FR 2.0 WEC: victory for Berthon at Spa

With only one qualifying session on the program, the two best times of each driver are used to establish the starting grids. The first two rows are also identical for the two races, with Costa and Berton on the front row ahead of Carlos Muñoz (Epsilon Euskadi) and Jean-Eric Vergne (SG Formula).

On Friday, Costa completely missed the start of the first race. He lets the entire peloton pass. Berthon therefore took command ahead of Muñoz and Vergne. From the first lap, Vergne took second position by overtaking Muñoz in Les Combes. One lap later, it was the turn of Julien Abelli (SG Formula) to pass the Spaniard in the same place. Unleashed, Albert Costa began a comeback, overtaking Azzam, Monras then Otegui. In the 3rd round, Muñoz breaks the muzzle of his car by attempting an attack on Abelli at the Source hairpin. The hierarchy is then as follows: Berthon, Vergne, Abelli and Costa.

Very virile, the argument between Julien Abelli and Albert Costa for 3rd place ends with a collision at the bus stop chicane. Costa remains on the floor, but Abelli manages to restart by short-circuiting the chicane, which will earn him a “drive through”. Behind Berthon and Vergne, it was Miki Monras who took third place on the podium. The top 5 is completed by Miguel Otegui and Benjamin Lariche (Pole Services).

The weather is still gloomy on Saturday noon, when the start of the second race is given as a curtain-raiser to the 12 Hours of Spa. This time, Albert Costa made a good start and took the lead ahead of Berthon, Muñoz, Vergne, Azzam and Abelli. Even more motivated after his first victory, Berthon did not let Costa let him down.

In the peloton, the fight rages within the group made up of Otegui, Monras, Abelli and Valente. Otegui breaks his gearbox on lap 7, leaving 6th place to Abelli. The latter then went through Monras (9th round). A new twist occurred on the 10th lap, with a broken suspension for Muñoz which allowed Vergne to recover 3rd place. At the same time, Monras took 4th place from Azzam.

A few meters from the checkered flag, Berthon tries his luck at the bus stop chicane. Costa cuts the chicane, which earns him a warning, but he maintains the advantage until the finish line.

In the general classification, Jean-Eric Vergne (95 pts) slightly reduces the gap with Albert Costa (114 pts), but above all he sees Nathanaël Berthon coming back to within one point! Julien Abelli is the big loser of this meeting: he goes from 3rd to 5th place behind Miki Monras.