Bordás and Rosso share honours in TCR Spain’s opening

Enric ‘Quique’ Bordás and Juan Ángel Rosso shared honours in TCR Spain’s season opener at Navarra. At the wheel of a Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, the Argentine guest star was leading in both races. On Saturday he had to bow to the superior pace of Bordás’ Monlau Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición, but in Sunday’s race he rejected the assaults of his occasional teammate Álvaro García. These results mean that Rosso is the first leader in the standings, only two points ahead of Bordás. 

Race 1 – Bordás sat on pole, having pipped Rosso by 87 thousandths of a second with a last gasp lap in Q2. Rosso started better and led from Bordás and García; this trio pulled away, with Rosso trying to defend his first place. In lap 4, Bordás overtook Rosso for the lead, but at the same time it was reported that he had been given a five-second penalty for jumping the start. Bordás pushed to build a gap large enough that could annul that penalty, while Rosso was under pressure from García, with Sergio Casalins cruising undisturbed in fourth position.

At the end of lap 11, Bordás had increased his leading margin to 5.6 seconds and eventually took the chequered flag 7.8 seconds before Rosso. Erik Zabala, Bordás’ teammate at Monlau Motorsport, dominated the TCR Cup with his CUPRA DSG.

Race 2 – The Peugeot 308 Racing Cup cars of Antonio Albacete and Marco Aguilera shared the front row of the top-ten reversed grid. At the start, Aguilera led from Albacete who was passed by Rosso during the opening lap and then dropped down the order after clashing with the Argentine’s Audi. Moments later, Rosso stole the lead from Aguilera, who gradually dropped down as he was passed by the more performing cars with sequential gearbox. García moved into P2, and Bordás into P3. García then closed the gap to the leader, and in lap 8 he was only half-a-second behind; however, Rosso increased his pace in the final part of the race and eventually won by 1.6 seconds over García; Bordás completed the podium and Casalins pipped Igor Urien on the line for P4. 

In the battle for the TCR Cup, Aguilera put in a great defensive drive to defend his lead from the assaults of Zabala and managed to beat him on the line by nine tenths.

The championship will resume at Estoril on September 30/October 1.

Navarra – Race 1

1. Enrik Bordás (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 15 laps

2. Juan Ángel Rosso (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 2.808

3. Álvaro García (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 4.684

Navarra – Race 2

1. Juan Ángel Rosso (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 15 laps

2. Álvaro García (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 1.666

3. Enrik Bordás (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 12.101

Championship points

1. JÁ. Rosso, 82 pts; 2. E. Bordás, 80; 3. Á. García, 70 

Picture: TCR Spain/Paco Alcobendas