Bouvy wins race two, keeps series lead

Frederic Bouvy won the second race at Dijon Prenois to maintain his championship lead with a daring strategy call by co-driver François Verbist.

On a damp track, all the other main competitors opted to start on wets, but Verbist started on slicks – saying after the race he initially had to drive as though he was driving on egg shells, but after a while knew he’d made the right choice.

Initially, Koen Wauters led in the Kia Pro_Cee’d, but a mistake on lap five gave the lead to the Volvo S60 of Eric Van De Poele – and the local hero held on to that lead until the slick shod Renault Megane Coupe of Verbist caught and past the veteran.

Technical problems for Kia, with an alternator belt failure for Jerome Thiry & Werner Moonens car, and a stuck-on speed limiter for the Wauters’ car, means the best result for the team went to Stevey & Dockerill with fourth.

Van De Poele and Radermecker took the factory Volvo S60 one better in this race to finish second, and are still chasing their first victory in the championship.

Frederic Bouvy leads the championship with 71 points, from Steve Vanbellingen on 52, whilst third place is hotly contended for by the two Kia’s of Steveny & Dockerill on 41, and Moonens & Thiry on 40 – with the Volvo just behind on 39.

The next race is just over a month away, the 12 hours of Spa-Francorchamps.