Montenegro wins one and loses one in TCR Spain at Valencia

Ignacio Montenegro was the first under the chequered flag in both the TCR Spain races at Valencia, but then he was stripped of the win in Race 1 by a penalty for an incident with Eric Gené that elevated Jenson Brickley to the first position.

This enabled the Briton – who finished third in Race 2 behind Montenegro and Gené – to retain his leadership in the standings, 18 points clear of the Argentine. The third contender in the title fight, Erik Zabala, has now a gap of 36 points.  

Race 1 – With a last lap of 1:40.373, Gené had taken the pole beating Montenegro by one tenth and Nicolas Taylor by three, with Brickely in P4, half-a-second slower. Gené made good use of the pole and led the field, while Montenegro had to fight for keeping Taylor behind; Jonathan Engtsröm stalled on P6 and set off in 15^thposition. Up front, Gené built a 1.5-second margin over Montenegro, while Taylor struggled to defend the third position ahead of Brickley. In lap 7, Montenegro closed in on Gené; behind them Brickley moved up into third as Taylor limped to the pits with a broken front suspension and retired. The battle for the lead heated up and in lap 11 Gené and Montenegro came together, with the young Spaniard spinning off and out of the race. Montenegro continued and took the chequered flag twelve seconds ahead of Brickley, with Zabala in third place and Engström recovering up to eighth. However, Montenegro was handed a 25-second penalty for the collision with Gené and dropped to sixth, while Brickley, Zabala and Sandro Pelatti were promoted to first, second and third.

Race 2 – Sven Karuse and René Povlsen shared the front row of the top ten reversed grid; Karuse stalled at the start and Pelatti sprinted from P4 to the lead ahead of Povlsen and Montenegro who had jumped from ninth on the grid to third. During the first lap, Povlsen was passed in sequence by Montenegro, Taylor, Brickley, Zabala and Gené. At the beginning of lap 2, Povlsen spun at T1, while Zabala overtook Brickley for fourth. One lap later, Taylor passed Pelatti for second just before Engström’s Honda stopped on the track prompting the safety car into action. Racing resumed in lap 6, with Pelatti dropping several places as he was passed by Zabala, Brickley, and Gené. Montenegro was able to build a gap, while Taylor was chased by Zabala, Brickley and Gené. In lap 9, Gené muscled his way past Brickley for P4 and in the following lap he overtook Zabala and Taylor, advancing to second. Another battle followed for the third place, with Brickley moving ahead of Taylor and Zabala. Miguel Ángel Romero took advantage from the fight to pass both Taylor and Zabala. Montenegro won from Gené, Brickley and Romero, while Zabala after making contact with Pelatti pitted during the last lap and was classified 12^th.

TCR Spain’s season finale be at Barcelona on 22/24 November.

Valencia – Race 1

1. Jenson Brickley (Brickley Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 16 laps
2. Erik Zabala (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 5.876
3. Sandro Pelatti (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 8.802

Valencia – Race 2

1. Ignacio Montenegro (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 15 laps
2. Eric Gené (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 6.379
3. Jenson Brickley (Brickley Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 13.347

Championship points

1. J. Brickley, 208 pts; 2. I. Montenegro, 190, 203; 3. E. Zabala, 174

Picture: TCR Spain