EU Megane: Donington Park race one summary

Heylen back in control

After starting from pole position, Jan Heylen (Racing for Belgium) controlled the race perfectly to collect his sixth victory in the Eurocup Megane Trophy. The Belgian finished ahead of two his closest rivals: Renaud Derlot (TP Competition) and Ludovic Badey (Pouchelon Racing).

Cesar Campanico tried his luck from the start, but his teammate Jan Heylen was not to be intimidated and made it first into the opening bend. But not everyone came through the opening corner so well: Jeffrey Van Hooydonk span his car, while Frederic Gabillon and Mathieu Lahaye were involved in a collision. Lahaye's car remained stuck in the gravel trap for good.

The two Saturn Motorsport cars also collided and were left obstructing the track. The safety car then came out to allow the race marshals to clear the Meganes of Victor Fernandez and Luis Llobet from the circuit. Campanico's race was also ended prematurely by a puncture picked up in coming-together with Derlot.

This left Heylen at the front ahead of Renaud Derlot, Ludovic Badey, Nicola Gianniberti and Pedro Petiz. When racing resumed four laps later, Ludovic Badey made a mistake from the restart but managed to hold onto his lead over GIanniberti. Petiz span off to join Luis Miguel Reyes, whose car had already come to rest on the grass.

Heylen, Derlot and Badey were quick to put distance between themselves and Gianniberti. Heylen made a slight mistake which gave Derlot the chance to try his first serious attack. Not to be left out, Badey was himself piling the pressure on Derlot!

By focussing on their own battle for second, Derlot and Badey let Heylen drive clear to take his sixth win of the season. Badey however seemed to have given up about four laps from the end: He was then gradually dropped by Derlot but managed to hold off Gianniberti.

It was Marc Benz (Iris Racing) who took one more win in the Junior category. The Swiss driver finished ahead of Jiri Janak (Auto Janak) and Pedro Petiz (Oregon Team).

Jan Heylen: "I enjoyed this race. It's good to be back to form after a bad weekend in Oschersleben. We'll see if I can build on that tomorrow!"

Renaud Derlot: "I'm happy to finish second after starting from fourth. My car was good and well-balanced. We'll try and do better tomorrow"

Ludovic Badey: "I'm happy with this podium finish after failing to get into the points in both races in Germany. I got right back up to Renaud but I'd been too hard on my tyres and I lost grip. We are going to put in some more work this evening to improve the car some more."

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