Heylen's the boss
With four wins from five races, Jan Heylen (Racing for Belgium) continues to dominate the Eurocup Mégane Trophy. The Belgian driver reigned supreme on the streets of Bilbao, ahead of Portuguese driver Pedro Petiz (Oregon Team) and Frenchman Ludovic Badey (Pouchelon Racing). He has now moved clear at the top of the overall standings.
Jan Heylen easily got the better of Renaud Kuppens during the rolling start. The crowd had to wait until the end of the lap 1 to see the first attack of the race: Pedro Petiz (Oregon Team) moved past Angel Burgueño (Team Elias), taking 4th position in the process. The young Portuguese driver could then set off in hot pursuit of his teammate Nicola Gianniberti, who was lying in third.
Ludovic Badey (Pouchelon Racing) also managed to overtake Burgueño, who then found himself under attack from Mike Parisy (Gemo Sport).
Simon Abadie (Tech 1 Racing), who was battling it out with Frédéric Gabillon (Team Lompech Sport), crashed violently into the tyre wall on lap 3.
Some very fierce fighting continued to rage throughout the field. Renaud Derlot (TP Compétition) was lapping alongside quite literally, door to door César Campaniço (Racing for Belgium) and Jeffrey Van Hooydonk (Thierry Boutsen Racing), fighting to hold onto a place in the top 10.
A little later on, Nicola Gianniberti, who had moved past Renaud Kuppens, crashed into the tyre wall, taking the Belgian's car off with him.
The safety car was brought out onto to the track after four laps. Heylen was still in the lead, but the provisional podium was then completed by Pedro Petiz and Ludovic Badey.
The race restarted for two laps. Bumper to bumper, the five first drivers provided a breathtaking show for the Bilbao crowd! Heylen nonetheless managed to move a couple of lengths ahead of those in pursuit. He claimed his fourth victory of the season, ahead of Pedro Petiz, who finished among the podium places for the first time. In third, Ludovic Badey pulled back some valuable points on Jeffrey Van Hooydonk (9th) and Renaud Derlot (8th ).
Just outside the podium places, Angel Burgueño finished fourth in front of Mike Parisy, Jean-Christophe Ravier (Epsilon Euskadi) and César Campaniço.
Jan Heylen: «It was a short race, but I am very pleased to have won because it's an excellent result in terms of the Championship.»
Pedro Petiz: «It's been a good weekend for me. I picked up second place as a result of the crash involving Nicola and Renaud, but sometimes you need a bit of luck. I hope I can do as well tomorrow!»
Ludovic Badey: «I didn't get the feeling that things were quite right during the practice session but we put things right for the race. I am pleased because my nearest rivals in the overall standings finished quite far behind me today.»
