John Filippi controls reverse-grid race at Spa-Francorchamps for victory

Comtoyou Racing’s John Filippi claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the second TCR Europe / TCR World Tour race at spa-Francorchamps, heading BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz and Comtoyou team-mate Tom Coronel.

Whilst Filippi made a good start in his Audi, fellow front-row starter Felipe Fernández Gil immediately came under pressure from the Hyundai of Michelisz, who boldly completed the pace into Eau Rouge corner.

As Fernández tried to fight back against Michelisz, it opened the door to allow Coronel into third.

- Advertisement -

Rob Huff tried to follow through into fourth at Bruxelles, but went too deep, dropping to seventh.

Further around the lap, Ma Qing Hua tried to get inside Néstor Girolami for tenth, but made contact with the Honda, which in turn tapped Girolami into Frédéric Vervisch, who had to save a huge slide in his Audi but in turn skated through the gravel, dropping to 22^nd.

Felipe Fernández lost out to Santiago Urrutia at the end of the Kemmel Straight on lap two, as the Lynk & Co powered past the Audi in a straightline and into the braking zone.

Thereafter the top four stayed the same to the chequered flag, with Filippi scoring his third win in the series and his first of the season, whilst Urrutia tried and failed to take third from Coronel with contact at the final chicane, but it was far from an unexciting race further back.

Yann Ehrlacher assumed sixth when Kobe Pauwels retired his Audi on the fifth lap, before picking off Fernández for fifth a lap later, although the RC2 Racing driver held sixth to the finish.

ALM Motorsport’s Girolami was seventh after some fierce battles involving BRC’s Mikel Azcona and Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua.

Azcona took eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk and Comtoyou’s Rob Huff.

Volcano Motorsport duo Lewis Brown and Isaac Smith were 11^th and 12^th respectively, whilst Ma finished in 13^th after some fierce battling in the mid-pack.

Michelisz continues to lead the TCR World Tour standings on 94 points, ahead of Ehrlacher (91) and Urrutia (76).

In TCR Europe, Coronel remains as the points leader after two second place finishes in class, holding 218 points leaving Belgium, ahead of Filippi (202), Pauwels (159), Borković (135) and Davidovski (131).

The next TCR World Tour event is Vallelunga on 10 – 11 June, whilst the next TCR Europe event is the Hungaroring on 17 – 18 June.

Race results

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP	GD
1	27	EU		John FILIPPI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	20:26.870	2:32.707	1
2	105	WT		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	8	1.636	2:32.088	3
3	34	EU		Tom CORONEL	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	2.743	2:31.848	4
4	112	WT		Santiago URRUTIA	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	8	3.288	2:31.976	6
5	168	WT		Yann EHRLACHER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	8	3.745	2:31.832	10
6	19	EU		Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil	RC2 Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	6.318	2:32.119	2
7	129	WT		Néstor GIROLAMI	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	8	6.578	2:32.435	8
8	196	WT		Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	8	14.300	2:32.480	11
9	111	WT		Thed BJÖRK	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	8	16.393	2:32.041	12
10	179	WT		Rob HUFF	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	18.963	2:32.471	5
11	39	EU		Lewis BROWN	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	19.117	2:33.440	15
12	23	EU		Isaac SMITH	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	19.919	2:33.345	19
13	155	WT		MA Qing Hua	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	8	20.403	2:33.069	9
14	122	WT		Frédéric VERVISCH	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	20.792	2:33.741	14
15	62	EU		Dušan BORKOVIĆ	Target Competition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	8	22.558	2:34.124	17
16	11	EU		Viktor DAVIDOVSKI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	23.484	2:34.443	13
17	71	EU		Ben BARGWANNA	Team Clairet Sport – Burson Auto Parts Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	8	24.372	2:34.075	16
18	12	EU		Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil	RC2 Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	24.854	2:34.195	18
19	48	EU		Mikael KARLSSON	Aggressive Team Italia	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	8	34.348	2:36.163	21
20	128	WT		Philip LINDBERG	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	8	35.960	2:35.632	23
21	264	EU		Levente LOSONCZY	Aggressive Team Italia	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	8	38.860	2:35.636	22
22	10	EU		Viktor ANDERSSON	MA:GP	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	8	2:26.835	2:42.392	20
R	22	EU		Kobe PAUWELS	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	4	DNF	2:32.316	7