Another lovely day in Spa-Francorchamps, sunny conditions for the first 11 lap race.
As the lights went out it was Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kolsch who got a flier of a start into the “La Source Hairpin” from Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement, this was short lived though as Ellis and Clement got the better of Streuer and Kolsch on the run to “Eau Rouge”. Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood were next up, they had the inside line and fending off Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries on the outside. Ted and Vincent Peugeot were next up with Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer in their wheel tracks. Robert Biggs and Max Vasseur were a small distance back from Peugeot. Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson were on the inside line from Biggs and Vasseur, but again there was a small gap between the two teams.
Local boys, Cedric and Arnaud Pierard were way out on the outside of the track hoping to get a good run out of “La Source” Rupert Archer and Steve Thomas were following in the same line as the Pierard brothers on the outside. Wout Vermeule and Jarno Boulus were right in the middle of the track with Philippe Le Bail and Serge Leveau right on their tail. Markus Schwegler and Ondrey Kopecky were next up with Claude and Cyrille Vinet trying their best to make up from a bad start position. The teams bring up the rear were Stephan Gadet and Christophe Pouillot, Pierre Leguen and Leopold Rouby, Philippe Gallerne and Jean-Philippe Bouchard.
After the mad rush in the opening laps the teams settled down, there was a fair bit of toing and froing going on in the opening laps. But it was Ellis and Clement who were throwing down the gauntlet to the other teams behind, they were steadily making a gap between them and the perusing teams. Streuer and Kolsch were holding a good second place for the opening laps fending off Kershaw and Charlwood. Schlosser and Fries were on the move though; they worked their way up to second and were starting to catch Ellis and Clement, but only slightly. Streuer and Kolsch were holding their own against Kershaw and Charlwood.
Wyssen and Hofer were locked in battle with the Peugeot’s for the whole race, just like in previous rounds. It looked like Wyssen and Hoffer had the better of the Peugeot’s though.
Two teams who had a lonely race were Biggs and Vasseur, Cable and Richardson, they had no other teams to threaten their places throughout the remainder of the race, they kept a steady race pace between themselves.
Another good battle throughout the race was between Archer and Thomas and the Cedric brothers, they were swapping places throughout the whole race.
By the end of the race it looked like Schlosser and Fries were gaining ground on Ellis and Clement, but the gap was too big for them to fight for the win.
An overjoyed Ellis and Clement took the race win, 1.673 in front of Schlosser and Fries second. Ellis and Clement took the fastest lap of the race too, a time of 2:34.749. Both teams were delighted with their result.
Streuer and Kolsch led Kershaw and Charlwood for all the race till the last lap when a small mistake by Streuer/Kolsch let Kershaw/Charlwood get right on their tail, then on the last corner Kershaw/Charlwood made the move and passed, they had the run to the line for third with Streuer/Kolsch fourth. Again both teams were delighted with the race result.
Wyssen/Hofer, did get the better of the Peugeot’s and took the flag for fifth place with the Peugeot’s only 0.168 behind in sixth place.
Biggs and Vasseur took a lonely but good seventh place. With Cable and Richardson, the same a lonely but good eighth.
The battle between Archer and Thomas and the Pierard brothers which went the race distance was to go in favor of Archer and Thomas, they were ninth, with the Pierard brothers tenth only 0.866 behind.
Lap seven saw Gadet and Pouillot DNF with a broken spark plug. And lap nine saw Vermeule and Boulus DNF with damage to their machine after a spin.
Eleventh place went to Schwegler and Kopecky, they had a good battle with Le Bail and Leveau mid race.
Vinet/Vinet managed to catch and pass Le Bail/Leveau on the last lap of the race for twelth place with Le Bail/Leveau thirteenth.
Gallerne and Bouchard took fourteenth place with Leguen and Rouby fifteenth.
The sidecar teams will be hoping the weather holds for tomorrows 11 lap race which will start at 11:25 local time, barring any delays.
Mark Walters