- The Catalan driver shines at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, the scene of the last round of the TCR Spain preseason, with a pole position, a victory and a second place that gives him runner-up status .
- Sandro Pelatti, debutant in the touring car division with the Spanish team, redeems himself from a technical problem on Saturday with an eighth position in the Sunday event.
- In the F4 Winter Series, Tim Gerhards and Lenny Ried make comebacks and confirm their progress, as well as the good feelings of the team, which is approaching the points zone.
- “ Eric Gené fought and showed clear progression. His performance fills us with excitement and hope for the next edition of the TCR Spain ,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of Monlau Motorsport .
- “ In the F4 Winter Series, both drivers are debutants and these first events will be fundamental for the regular season. Little by little we are growing and getting closer to the top 10, a place where I hope we will settle very soon ,” says David Simón, Team Manager of Monlau Motul Technical School .
Eric Gené was the great protagonist of Monlau Motul Technical School in the farewell weekend of the TCR Spain preseason and the second round of the Formula 4 Winter Series. In the touring car category, the Catalan driver scored a pole position, a victory and a second place in the two scoring races to win the runner-up position. Gené shared the structure this weekend with the experienced Italian Sandro Pelatti, who after suffering technical problems on Saturday completed the meeting with an eighth place. Among the cars, Tim Gerhards and Lenny Ried, starred in three comeback races that closed with a 12th and 23rd place, respectively, as the best results.
Gené, who in Jerez already showed glimpses of his talent at the wheel of a TCR touring car with a pole position and two podiums, arrived in Valencia hungry for victory. This ambitious challenge began to take shape in the free practice, which concluded with the best time, a perfect appetizer for the classification. At this point, the son of the legendary Jordi Gené was also the fastest in Q1 (1:40.735) and in Q2 (1:40.739), combining both regularity and speed to take pole position for the first test. and the maximum amount of points in dispute. Once the race arrived, the driver Monlau Motul dominated the 25 minutes plus one lap at the wheel of his CUPRA León Competimiento.
On Sunday, which included a race with an inverted grid compared to the results of ‘Qualy’ 2, the Sabadell native made a spectacular comeback from ninth starting position to second. All in all, Gené closed only his second weekend of competition in the TCR category with the best feelings ahead of the regular season, which will begin in May.
On this second day finally came the debut of the second driver Monlau Motul in the event, the Italian, Sandro Pelatti, who put aside the technical problems of Saturday to print a very good pace in the race and cross the checkered flag in eighth position .
The Monlau Motul drivers continue to gain experience in F4
Monlau Motul Technical School faced the second event of the F4 Winter Series with the challenge of continuing to accumulate experience for the regular campaign of the Spanish F4. The Dutchman Tim Gerhards demonstrated his evolution at the controls of the Tatuus-Abarth, a car that is new to him, with three races to come back: from 29th starting position to 22nd in the first, from 21st to 12th in the second – his best result of the event – and from 23rd to 16th in the third and final. Lenny Ried had more problems, forced to abandon the first race and doomed to a Sunday of recoveries from late starting positions. The German, also a debutant in the discipline, rose to 27th place in the first Sunday test and climbed 10 positions in the second, where he took the checkered flag in 23rd place.
David Simón , Team Manager of Monlau Motul, highlighted the evolution of the F4 drivers: “ Both are making their debut in the category and these first kilometers they are doing are key for the regular season. Their adaptation to the car is progressing little by little and, on this occasion, both had good races with outstanding comebacks. Tim was close to the points and Lenny, despite the problems in the initial test, also managed to recover a few positions. Little by little we are growing and we are getting closer to the top 10, a place where, I hope we will settle very soon .”
Jaime Serrano , CEO of Monlau Motorsport, valued the performance of the TCR Spain drivers: “ Eric Gené’s result this weekend is magnificent. He starred in some very good races, demonstrating speed, fighting ability and clearly upward progression. His balance in the two events held is very good, and fills us with enthusiasm and hope in order to star, together with our partner CUPRA, in a good season in the TCR Spain. In Valencia we also had the pleasure of having Sandro Pelatti, an experienced driver who helped the team grow, proving competitive and putting in a good performance on Sunday .”
This event at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste puts the finishing touch on the TCR Spain preseason and sees teams and drivers scheduled for May 11 and 12 at the Jarama circuit. The protagonists of the F4 Winter Series, for their part, will rest for two weeks until next March 2 and 3, when the visit to the Motorland Aragón track is scheduled.
