Esteban Guerrieri controls Mexico finale to grab early points lead

Esteban Guerrieri controlled the third and final FIA TCR World Tour race of the Mexico season opener to grab an early points lead.

The GOAT Racing Honda driver started from pole position and never looked back after a solid start.

Thed Björk slotted in behind Guerrieri from second place on the grid while the Swede’s Lynk & Co Cyan Racing team-mate Yann Ehrlacher bogged down and dropped to ninth place.

The Frenchman climbed the order in the first part of the race and got as high as fifth place until some kind of technical issue saw him suddenly slowing towards the end of the race, finishing 16th in the end.

Hyundai driver Mikel Azcona’s nightmare weekend continued as the Spaniard was involved in a Turn 1 incident and had to pit for repairs, dropping a lap on the leaders to finish 22nd.

Santiago Urrutia made his way past Cupra driver Aurélien Comte for third place on the second lap and then remained close to team-mate Björk throughout the race.

The race was interrupted by a safety car period as local driver Zesati spun off into the barriers.

The race resumed on lap eleven with no major changes to the positions.

Honda driver Ignacio Montenegro drove a strong race from ninth on the grid to snatch fourth place from Comte on lap 15.

Guerrieri won the race with a margin of two seconds over Björk as the chequered flag fell, with Urrutia completing the podium.

Montenegro came home in fourth ahead of Ma Qing Hua and Michel Jourdain Jr who once again was the top TCR Mexico driver.

Rodrigo Rejón, John Filippi and Julio Rejón rounded off the top ten.

Reigning champion Norbert Michelisz’s troubles continued in Race 3 as he finished 12th ahead of BRC Hyundai team-mate Néstor Girolami.

Guerrieri heads the standings on 95 points ahead of Björk on 83 points and Urrutia on 69 points.

The next FIA TCR World Tour race takes place Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia in Spain on June 13-15.