David Pouget set the pace in Thursday qualifying ahead of Marc Guillot, Nicolas Milan and Anthony Jurado. Thibaut Bossy (TB2S) was next at less than a half-second in a session where drafting was the name of the game.

Starting grid

David Pouget got off the start line clean to avoid any trouble at La Source but his rivals took advantage of the Kemmel straight line to attack him. Marc Guillot took the lead with an outside passing move at Les Combes before Nicolas Milan and Anthony Jurado followed suit in the following corners. Meanwhile, Thibaut Bossy lost a lot of ground when he went straight at Pouhon. From seventh on the grid, Tomas Pekar (Carpek Services) moved into the top five ahead of Jaap van Lagen, who started tenth.

Once in the lead, Marc Guillot took advantage of the three-car battle featuring Nicolas Milan, Anthony Jurado and David Pouget to create a gap of more than a second. For a while under threat from Tomas Pekar, the trio also enjoyed some breathing space before an incident involving Tomas Pekar and Kévin Jimenez (GPA Racing) opened the way for Alexandre Albouy and Jaap van Lagen to rejoin the fight.

Although there were many exchanges of positions in the chase group, Anthony Jurado first tried to catch up with the leader before losing position to Nicolas Milan on lap seven. At the same time, the action was just as animated behind Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing), with eight drivers fighting for eighth place.

The fight for the victory was back on when Marc Guillot was caught by his rivals with two laps to go. The leader fended off the attacks coming from Nicolas Milan, Jaap van Lagen and David Pouget and the running order among the four remained the same for the rest of the race. Anthony Jurado crossed the finish line in fifth place, but was demoted to 16th after several penalties for not respecting the track limits.

Alexandre Albouy was promoted to fifth place and won the Challengers Cup ahead of Jerzy Spinkiewicz. Stephan Polderman took advantage of the collision between Tomas Pekar and Nicolas Abella (Chefo Sport) on the penultimate lap, as well as the penalty of Andreas Stucki (Stucki Motorsport) to finish eighth and win the Gentlemen Drivers Cup ahead of his teammate Rene Steenmetz (Chefo Sport). Spaniard Mariano Alonso (GPA Racing) and Frenchman Guillaume Maio (GM Sport) completed the top ten.

David Pouget is now just two points clear of Nicolas Milan in the general classification while Marc Guillot continues to gain ground thanks to his third victory of the season. Despite another tough weekend, Kévin Jimenez still has a more than 100-point lead in the Challengers Cup, from Alexandre Albouy, who is now second in the category ahead of Mathieu Lannepoudenx and Jerzy Spinkiewicz. Third in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup today, Horn (GPA Racing) consolidates his lead over his main rivals while Stephan Polderman and Rene Steenmetz moved up several positions in the class.

Group C

Once again, Marc Guillot was the man to beat, scoring his second win of the weekend at Spa ahead of Jerzy Spinkiewicz and Mariano Alonso, who moved up to third place after the penalties handed to Tomas Pekar, Andreas Stucki and Paul Cocaign. With their overall and Challengers Cup wins, Marc Guillot and Jerzy Spinkiewicz extend their leads in their respective categories ahead of the two final rounds for Group C.

Race 2 - Clio Cup Europe standings - Clio Cup Group C standings

Following an intense first half of the season with 18 races in less than four months and titles races more unpredictable than ever, the Clio Cup Europe competitors now take a well-earned break, with the next stop on the calendar being the Red Bull Ring (10-12 September).