Eurocup Mégane Trophy - Hungaroring Race 1
French driver Michaël Rossi (Racing for Belgium) converted his pole position into a race win, the first of his racing career! Second-placed Fabrice Walfisch (Team Lompech Sport) finished on the podium for the first time in Eurocup Mégane Trophy. With his fifth podium finish in as many races, Pedro Petiz (Tech 1 Racing) tightened his grip on the championship.
The two Mégane Trophies of the Racing for Belgium team comfortably eased into the first corner at the front. The battle between Michaël Rossi and Carlo van Dam was fierce, but the polesitter just about managed to hold onto the lead. Van Dam was quickly overtaken by Ludovic Badey (TDS). These three were followed by Pedro Petiz (Tech 1 Racing), Greg Franchi (Equipe Verschuur), Dimitri Enjalbert (Tech 1 Racing), Maxime Martin (Boutsen Energy Racing) and Fabrice Walfisch (Team Lompech Sport).
Martin wasted little time relieving Enjalbert of sixth place. At the front, Rossi built up a good lead over the chasing pack, made up of Van Dam, who had by then moved back ahead of Badey, Petiz and Franchi. Just behind, Walfisch coolly observed the Martin/Enjalbert duel.
Petiz and Enjalbert were the first to come in to refuel after just three laps. Franchi, Ten Brinke and Lahaye followed suit on the next lap. Up ahead, the gap between Rossi and Van Dam settled at around five seconds. Held up in fourth by Badey, Martin decided to come in on lap 6. But the Belgian's chances of a top-three spot faded when he was handed a drive through penalty for cutting across the white line at the pit lane exit.
At the halfway stage, Rossi held a 6'' lead over Van Dam. Walfisch was third after Badey had come into the pits. Further back, things were pretty well strung out between Matthieu Cheruy (TDS), Ralph Meichtry (Race Performance) and Pedro Petiz. Eighth-placed Dimitri Enjalbert was however being pressurized by Mike Verschuur.
While Dimitri Enjalbert was forced out due to a mechanical problem, Van Dam and Rossi made their pit stops on laps 13 and 14. Fabrice Walfisch briefly held the lead before he also came in for his pit stop. With 16 laps gone, Ralph Meichtry was the last of the favourites to refuel: the outcome of the race would soon become clear!
As expected, Rossi regained the race lead after his stop, but Walfisch had managed to sneak ahead of Van Dam! Petiz and Badey rounded off the provisional top five. Whilst fighting to hold onto eighth spot with Matthieu Lahaye, Bernhard Ten Brinke (Equipe Verschuur) was shunted into the barriers just five minutes from the end.
Clearly struggling, Van Dam was unable to hold off Petiz, Verschuur and Badey. Verschuur pushed hard to get past Petiz right up to the final corner, but he could not find a gap Van Dam's problems continued right to the finishing line. He could only manage tenth after also being overtaken by Lahaye, Cheruy, Martin and Horion.
Michaël Rossi: "It was a tough race. The track, the car and the tyres were all overheating! As the laps went by, the handling of the Mégane improved and I managed to get out of the pits in the lead. Thanks to all the team for this win.»
Fabrice Walfisch: «I also have to thank Team Lompech. We have worked hard to improve the car's performance. Things just keep getting better and better. I have good memories of racing here: I was on pole in F3000 with Draco back in 1999!»
Pedro Petiz: «I couldn't go much quicker today. In particular, I had some problems with the brakes. But I held on in there to get the best possible result. This podium finish is good for the championship.»
Pos Number Driver Team Laps Time GapFirst KPH 1 22 Michaël ROSSI Racing For Belgium 22 42:23.611 - 139.7 2 17 Fabrice WALFISCH Team Lompech Sport 22 42:27.562 +3.951 139.3 3 32 Pedro PETIZ Tech 1 Racing 1 22 42:33.314 +9.703 139.3 4 5 Mike VERSCHUUR Equipe Verschuur 1 22 42:33.673 +10.062 139.5 5 20 Ludovic BADEY TDS 22 42:37.179 +13.568 138.8 6 1 Matthieu LAHAYE Tech 1 Racing 1 22 42:47.232 +23.621 138.3 7 21 Matthieu CHERUY TDS 22 42:48.121 +24.510 138.6 8 11 Maxime MARTIN Boutsen Energy Racing 22 42:50.547 +26.936 139.9 9 10 Geoffroy HORION Boutsen Energy Racing 22 42:51.883 +28.272 138.8 10 23 Carlo VAN DAM Racing For Belgium 22 42:57.094 +33.483 139.4 11 14 Giuseppe CIRO Oregon Team 22 42:59.560 +35.949 138.5 12 8 Ralph MEICHTRY Race performance 22 43:24.311 +1:00.700 139.0 13 9 Jean Philippe MADONIA TDS 22 43:35.432 +1:11.821 137.3 14 33 Sébastien DHOUAILLY Tech 1 Racing 2 22 43:53.061 +1:29.450 138.4 15 12 Andreas MAYERL Sesterheim Racing 22 44:01.723 +1:38.112 135.4 16 16 Jean Charles MIGINIAC Team Lompech Sport 22 44:09.703 +1:46.092 134.7 17 15 Andrea PAGIAI Oregon Team 22 44:11.660 +1:48.049 135.6 7 Bernhard TEN BRINKE Equipe Verschuur 1 17 33:11.697 139.0 72 Greg FRANCHI Equipe Verschuur 2 17 33:23.668 138.7 31 Dimitri ENJALBERT Tech 1 Racing 2 13 25:26.180 139.0 6 Wim BEELEN Equipe Verschuur 2 9 18:12.708 136.1
