin – who has switched from last
year’s SEAT León to an Audi RS3 LMS –
lost a possible podium in Race 1 after a
collision with Lukoil Racing’s Nikolay
Karamyshev. But in the second race he
made a great start and managed to
keep at bay Vitaliy Dudin’s SEAT.
The first race was dominated by Kiril
Ladygin and Vladimir Sheshenin of
LADA Sport Rosneft. The LADA Vesta
cars ran with a temporary
homologation and before the second
race were given a 45-kilo BoP extra
weight and had their power reduced to
95%.
Bragin leads the standings with 38
points, two more than Ladygin; Aleksey
Dudukalo and Dudin are third and
fourth with gaps of 5 and 7 points
respectively.
Race 1 – Ladygin made a perfect start
from pole, while Sheshenin was
fighting with the SEAT cars of Dudukalo
and Karamyshev and with Bragin’s
Audi.
Sheshenin was able to build a gap and
Karamyshev overtook Bragin for third,
the two made contact and Bragin
dropped to fifth behind Dudukalo.
Positions did not change until lap 10,
when Dudukalo overtook Bragin and
climbed to fourth. In the final part of
the race Dudukalo advanced one more
place by passing Karamyshev who was
being chased by Bragin. On the last lap
Karamyshev was black flagged for the
incident with Bragin, who advanced to
third.
Race 2 – Bragin made a great start from
fifth on the grid and led from
Tolkachev and Dudin who moved up to
second on lap 2. After stalling the
engine at the start, Sheshenin was
recovering, while Dudukalo climbed to
third.
Bragin and Dudin had a close fight for
the lead and eventually Bragin crossed
the line with a 0.6-second margin;
Dudukalo and Karamyshev followed in
third and fourth.
Next event: Rounds 3 & 4, Smolensk
Ring, 27/28 May.
Results
Fort Grozny, Round 1, Saturday 13 May
1. Kirill Ladygin (LADA Vesta); 2.
Vladimir Sheshenin (LADA Vesta); 3.
Aleksey Dudukalo (SEAT León)
Fort Grozny, Round 2, Sunday 14 May
1. Dmitry Bragin (Audi RS3 LMS); 2.
Vitaliy Dudin (SEAT León); 3. Aleksey
Dudukalo (SEAT León)