EU Megane: Istanbul race two summary

Campanico's turn

Cesar Campanico (Racing for Belgium) is the fourth different winner in as many races in the Eurocup Megane Trophy. The Portuguese driver was joined on the podium by Ludovic Badey (TDS), who shoots up the overall standings as a result, and Luca Filippi (TP Competition / Moteur Huger), who puts a fine end to a weekend for which his primary objective was to get a closer look at the Megane Trophy and the Istanbul Park circuit.

The whole field made it through the first bend without incident. Cesar Campanico came out of it in the lead ahead of Ludovic Badey, Jean-Philippe Dayraut and Matthieu Lahaye. On lap one, Badey already made several attempts to pass Campanico. Despite a slight error, Dayraut still remained in touch, with the three leaders completing lap one bumper-to-bumper. The race came to an early end for Luigi Ferrara (Oregon Team) after he collided with another competitor. James Kirkpatrick (Epsilon Euskadi) also abandoned the race.

Dayraut and Badey then found themselves engaged in an impressive duel which gave Campanico the chance to pull away. A good bit further back, Pedro Petiz (Iris Racing) was going it alone ahead of Luca Filippi (TP Competition).

The Verschuur team drivers were also on fine form: Jeroen Reintjens and Jaap Van Lagen managed to get the upper hand over Jan Charouz (Racing for Belgium) and Sebastien Dhouailly (Thierry Boutsen Racing) respectively.

Jean-Philippe Dayraut finally found a way past Ludovic Badey on lap six. The TDS driver was caught off guard by Pedro Petiz (Iris Racing). But two laps later, Petiz came into contact with Dayraut allowing Badey to slip back into second! Dayraut and Petiz would not let it lie and, somewhat predictably, the exchange ended in collision.

The safety car had to be brought out to allow the race marshals to move Dayraut's car clear. As a result of the incident, third place then fell to Luca Filippi ahead of Renaud Kuppens (Thierry Boutsen Racing) and Ralph Meichtry (Race Performance).

The race then drew to a close behind the safety car with the standings unchanged to give Cesar Campanico his first win of the season!

Cesar Campanico: "I got off to a good start. The opening laps were very difficult, because the track was very hot. But I remained focussed right to the end. It's a shame to finish behind the safety car, but that's the way things go and it's the win that counts!"

Ludovic Badey: "I've taken another good haul of points for the Championship. Dayraut and Petiz were at it hammer-and-tongs in front of me, but I just stayed out of it because I was looking to finish the race."

Luca Filippi: "I've really enjoyed this weekend. I tried to do my best to get over yesterday's disappointment, when I was hit by another driver. I wasn't in with a shout for victory but I'm happy with this podium finish."

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