Marc Guillot wins, Nicolas Milan fills up on points

Less than twenty-four hours after David Pouget's victory on Sunday, the Clio Cup was back in action for the second qualifying session. Relegated outside the podium yesterday after one of his rare mistakes, Nicolas Milan waited until the last few seconds to wrest the pole position away from Marc Guillot and David Pouget, who were separated by one-thousandth of a second. Challengers Alexandre Finkelstein (GPA Racing) and Mathieu Lannepoudenx completed the top five in a session marked by the red flag caused by Alexandre Albouy (GPA Racing).

Nicolas Milan held onto the lead at the start of the race before Marc Guillot began to fill up his mirrors, whilst David Pouget resisted the attacks of the chase group, now led by Mathieu Lannepoudenx. The order changed quickly when Marc Guillot took advantage of Nicolas Milan when he locked up his brakes to take the lead on lap two. 

There were some fine battles in the field among Léo Jousset (Milan Compétition), Guillaume Maio (GM Sport), Joran Leneutre (JSB Compétition) and Aurélien Renet (JSB Compétition), while Alexandre Albouy sliced his way through the field from the back of the grid after his accident in qualifying. Meanwhile, Michel Leal (Milan Compétition) and Laurent Dziadus (Team Lucas) saw their races end prematurely.

As the laps ticked off, the leading trio pulled away from the rest of the field whilst keeping within a second of each other. Despite several observation laps, Marc Guillot held on to the lead as Nicolas Milan preferred to secure big points, as this round only rewarded competitors entered in Clio Cup France - while his teammate has opted for Clio Cup Europe and Clio Cup Eastern Europe in 2022.

Marc Guillot then claimed his first win this season ahead of Nicolas Milan and David Pouget. Behind this trio came the Challengers Cup podium with the first success of the year for Mathieu Lannepoudenx ahead of Joran Leneutre (JSB Compétition), who got past Alexandre Finkelstein on lap eight. Léo Jousset came home seventh in front of Alexandre Albouy, who picked up 18 positions in 16 laps. Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing) took ninth place from Aurélien Renet with six laps to go, and Mathieu Rigoulet sealed his second win in the Gentlemen Drivers category ahead of Jérémy Bordagaray (Team Borda Rally) and "Horn" (GPA Racing).

Despite Nicolas Milan's maximum score, David Pouget retains the lead in Clio Cup France ahead of his rival and Alexandre Albouy. Next in the order are Mathieu Lannepoudenx.  Joran Leneutre and Alexandre Finkelstein, all equal on points, but the former takes the lead in the Challengers Cup while Mathieu Rigoulet has a 17-point lead from  "Horn" in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup.  

The Clio Cup now heads to the Jarama Circuit. The second meeting of 2022 will kick off the Clio Cup Europe and Clio Cup Spain seasons. More than thirty drivers will be in action for this meeting which marks the long-awaited return of the Clio Cup to the Madrid track.

Qualifying 2 - Starting grid - Race 2 - Clio Cup France standings