- The four drivers of the team showed great consistency in the final meeting in Barcelona, with a record number of entrants: 26 vehicles representing 10 nationalities.
- Erik Zabala took third place on Sunday after a performance that showed his great maturity behind the wheel and made up for the technical problem that prevented him from repeating on the podium the day before. The Navarrese finished third overall and in the Junior category in his debut in the senior category.
- Èric Gené makes the biggest comebacks of the weekend, recovering from 25th on the grid to 5th and 6th respectively in the two races. Sandro Pelatti shines in qualifying and contributes, together with Miguel A. Romero, with his points to the Monlau Motul teams’ title.
- “We are very proud of the TCR Spain team title, which comes as a result of the contribution of every mechanic, engineer and driver. Thanks also to our technical sponsors and CUPRA, without whom it would have been impossible to repeat this feat in such a competitive series,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of Monlau Motorsport.
Monlau Motul said goodbye to the 2024 TCR Spain season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya by revalidating the TCR Spain TEAM trophy, which rewards the best team of the year. The Barcelona team, which remained in the battle for the drivers’ title until the end with Erik Zabala, said goodbye with a podium for the Navarrese on Sunday (3rd), two great comebacks by Èric Gené, one of them up to the top 5, and a great performance by Sandro Pelatti in qualifying, which even earned him Sunday’s pole position . Transferred these results to the final points table, Zabala, Gené and Romero finished the absolute and Junior championships in 3rd, 4th and 5th positions, respectively, while Pelatti did the same in a magnificent 6th place, which endorses the great consistency of all of them throughout the season.
The TCR Spain closed the curtain on its fourth historic season in Barcelona, the home race for Monlau Motul and CUPRA, and did so with the best entry in the young history of the championship: a total of 26 touring cars on the grid with drivers representing 10 nationalities. Competitiveness was therefore expected to be at its peak. This fact was clear from the free practice sessions, which the four Monlau Motul drivers focused on setting up the CUPRA León VZ TCRs for the two races of the event, which would share a prize pool of 80 points.
When it came time for qualifying, luck was mixed for the team representatives. A technical misfortune prevented Èric Gené from completing a timed lap, which relegated him to 25th place on the grid. Better luck for Èrik Zabala, 4th, Miguel A. Romero, 6th, and Sandro Pelatti, 11th, who advanced to the long-awaited Q2. In this selection of the top 12, Zabala posted a very similar time to the opening segment (1:50.638), good for 7th place, Romero finished 9th (1:51.269) and Pelatti, 10th (1:51.386), which would put the Monlau Motul colours on the front row of Sunday’s race.
A few hours later, and under a clear sky but a very cold track (15ºC), the first scoring event took place, scheduled for the usual 25 minutes plus one lap. Erik Zabala made a magnificent start, beating his two rivals for the title and consolidating his podium position, which kept his chances of lifting the TCR Spain alive. However, when he was close to the podium and everyone was beginning to calculate the points he would take away from his opponents in the standings, a transmission problem precipitated his retirement and, with it, reduced his chances of winning the title to a minimum. Èric Gené, on the other hand, had better luck, as he made a comeback on the day, recovering from 25th place to 5th at the chequered flag. Monlau Motul’s service record was completed by 14th place for Sandro Pelatti and 15th for Miguel A. Romero.
On Sunday, the reverse-grid race based on qualifying times revived the Monlau Motul drivers’ chances of seeing out the year with a great result. Sandro Pelatti defended his pole position as best he could , having finished tenth in qualifying , although he soon had to succumb to the intensity of the attacks from outsiders in the most experienced group of the year, finishing 13th. It was a similar story for Miguel A. Romero, who suffered a collision with a rival that severely hampered his chances of finishing the year in the top 5 – the Andalusian finished 11th. Erik Zabala, on the other hand, repeated the performance of the previous day, but this time without mechanical problems, holding off the attacks of Ruben Volt, first, and then the new TCR Spain champion, Ignacio Montenegro, to seal a third place with a taste of victory. Once again, Èric Gené put in an excellent performance, climbing from 25th to 6th place to score key points that secured the teams’ title for Monlau Motul.
David Simón , Team Manager of Monlau Motul, praised the performance of the team’s drivers in the home race: “We work with the idea of training present and future talents in sporting, mechanical and engineering, and we end the year with the feeling of having fulfilled our duty. Erik Zabala has demonstrated this weekend his status as a tireless worker, recovering from Saturday’s bad luck with a new dose of consistency. If he hadn’t retired, he would undoubtedly have fought for the title until the last lap on Sunday. Èric Gené, for his part, has had two great races that prove his great maturity as a driver, since in addition to pure speed he knows how to manage races very intelligently. Miguel A. Romero has had a weekend with many unforeseen events that have hampered his performance, especially today after a collision with a rival that has kept him out of the fight for the podium. Finally, Sandro Pelatti returns to Italy with a magnificent performance in qualifying in the saddlebags and two very hard-fought races in the peloton.”
Jaime Serrano , CEO of Monlau Motul, summed up the team’s performance as a whole: “First of all, I would like to congratulate the promoters of the TCR Spain for the great work they are doing. The 26 vehicles on the grid this weekend show that things are being done very well. For our part, we are very proud of the category’s team title, a merit to which each mechanic, engineer and driver has contributed their own grain of sand. Thanks also to our technical sponsors and to CUPRA for their help, without which it would have been impossible to repeat this feat in such a competitive competition.”
The final standings for the 2024 TCR Spain drivers conclude with the Monlau Motul drivers in training: Erik Zabala 3rd (205 pts.), Èric Gené 4th (158), Miguel A. Romero 5th (124) and Sandro Pelatti 6th (113). The situation is identical in the Junior division, with Zabala again 3rd (238 pts.), Gené 4th (181) and Romero 5th (169). In the final table of the TEAM TCR Spain Trophy, Monlau Motul revalidates the title won in 2023 with 381 points, 17 more than its closest pursuer.
