Battle for the TCR drivers’ title rages on in Russia
The TCR International Series will stop in Sochi, Russia, for the seventh event of the season. Once again the top drivers in the championship are expected to fight hard, but local men Sergey Afanasyev, Mikhail Grachev and wild card Aleksey Dudukalo will be eager to obtain a prestigeous result in front of their home crowd.
Gianni Morbidelli enters the event in the “summer capital of Russia” leading the championship, 18 points clear of title rival Stefano Comini. The WestCoast Racing driver will have to carry 20 kilos of ballast, 10 less than team-mate Kevin Gleason.
WestCoast Racing Team Principal Greger Petersson believes that the combination of a new circuit and the success ballast will hamper the chances of the Honda Civic TCRs: “The Sochi Autodrom is completely unknown territory for us and it’s hard to judge the circuit based on what we’ve studied,” said Petersson. “In addition to that, we have to consider the fact that we will be carrying the most ballast of any TCR team having performed the best at the Salzburgring, so we will go for good points finishes in Russia.”
Nevertheless, the Swede predicts some exciting and close racing for the Russian weekend: “I think it’s a very even game and there are as many as eight drivers who are consistently quick and are capable of winning. We will need some luck and good fortune to reach the podium on this occasion, but we will obviously try our best.”
Target Competition’s Stefano Comini enters the weekend placed second in the championship. The Swiss driver was in doubt of taking further part in the championship after Salzburgring, but managed to find the budget for Sochi and is eager to take the championship lead back from Morbidelli: “I’m really happy I managed to take part in this race, as sponsors are not easy to find and my budget is still not enough to finish the championship, every race is a question mark. In spite of these struggles, I am willing to work a lot, as the points gap from Morbidelli has grown and I want to take the championship lead back!”
The title battle is so tight that third-placed Pepe Oriola is just four points behind Comini. The Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver was awarded a 10-kilos ballast after scoring 28 points in Austria. The Spaniard is adamant his main focus must be on finishing the races: “I must not lose ground to my championship rivals, so it is important to score as many points as possible,” said Oriola. “The first TCR title will be hardly fought for, so I think consistency will have to be my priority in these moments, although I am not going to renounce anything. If I have the chance to score a podium, of course I will give it my best on track to achieve the result.”
Free Practice 1 is scheduled for 10.00 local time, GMT +1. The second session, which will last 30 minutes as usual, will start at 12.35. Qualifying will take place at 15.10 with the usual format, with a 20-minutes Q1 followed by 10 minutes of Q2, in which the top 12 drivers will battle it out for pole position.
After a shakedown at 9.00, which will last 10 minutes, the two 11-laps races will start at 12.35 and 14.05 respectively.
