Ignacio Montenegro: “We have to understand the tyres to win”

RC2 Racing driver Ignacio Montenegro completed a solid first day at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, representing Argentina in the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games.

The Argentinian Honda driver was fastest in the first free practice session, setting the best lap time of the day for the Touring Car category, and finished in fourth place in the second free practice where he focused on longer runs.

Montenegro knows the Valencia circuit very well, as he has been competing in both the TCR Europe and the TCR Spain this year.

“I feel really good as I have had the opportunity to race in both the European championship and also the Spanish and I’ve been doing really well, achieving achieved a victory, a second place, a couple of pole positions and we have done really well,” Montenegro told TouringCarTimes.

Despite the good results of the day, the 19-year old remains cautious: “I don’t want to get overconfident, here we don’t use the Kuhmo, like in all the TCR series, we have the Pirelli, which is a softer tyre, so we are trying to comprehend how it works.

“We only had the FP1 and the FP2 to understand how the tyre works in this car and see what is best for the Honda,” explained Montenegro. “We have just 12 tyres for the whole weekend, it’s not a lot, but the touring cars, as they are FWD, we wear the tyres less.

“In the first practice things went well, in the second practice we did some longer runs to see how the tyre degrades.”

Montenegro is aiming for the overall victory in the FIA Motorsport Games: “My target for the weekend is winning, this is what we came for. Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to win and, when one doesn’t win, one learns.

“I’m going to give it all, the rivals are very competitive, but if the car responds I will go for the top.”