Ignacio Montenegro has taken a long overdue first win in the TCR Europe series in an action-packed second race at Spa-Francorchamps, that is except up front where after passing team-mate Levente Losonczy on lap two, the Argentinian was able to control the race.

Starting third on the grid, Montenegro was able to dive up to second place despite a challenge from the MA:GP Lynk & Co of Viktor Andersson into La Source, before applying the pressure on his ALM Motorsport Honda team-mate Losonczy, passing him into La Source at the start of lap two.

Montenegro then powered on to claim his first win of the year, after having finished twice on the podium earlier this season.

“Finally we got it!” said Montenegro. “Since the year started, we’ve always been there on the podium but we’ve been very unlucky. We had some issues in Zolder and Salzburgring, and we also had some issues in qualifying yesterday, so I’m not too happy with how my season has been, but finally we’ve taken the win and showed everyone our real pace.”

Andersson passed team-mate Losonczy on lap two, but was unable to challenge Montenegro for the lead, with the 19-year-old controlling the pace of the race to take both the overall victory, as well as his eighth win from eight in the Rookies classification.

“We always have a team meeting before the race to discuss, and at ALM we can race with no team orders, but we’re just to be clean as possible. I was attacking Levi (Losonczy) and he made a mistake in Turn 1 and that’s why I was able to overtake him, and after that it was a very calm race from my side.

“I was looking in the mirror checking lap by lap how far was Andersson and how many seconds behind he was. I was trying to get into a good rhythm, and then on the last lap it was a bit crazy as it was fully wet in the final sector and I was on slick tyres.”

Montenegro’s win moves him back up to third in the drivers’ championship ahead of team-mate Ruben Volt, and just 26 points away from the leading duo of Aurélien Comte and Franco Girolami.

In the Rookies category, Montenegro leads Santiago Concepción by 129 points with 180 remaining, meaning it’s possible he can secure this title next time out at Brno.