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Megane: Estoril race two summary

Badey extends his winning run Ludovic Badey (Pouchelon Racing) secured a third consecutive win at the end of a race that was just as eventful as the first race. Jan Heylen (Racing for Belgium) and Renaud Derlot (TP Compétition) complete the ...

Badey extends his winning run

Ludovic Badey (Pouchelon Racing) secured a third consecutive win at the end of a race that was just as eventful as the first race. Jan Heylen (Racing for Belgium) and Renaud Derlot (TP Compétition) complete the top three after Marc Benz (Iris Racing) crashed off on the last corner.

Ludovic Badey got away to a superb start and entered the first corner in the lead, ahead of Marc Benz, Renaud Derlot, Nicola Gianniberti and César Campaniço. There was some very intense fighting going on for places in the main field, but all the cars mananged to complete the first lap without incident.

It wasn't until lap three that Ludovic Badey put some daylight between himself and Benz. César Campaniço moved past Nicola Gianniberti, but the Italian refused to go quietly, helping the Portuguese driver to go into a spin.

From a lowly seventh position on the grid, Jan Heylen moved up to the front of the field. The Eurocup leader grabbed fifth from Frédéric Gabillon (Team Lompech Sport) with four laps gone.

Pascal Ballay then span on the first corner, ending up stuck in the gravel trap. That spelled the end of the Energy Racing driver's race. Gabillon lost another place when Simon Abadie (Tech 1 Racing) made an unstoppable attacking move. Frédéric was forced to abandon soon afterwards due to a mechanical failure.

Matthieu Lahaye (Tech 1 Racing), on top form at this circuit, then got the better of Jeffrey Van Hooydonk (Thierry Boutsen Racing). But the Belgian fought back two laps later and snatched back seventh place!

The fight between Jan Heylen and Nicolas Gianniberti was settled on lap 10, when the Belgian driver moved past the Italian on the start-finish straight. The two cars come together slightly, Gianniberti coming off worst, as he was sent into a spin.

With three laps to go Ludovic Badey was still pushing hard and went on the hunt for the fastest race lap. He had Marc Benz in his slipstream. Unable to keep pace with the first two, Derlot then lost third place to Heylen.

Abadie, Van Hooydonk and Burgueño followed these four. The top 10 was completed by three Portuguese drivers: César Campaniço, Pedro Petiz and Miguel Freitas.

On the last corner, Ludovic Badey ran into a patch of fuel and had to slow down. Benz suffered a lapse in concentration, spinning off and crashing hard into the tyre wall. Heylen and Derlot thus moved up a place and onto the podium alongside Badey.

Ludovic Badey: "My engine stalled on the last corner and I free-wheeled over the finishing line. Marc tried to get past, but he ended up spinning and I saw him hit the wall. I'm disappointed for him because he had had a good race."

Jan Heylen: "This was my kind of race, full of fighting for places. I hope that the third race of the weekend will be just as exciting."

Renaud Derlot: "I started well but then I had some problems with the balance of the car. The championship is perhaps not entirely over."

Note: After reviewing race 1, the Race Stewards decided to hand a 30-second penalty to César Campaniço for having shunted Renaud Derlot. The Portuguese driver therefore drops back from 6th to 18th place.

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