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EU Megane: Valencia race two summary

Heylen does it again Starting from pole, Jan Heylen (Racing for Belgium) gave his rivals no chance, the Belgian leading the race from start to finish. The first three was decided very early on, with Jeffrey Van Hoodonk (Thierry Boutsen Racing), ...

Heylen does it again

Starting from pole, Jan Heylen (Racing for Belgium) gave his rivals no chance, the Belgian leading the race from start to finish. The first three was decided very early on, with Jeffrey Van Hoodonk (Thierry Boutsen Racing), second, and Renaud Derlot (TP Competition), third, lapping on their own throughout the race.

Jan Heylen took full advantage of his pole position to get away quickest on the rolling start, ahead of Simon Abadie (Tech 1 Racing) and Jeffrey Van Hooydonk. Several cars clashed on the second lap, resulting in the retirements of Mathieu Lahaye (Tech 1 Racing), Ludovic Badey (Pouchelon Racing) and Jean-Christophe Ravier (Epsilon Euskadi).

Simon Abadie was overtaken by Van Hooydonk and then by Derlot. The Tech 1 Racing boss then needed all his racing expertise to avoid being overtaken by Cesar Campanico (Racing for Belgium). But the Portuguese driver eventually found the gap and Abadie then found himself under threat from Renaud Kuppens (Thierry Boutsen Racing), Nicolas Gianniberti (Oregon Team), Sebastien Dhouailly, Frederic Gabillon (Team Lompech Sport) and Mike Parisy (Gemo Sport), all very tightly bunched.

At the front, the four leaders had broken away from the other drivers after four laps. Heylen, Van Hoodonk, Derlot and Campanico: the writing was on the wall for the chasing pack -- the first few places appeared to have already been decided.

Behind these four, Gianniberti got the better of Kuppens, while Gabillon overtook his team mate, Dhouailly.

Angel Burgueño (Team Elias), among the back-markers at the end of the first lap, moved up to 12th place with six laps gone. Things were going less well for his team mate, Luis Miguel Reyes, whose race came to an end in the gravel pit, after an incident in the main field.

The group of aggressive young drivers reformed with Kuppens, who stepped out of Gianniberti's slipstream to move past him. Gabillon collected a warning for his slightly over-aggressive driving. Simon Abadie came off worst from this intense battle, falling back to tenth position.

Misfortune then struck Cesar Campanico, who suffered a mechanical problem on the last lap. The Racing for Belgium driver ended the race in only twelfth position.

So, Jan Heylen won for the second time this weekend. Jeffrey Van Hooydonk scored his first points, while Renaud Derlot scored very well again with his top-three finish. Renaud Kuppens finished in fourth, in front of Gianniberti, Gabillon, Dhouailly, Parisy, Abadie and Ten Brinke.

Jan Heylen: "It was difficult to predict that I would win both races, before the weekend. Of course, it's a great result, but I think that it's going to get more and more difficult as the season unfolds."

Jeffrey Van Hooydonk: "I am pleased to be on the podium, which is a richly deserved result for the team who have been working very hard for the last two weeks. My car is reliable and quick now."

Renaud Derlot: "The team have done a great job. We are improving the car every time we take to the track. I attacked hard to stay behind Jeffrey."

<pre> Race 2

POS DRIVER              NAT     TEAM                    LAPS    TIME            GAP
1   J.HEYLEN            BEL     Racing for Belgium      9       15'06.418
2   J.V.HOOYDONK        BEL     Thierry Boutsen Racing  9       15'07.836       1,418
3   R.DERLOT            FRA     TP Competition          9       15'12.125       5,707
4   R.KUPPENS           BEL     Thierry Boutsen Racing  9       15'23.515       17,097
5   N.GIANNIBERTI       ITA     Oregon Team             9       15'24.288       17,87
6   F.GABILLON          FRA     Team Lompech Sport      9       15'24.692       18,274
7   S.DHOUAILLY         FRA     Team Lompech Sport      9       15'25.347       18,929
8   M.PARISY            FRA     Gemo Sport              9       15'25.860       19,442
9   S.ABADIE            FRA     Tech 1 Racing           9       15'27.446       21,028
10  B.TEN BRINKE        NED     Equipe Verschuur        9       15'30.679       24,261
11  A.BURGUEÑO          ESP     Team Elias              9       15'31.050       24,632
12  C.CAMPANIÇO         POR     Racing for Belgium      9       15'33.806       27,388
13  S.PORTEIRO          ESP     Porfesa Competicion     9       15'35.425       29,007
14  A.ARISTI            ESP     Epsilon Euskadi         9       15'36.029       29,611
15  F.VERSCHUUR         NED     Equipe Verschuur        9       15'37.551       31,133
16  J.COPPENS           FRA     TP Competition          9       15'39.610       33,192
17  M.BENZ              SUI     Iris Racing             9       15'43.458       37,04
18  A.MAYERL            AUT     Senn Motorsport         9       15'50.887       44,469
19  P.BALLAY            FRA     Energy Racing           9       15'53.827       47,409
20  P.MACE              FRA     TP Competition          9       15'58.688       52,27
21  L.LLOBET            ESP     Saturn Motorsport       9       16'14.835       1'08.417
22  V.FERNANDEZ         ESP     Saturn Motorsport       9       16'15.311       1'08.893
23  W.COEKELBERGS       BEL     Racing for Belgium      9       16'23.118       1'16.700
24  J.MALLAT            LBN     TP Competition          9       16'26.108       1'19.690
25  J.MORALES           ESP     Hervas                  8       16'44.177       1 lap
NC  L.REYES             ESP     Team Elias              5        8'40.311       4 laps
NC  J.RAVIER            FRA     Epsilon Euskadi         3        6'33.486       6 laps
NC  M.LAHAYE            FRA     Tech 1 Racing           1        1'47.491       8 laps
NC  L.BADEY             FRA     Pouchelon Racing        1        1'48.059       8 laps
NC  P.PETIZ             POR     Oregon Team

-renault-

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