Pouget scores his maiden Clio Cup Europe win of the year

Clio Cup Europe leader Nicolas Milan set the pace from the start of the weekend by dominating the two collective test sessions on Friday. The Frenchman kept up his momentum in qualifying, which was interrupted by the red flag caused by Andreas Stucki (Stucki Motorsport), with pole position ahead of David Pouget. Anthony Jurado and Marc Guillot shared row two ahead of Challenger Mathieu Lannepoudenx and Gentleman Driver Quinto Stefana, making it five Milan Compétition Clio Cups in the top six.

However, when the lights went out, David Pouget powered ahead of Nicolas Milan to take the lead as Anthony Jurado looked on. Further back, Marc Guillot and Mathieu Lannepoudenx swapped positions whilst the battle in the midfield resulted in collisions between Quinto Stefana and Jerzy Spinkiewicz, then between Quinto Stefana and Alessandro Brigatti (Progetto E20 Motorsport).

The five French drivers in the lead took advantage of the fight in their rear-view mirrors to distance themselves from an increasingly aggressive chase group. Although Alessandro Brigatti seemed to have gotten the upper hand at first, the Italian eventually slipped behind Nikola Miljkovic (Tempo Racing Team), Jerzy Spinkiewicz and Tomas Pekar (Carpek Services).

David Pouget resisted the first attack from his rival on lap seven. The safety car was called into service on the next lap after an incident between Gabor Tim (GM Sport) and Quinto Stefana. The race resumed for a two-lap final sprint and Anthony Jurado dived to the inside of turn one to move up from third to first place, whilst Marc Guillot opportunistically got in between David Pouget and Nicolas Milan.

Anthony Jurado was the first to see the chequered flag, but he dropped to 15th place after a ten-second penalty for jumping the start. David Pouget was joined on the podium by Marc Guillot and Nicolas Milan. Poland's Jerzy Spinkiewicz, who put in an excellent restart, took top honours in the Challengers Cup at the expense of Mathieu Lannepoudenx under the watchful eye of Tomas Pekar. Nikola Miljkovic finished seventh ahead of Nico Abella (Chefo Sport), Alessandro Brigatti and Juuso Panttila (Carpek Services).

CLIO CUP EUROPE

With his Saturday victory, David Pouget won for the first time this year in Clio Cup Europe ahead of Marc Guillot and Nicolas Milan. This success allows the leader of GPA Racing to move up to third place in the general classification, still led by Nicolas Milan. Fourth thanks to his overtake of Mathieu Lannepoudenx on the restart, Jerzy Spinkiewicz won the Challengers Cup, followed by his French rival and Nikola Miljkovic. Now with six wins in seven races, the Pole widens his lead in the category. Meanwhile, Stephan Polderman took advantage of Quinto Stefana's misfortune to win the Gentlemen Drivers Cup ahead of Horn (GPA Racing) and Michel Faye (GM Racing) and take the lead in the class from the Italian.

CLIO CUP EASTERN EUROPE

Taking advantage of Anthony Jurado's penalty for his false start, Marc Guillot won for the third time this year in Clio Cup Eastern Europe ahead of Tomas Pekar and Juuso Panttila. The Finn was third overall and scored his third consecutive success in the Challengers Cup after taking the lead, ahead of Henrik Seibel (Carpek Service) and Chen Han Lin (Uniq Racing) on the opening lap. Stephan Polderman won the Gentlemen Drivers Cup again, beating teammate Rene Steenmetz. 

The competitors will be back on track on Sunday for the second qualifying session at 11:40 am followed by race two, which will be streamed live on the Renault Clio Series Facebook page and YouTube channel from 5:40 pm.

Collective tests 1 - Collective tests 2 - Qualifying 1 - Starting grid - Race 1 - Clio Cup Europe - Clio Cup Eastern Europe