Ignacio Montenegro took his third win in a row in the Rookies’ classification at Zolder, but the Argentinian start rued a bad start which cost him another shot at fighting for the podium in his ALM Motorsport Honda Civic.

The 19-year-old started from fifth on the grid, but bogged down at the start and fell to near-last, with only the similarly slow-starting CUPRA of Giovanni Scamardi behind him, but did well to recover to finish in seventh place by the end of the race, especially at the hard-to-pass Zolder circuit.

“It was really tough at the start,” said Montenegro. “The lights went out really quickly, and I was only just starting the procedure. After that, my pace was good, but it’s very hard to pass here – it’s not a very big track and we have some very fast corners. We have quick pace, but it’s also about making sure we have a good start.

“I need to practice a bit more, as I don’t have much experience with this car, or with these tracks compared to my experience in TCR South America.”