Eurocup Clio
After a disappointing first race of the weekend, Marc Guillot (Milan Compétition) bounced back on Sunday by taking his second victory of the season. The Frenchman finished ahead of Oscar Nogues (Rangoni Motorsport) and Mike Verschuur (Equipe Verschuur), and leaves Germany with a 15-point lead over the latter in the Eurocup Clip overall standings.
The front two rows of the starting grid were exactly the same as they were for the first race of the weekend, with Marc Guillot (Milan Compétition) lining up ahead of Oscar Nogues (Rangoni Motorsport), Frédéric Yerly (Gruyère Racing Team) and Mike Verschuur (Equipe Verschuur).
Guillot led Nogues at the start of the race. Behind the front pair, di Luca and Yerly both overtook Mike Verschuur. And there were several shunts in the heart of the Eurocup Clio field, which led to the safety car coming out for a few laps.
At the restart, the race order remained unchanged. Guillot and Nogues pulled away from the rest of the pack, but remained wheel-to-wheel. Further back, di Luca battled to contain Yerly, Mike Verschuur, Eric Trémoulet (Vic Team) and Robert Van den Berg (Harders Plaza Racing). In this compact group, Verschuur drove door-to-door and managed to work his way up into third place.
The fight for fourth place then began to hot up. Di Luca lost out by colliding with Van den Berg and Gonzalo Martin de Andres (Dale Gas), with Yerly and Trémoulet taking advantage to move into fourth and fifth respectively.
The closing stages were more settled, with Guillot driving a controlled race until the chequered flag. The Frenchman picked up his second win of the season to give himself some breathing space at the top of the Eurocup Clio overall standings. Nogues, who won the first race of the weekend, finished second, followed by Mike Verschuur. The result means that Guillot now has a 15-point lead over Verschuur at the top of the championship. The Eurocup Clio hopefuls resume battle in the World Series by Renault at Paul Ricard in late September.
What they said:
Marc Guillot: “After yesterday’s disappointment, I needed to redeem myself today. It was essential to get a good start and get into a good rhythm early on, to prevent Oscar from trying his luck. He was quick at the start, and I knew he would try to take advantage of the slightest error. The Eurocup Clio is a very competitive discipline. We’re at the halfway stage and I’m in the lead, which is perfect. But at Paul Ricard and then Barcelona, it could all change.”
Oscar Nogues: “First and second is a good return after a bad start at Spa-Francorchamps. It puts me back in the title race. I need to continue in this vein to ensure there’s a chance of everything being decided in Catalonia, my home.”
Mike Verschuur: “I didn’t have a quick enough car to fight for the win, and I had too much understeer. It’s quite frustrating. I took care to preserve my tyres. Simone di Luca was very quick at the start, and I even thought he’d jumped the start. But after that he dropped the pace, and I think there was something wrong with his engine. In terms of points, this is a good result and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Official Renault Sport Press Release.