Klim Gavrilov pleased to secure overnight advantage

Klim Gavrilov said he was pleased to secure victory in race one at the FIA Motorsport Games as he secured the overnight advantage in the race to secure the Touring Car Cup.

The Russian driver inherited pole position for race one after Luca Engstler’s engine issues but suffered a scare at the start of the green flag lap when his Audi failed to get away from the line.

Luckily he was able to quickly get the car moving before the field had gone past, which ensured that the teenager could take the start from pole.

Keeping his lead at the start, Gavrilov survived an early safety car period to take a comfortable win ahead of Slovakia’s Mat’o Homola although he insisted that it hadn’t been as easy as it might have appeared to those watching on.

“I wouldn’t say it was a dominant victory, because we had struggled to find the speed in practice and qualifying,” he said. “In these kind of races anything can happen, and I’m pleased, because it was a good race for me. I had a very good start and managed to keep Homola behind, but I knew that if he was able to stay right behind me he could take advantage from the slip-streaming and try to pass.

“I pushed as much as I could to pull away from him and keep my own pace until the end.”

Gavrilov’s win means he takes a lead of seven points over Homola into race two of the weekend, with Gilles Magnus – who will start from pole – three points further back in third.

Sunday’s second race will run to 30 mins plus one lap and will see the top 15 drivers score points on a scale of 30-22-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.