Bordás and Montenegro share wins in TCR Spain’s season opener
TCR Spain’s reigning champion Enric Bordás made clear his will to defend the title with an authoritative victory in the first race of the season in Jarama, his first outing at the wheel of the Audi RS 3 LMS run by Auto Club RC2 Vallés. Later, the 2023 TCR South America champion Ignacio Montenegro confirmed his ambitions driving his ALM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FL5 to win Race 2.
Another protagonist came to the fore during the event: Jenson Brickley and his CUPRA Leon VZ raced by his own team. With a pair of second places, Brickley is now second in the standings on equal points with the leader Bordás, while Montenegro is placed third, ten points adrift.
Race 1 – The Audi cars of Bordás and Sergio Casalins filled the front row, with the champion who had won the pole by 0.266 seconds. At the start Bordás and Casalins held the positions ahead of Brickley, Eric Gené and Erik Zabala, but a collision at T1 eliminated the Audi cars of Victor Fernández, Filippo Barberi and Marco Aguilera, with the safety car entering the track. After two laps the race resumed, with Bordás able to pull away, while Casalins was chased by Brickley and Gené. Montenegro was trying to recover after having been delayed by the incident at the start; he overtook Sandro Pelatti for P10, Amalia Vinyes for P9 and Busian Fontan for P8.
The battle for second became red hot in lap 8; Brickley overtook Casalins who was later sent into a spin at T1 by Gené at the beginning of lap 9. Casalins’ Audi could not restart, and the safety car was deployed again. During the neutralization, Gené parked his CUPRA at the end of the pit straight. The green flag was waved for one last lap; Bordás rejected an attempt from Brickley and took the win, with the Briton in second and Zabala third ahead of Álvaro García, while Montenegro got past Miguel Ángel Romero for fifth.
Race 2 – With the top-ten drivers in Qualifying reversed on the grid, Fernández would sit in pole, but the Stewards decided he would start from the pit lane as a penalty for causing the incident at the start of Race 1. The same punishment was imposed to Gené for hitting Casalins. Therefore, Vinyes and Montenegro filled the front row. Vinyes got away well, but Montenegro passed her during the first lap, while Brickley overtook Zabala and Vinyes, moving up to second. Vinyes struggled to defend the third place and lost it to Zabala in lap 3; then she was pushed into a spin by Aguilera, which opened the way to García and Bordás to climb to fourth and fifth respectively, while Vinyes dropped to eighth.
Up front, Montenegro controlled his margin over Brickely, while Zabala continued to keep García behind and Bordás cruised in fifth position. This is the way they finished, while Gené recovered up to seventh.
TCR Spain will move to Portugal for its second event, at Estoril on 20/21 July.
Jarama – Race 1
- Enric Bordás (Auto Club RC2 Vallés, Audi RS 3 LMS), 14 laps
- Jenson Brickley (Brickley Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.931
- Erik Zabala (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 2.182
Jarama – Race 2
- Ignacio Montenegro (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 16 laps
- Jenson Brickley (Brickley Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.607
- Erik Zabala (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 3.796
Championship points
- E. Bordas, 74 pts.; 2. J. Brickley, 74; 3. I. Montenegro, 64
Picture: TCR Spain
