Belgian teams dominate TCR Europe Qualifying at Spa
It seems that Mehdi Bennani likes the iconic circuits! After setting pole position at Monza, the Moroccan driver encored at Spa-Francorchamps, mastering the changeable conditions of the trackì and giving Comtoyou Racing a superb result on their home ground.
Bennani topped the times in Q1 and then he did it again in Q2, beating Tom Coronel’s Honda Civic run by another Belgian team: Boutsen Ginion Racing. John Filippi was the best of the Hyundai patrol in third position, followed by his Target Competition teammate Andreas Bäckman, while Dan Lloyd qualified fifth ahead of Sami Taoufik, José Manuel Sapag and the current championship leader Mike Halder.
The Q1 part of the session started on a damp track that began to dry, which resulted in a consistent drop of lap times. Bennani was on top of the timesheet for most of the 20 minutes, improving four times the fastest lap until a 2:45.155 that nobody was able to beat. On their last attempt, Filippi (2:45.215), Lloyd (2:45.919) and Mike Halder (2:45.973) moved up into second, third and fourth respectively, while Taoufik (2:46.104) and Pepe Oriola (2:46.385) were demoted to fifth and sixth.
The top-twelve for Q2 were rounded off by Coronel, Andreas Bäckman, Dániel Nagy, Sapag, Jessica Bäckman and Mat’o Homola.
The final moments were full of drama, with some drivers capable of make the cut and other who were kicked off; amongst them were some big names such as Nicolas Baert (13th), Mikel Azcona (14th) and all the Peugeot drivers including Julien Briché and the Clairet bothers.
In Q2, with the racing lines almost dry, the last to complete their lap were the fastest. Once again nobody was quicker than Bennani who posted a 2:42.275 that beat Filippi’s 2:42.725 by nearly half a second. The last one to improve was Coronel, who squeezed into second position ahead of Filippi, Andreas Bäckman and Lloyd.
Homola and Oriola qualified tenth and ninth, winning the front row on the reversed grid for Saturday morning’s Race 2.
Race 1 will start at 16:50 local time (CEST), live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.
Qualifying
2:42.275 – Mehdi Bennani (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
2:42.512 – Tom Coronel (Boutsen Ginion Racing, Honda Civic Type R)
2:42.726 – John Filippi (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N)
2:42.855 – Andreas Bäckman (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N)
2:42.906 – Daniel Lloyd (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R)
Championship points
1. Mike Halder 201 pts; 2. Mehdi Bennani 195; 3. Daniel Lloyd 179
Picture: TCR Europe
