308 Racing Cup: Teddy Clairet and Julien Briché confirm early form with wins in Spa 04.06.2018: 308 Racing Cup Round #2/6 - Spa-Francorchamps (Belgique) After the season’s opening clashes at Nogaro in southwest France, the 2018 308 Racing Cup’s second port of call was Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, one of the finest circuits to be found anywhere

308 Racing Cup Round #2/6 - Spa-Francorchamps (Belgique)
 

After the season’s opening clashes at Nogaro in southwest France, the 2018 308 Racing Cup’s second port of call was Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, one of the finest circuits to be found anywhere in the world.



The weekend’s two races produced different winners, namely Junior driver Teddy Clairet (Pussier Automobiles by Clairet Sport) – who followed up his excellent start to the year with victory on Saturday (Race 1) – and the experienced defending champion Julien Briché (JSB Compétition) who was first past the post on Sunday.



•    The 308 Racing Cup, which is sanctioned by the FIA as an international series, stands out as one of the European calendar’s benchmark single-make championships, with two of the season’s six meetings held outside of France at two of Europe’s most internationally renowned circuits, namely Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) and Barcelona (Spain). The first of these two fixtures attracted a strong field of amateur and more experienced drivers from a wide range of backgrounds.
 


•    The outgoing champion Julien Briché (JSB Compétition) succeeded in closing the gap to Teddy Clairet by winning Race 2 on Sunday after playing a less prominent role during Saturday’s race. The scrap between the 2018 308 Racing Cup’s two favourites promises to be close all the way to the end of the season.
 


•    Meanwhile, Teddy Clairet added to his 2018 record with another outright win and two Junior victories to collect another big overall points haul and confirm the strong form he has shown since the start of the season.
 


•    After his win in the Gentleman Driver class in Race 1, Laurent Richard appeared to be on target for a grand slam weekend on home soil but failed to prevent fellow front-runner Stéphane Ventaja from claiming the class’s spoils at the end of Race 2.
 




TEDDY CLAIRET ON TOP OF BOTH THE JUNIOR AND OVERALL STANDINGS!
 


To keep up the momentum it has shown since the start of the season, Pussier Automobiles by Clairet Sport prepared particularly meticulously for the 2018 308 Racing Cup’s first foray outside of France.
 


After falling victim to Julien Briché’s invincible form at Spa-Francorchamps in 2017, Teddy Clairet had every intention of defending the early lead he pulled out at Nogaro and he effectively placed the bar high by winning the opening race at  Spa…
 


The championship’s provisional leader was keen to secure a second win on Sunday and, despite failing to claim pole position by one-tenth of a second, he succeeded to stay on Julien Briché’s heels until a drive-through penalty at the end of Race 2 forced him to settle for third place which he inherited after Amaury Richard was handed a 30-second penalty following a racing incident



. Teddy Clairet promises to stand out as the driver to beat once again when the series moves on to Dijon-Prenois, France, on July 14-15!





QUOTE, UNQUOTE…
 


Teddy CLAIRET (PUSSIER AUTOMOBILES BY CLAIRET SPORT)
Winner Race 1 and provisional leader of the overall and Junior standings


“It might have looked easy but the first race was actually quite complex. Leading isn’t simple. You can never afford to relax and you can’t make any mistakes. On the whole, I am very pleased with the way the season has gone so far. Jimmy and I got away to a good start in Race 1 and we immediately pulled out a gap.


 We worked hard to prepare for Spa and that investment paid off. Last year, Julien [Briché] was in a class of his own at Spa, so seeing Jimmy on the pace was nice. He has succeeded in curing the setup issues he suffered at Nogaro and we were both competitive. We now intend to keep working in the same direction.”
 


Julien BRICHÉ (JSB COMPETITION)
Winner of Race 2 / 2nd in the overall standings


“I can’t say that it was the best of weekends for me. I was poor in qualifying on Saturday and that was obviously a handicap for the first race, although it didn’t go so badly in the end. I managed to pocket 20 points thanks to my win on Sunday, but I leave Belgium with mixed feelings.”
 




David POUGET (GPA RACING)
3rd in Races 1 and 2nd in Race 2 / 3rd in overall standings


“I was fortunate to finish the first race on the podium after my tangle at the start which made life hard for me. The two drivers who finished ahead of me both took penalties which promoted me to third place. I felt more on the pace in the second race but we are still a little down on speed.



 It turned out to be a good weekend overall for the team at Spa. I think we have progressed to a new level but we need to continue pushing if we are to gain the extra tenths of a second we need to take the fight to Julien [Briché] and the two Clairet brothers. We are improving all the time, though, which is positive for the rest of the season.”

Laurent GUYOT - photos Peugeot