Fred Bouvy hails “fast” Peugeot 308 on its Benelux debut

Former Belgian Touring Car Series champion Fred Bouvy paired up with up-and-coming Frenchman Aurélien Comte at Mettet, with the car back on track after five months away putting on a masterful display all weekend with fast lap times and two podium finishes.

Bouvy and Comte ran strongly in the qualifying race, working their way forward after missing out due to damage in the fast lap window of qualifying, combined with a poor score in the championship’s outgoing fan vote system.

Bouvy took the reins in the first pair of sprint races, but fell back at the start of Race 1 due to a mistake with the launch control, but excelled at the rolling start in Race 2 and worked his way up to eighth.

“From the beginning of the weekend we’ve been fast,” said Bouvy to TouringCarTimes. “In qualifying Aurélien touched something with the front and something in the wheel wasn’t working, and after that in my race I had a problem with the steering; it was very slippery on the front. We fixed that for Races 3 and 4, and Aurélien was really fast, finishing twice in P2.”

The car was run this weekend by Peugeot Belgique Luxembourg, and while there are yet no confirmed plans for next year, while Peugeot focuses on its Racing Cup series as it develops a TCR upgrade package for 2018, Bouvy would be interested in a factory supported programme in the Benelux series.

“Aurélien is a young guy and faster than me, but I know the set-up and everything, and with this experience we’ve been working well together for all the weekend,” said Bouvy.

“I’d like to be back if Peugeot would like to do something. I’d only do something with a constructor like Peugeot, not with a private team. It’s better this way to be working on the development, working to go faster.”