Ignacio Montenegro and Team Argentina led the Touring Car Qualifying race on Saturday flag-to-flag, but not without drama.
As he led in his Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR, Montenegro was assessed a five-second penalty for jumping the race start. Additionally, the Safety Car was deployed halfway through the contest and nullified the lead that the Argentinian had built.
However by the checkered flag, Montenegro had narrowly regained a 5.3-second advantage over Team Spain’s Eric Gene Casanovas to capture the win and start Sunday’s final race from the pole position once again.
While Casanovas went on to finish second in his CUPRA Leon VZ TCR, Adam Kout from Team Czechia was elevated to third in the closing minutes after two cars battling for the position were assessed drive-through penalties for violating track limits. Kout’s finish marks the first time a Hyundai Elantra N TCR has broken into the top-three this weekend.
The comeback story of the day, however, goes to Team Brazil’s Raphael Reis. Reis started second on the grid, but was hit on the first lap and suffered significant damage that dropped him to the back of the field. As other competitors were dealt mechanical issues or penalties, Reis made up enormous ground to bring his CUPRA home in fourth.
Touring Car wraps up its FIA Motorsport Games on Sunday with the main race at 9:45. Live timing for the 30 minute plus one-lap race is available here.