FPAUDI: Round 10, Spa Francorchamps

European Formula Palmer Audi

Round 10 - Spa Francorchamps - 11th June 2000

Damien Faulkner extended his championship lead over Justin Keen in dramatic style at Spa Francorchamps. The race was stopped after 6 laps when Tim Mullen ended up hitting the tyre wall heavily at Eau Rouge when Allan Simonsen clipped the back of his car. Tim was taken by ambulance to hospital as a precaution. He was later reported as being shaken but otherwise unhurt. At the restart Faulkner was quickest away and came home ahead of pole position holder Derek Hayes.

On a hot afternoon the nineteen EFPA cars lined up for the second race of the weekend. Derek Hayes led the cars around the circuit for the rolling start and as the lights went green he got the run into the awesome Eau Rouge to lead at the top of the first corner. Damien Faulkner ran alongside Hayes into Eau Rouge but had to settle for second position as the Ulsterman got ahead. Justin Keen moved into third, getting the jump on Jesper Carlsen. Hayes was off down the road, with Keen all over Faulkner's gearbox as they entered the Bus Stop chicane. Hayes had extended his lead to over four seconds as the cars began their 7th lap, when the race was stopped after Mullen's car was stranded in the gravel at Eau Rouge, with the Ulsterman unable to get out of his car. The marshals were quickly on the scene and Tim was carefully removed from the broken car.

The race was restarted over two laps and Faulkner moved ahead of Hayes, with Jacky Van Der Ende ahead of Keen as they entered the last corner at La Source. Keen made a mistake and hit Van Der Ende, spinning the Dutchman's car out of contention. The English driver got to the finish line in 3rd place, minus his front wing. However, Keen was given a 30 second penalty by the race stewards, pushing him down to 12th place and promoting Jesper Carlsen into 3rd place.

Damien Faulkner took the chequered flag and his second win of the season. "I would have loved to have won the race in a different way but I have been awarded the victory and I have accepted it like any other." <pre> 1 Damien FAULKNER IRL 2:18.090 2 Derek HAYES GB +0.932 3 Jesper CARLSEN DEN +2.928 4 Paul EDWARDS USA +3.764 5 Richard TARLING GB +3.947 6 Miku SANTAVIRTA FIN +4.487