Eurocup Clio - Spa-Francorchamps - Race 1
Milan Competition's Nicolas Milan became the first name on the list of Eurocup Clio Cup winners yesterday after leading the race from start to finish.
The Frenchman took advantage of help provided by teammate Marc Guillot who finished second. The fight for third place went right down to the line, and it was Team Bleekemolen's Sebastiaan Bleekemolen who finally got the better of the compeition after a hotly contested, but always thoroughly well mannered race. Slipstreaming was the order of the day in qualifying, and the boys from Milan were the stars when it came to this particular technique.
As a result, Nicolas Milan claimed the first ever pole positions in the history of Eurocup Clio, with wingman Marc Guillot a close second on both occasions.
The race began under heavy looking skies, which the teams had been studying with a nervous eye. Led by Nicolas Milan and Marc Guillot, the front-runners completed the first lap without incident.
Back in the field the action proved rather rougher when Pujolaracing's Santi Navarro, Duprey Competition's Frédéric O'Neill and Team Bleekemolen's Bjorn Cornelissen collided. Milan, Guillot, Robert Van den Berg, Milan Compeition's Thibault Bossy, Madeno Racing's JJ Magallhes and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen staged a highly effective breakout from the rest of the pack.
The fight between these six drivers allowed Rangoni Motorsport's Simone di Luca and Equipe Verschuur's Ronald Morien to catch up with the leaders. There were now no fewer than eight drivers out in front in very tight formation. Within this tightly knit group, and with each driver trying to benefit from each other's slipstream, Sebastian Bleekemolen made the break to claim fourth place, overtaking Magalhaes and Bossy in fairly short order.
With the chasing group looking like increasingly threatening, Milan and Guillot adopted a team strategy with Guillot literally pushing his boss into Combes. The two drivers successfully broke away from Robert Van den Berg. For the Netherlander, the main objective was to contain Sebastian Bleekemolen and Thibault Bossy. Bleekemolen snatched third, then Van den Berg countered, until finally Bleekemolen claimed third! Robert Van den Berg was handed a ten-second penalty for his failure to respect the racing line.
Third place on the podium would now be fought out between Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Thibault Bossy and JJ Magalhaes. The last word belonged to Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, while Mike Verschuur, who started 12th gave a vintage display at the end of the race, clawing his way up the field to finish fourth. Up front, the Milan Competition duo had little idea of what they were missing back down the field.
Working as a highly effective team, and thanks to a perfectly executed endgame, Nicolas Milan becomes the first ever winner of a Eurocup Clio race, with teammate Marc Guillot, second, winner in the Juniors category.
Quotes
Nicolas Milan: "It's a terrific win as Marc put in such a great team performance. We pushed hard to make the break, while the others lost time trying to overtake each other. We were expecting to stick together right down to the line, but unfortunately he eased off and we lost contact."
Marc Guillot: "It was a great race because we really helped each other. Our biggest fear was that we would lose our position on the last lap. Everything turned out for the best. Can we expect the same result tomorrow? Yes please!"
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen: "Nicolas Milan's team drove a great race. The slipstream effect is really important here and they really helped each other while I was kept busy slugging it out for third place, as I didn't get off to a very good start."
