Bragin and Grachev top Qualifying at NRing

Dmitry Bragin’s Audi RS3 LMS and Mikhail Grachev’s LADA Vesta TCR will start from the front row in TCR Russia’s Round 5 at the NRing of Nizhniy Novgorod.
In what was a competitive 20-minute session, five different drivers alternated on top of the timesheet. After the Lukoil Racing’s trio of Aleksey Dudukalo, Klim Gavrilov and Ivan Lukaschevich had improved the fastest time, Grachev was the first one to break the 1:21 wall, posting a lap of 1:20.988 that placed him first.
Halfway through the session Bragin went faster, clocking a 1:20.423 that seemed good enough for the pole, but it was not over yet. Grachev’s LADA Sport teammate Kirill Ladygin, Roman Golikov in his Volkswagen Golf GTI, Dudukalo and Grachev (twice) all improved and reduced the gap, threatening Bragin’s first place.
This was enough to convince the TAIF Motorsport’s driver to make a further attempt that resulted in the fastest lap of the day 1:20.184; that was all Bragin needed to stay ahead of Grachev who eventually improved again to 1:20.314.
Behind them, it was a matter of hundredths, with only half a second covering the positions between third and tenth: Dudukalo (1:20.675), LADA Sport’s Vladimir Sheshenin (1:20.821), Ladygin (1:20.880), Golikov (1:20.971), Lukaschevich (1:21.004) in his SEAT León DSG, the other SEAT of Grigoriy Burlutskiy (1:21.014), Gavrilov (1:21.056) and Irek Minnakhmetov’s Audi (1:21.175).
The first race will start tomorrow at 11:45 local time (10:45 CET); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.