Aurélien Comte charges to maiden victory in intense final Monza race

Aurélien Comte charged through from eighth on the grid to claim his first FIA TCR World Tour victory in the second and final race of the weekend at Monza in Italy.

Reversed grid pole sitter Néstor Girolami was immediately challenged into Turn 1 at the start by both Thed Björk and Ignacio Montenegro, with Björk briefly emerging in the lead only for the Cyan Racing driver to hand back the place to Girolami as the Swede had cut through the chicane.

Meanwhile, Comte had already made his way up to fourth place by the end of the first lap.

There was contact between Honda driver Marco Butti and Cupra driver John Filippi at Variante Ascari, sending Filippi off into the gravel and out of the race.

The safety car was called into action as the Cupra was recovered, with the race resuming again on lap three.

Comte made the move for third place on GOAT Racing driver Montenegro at the end of the third lap while heading into Curva Parabolica.

A lap later saw Race 1 winner Norbert Michelisz passing Montenegro at the same spot for fourth place.

SP Competition driver Comte caught Björk and made his way past for second place on lap seven, setting his sights on leading driver Girolami.

Comte caught Girolami two laps later and made a strong pass on the outside at the exit of Turn 1 to snatch the lead.

A tough fight then developed for second place between Girolami, Björk and Michelisz.

The trio fought hard, but remained in their positions until the end of the race.

Just as in the first race, several drivers were hit by front-left punctures towards the end of the race. Ruben Volt, Felipe Fernandez, Leonel Pernia and Viktor Andersson all suffered punctures, dropping them right down the order.

Comte won the race by close to 1.5 seconds ahead of Girolami, Björk and Michelisz who was just 60 thousands of a second behind the Lynk & Co driver in fourth.

Montenegro was closely shadowed by Santiago Urrutia in fifth, with GOAT Racing team-mates Esteban Guerrieri and Butti coming home in seventh and eighth.

Championship leader Yann Ehrlacher drove an anonymous race to finish ninth ahead of Lynk & Co Cyan Racing team-mate Ma Qing Hua in tenth.

Mikel Azcona had a tough race to finish eleventh from 18th and last on the grid, going off at Turn 1 at one point and had to use the escape road.

Ehrlacher continues at the top of the points, 16 more than Guerrieri, 27 more than Urrutia and 30 more than Björk.

The next FIA TCR World Tour takes place on the streets of Vila Real on July 5-6.