Monlau Motorsport’s Eric Gené celebrated his first podium finish of the year at the Misano World Circuit in the second race, and moves up to third in the drivers’ standings behind the two Clairet brothers, while extending his lead in the 21-and-under trophy.

The 18-year-old Spaniard was attacking race leader Teddy Clairet in the early stages until the pace of his CUPRA Leon VZ TCR fell away, and he ended up defending ahead of other young drivers’ rival Marco Butti to the finish.

“It feels really good. We managed the tyres today as on Saturday we had a puncture, so wanted to make sure I finished the race - as if I want to be in the championship we need to get points,” he said. “It’s a shame about the puncture in Race 1, but we got a lot of points, and we’re now really close to the leader in the championship.

“The team’s done an incredible job all season, the car has been incredible. We’ve struggled a bit with the compensation weight, as we had 30kg in Hockenheim and 30kg here, so I’m really happy about the result.”