Solo win for Pouget, Clio Cup Eastern Europe title for Guillot 09.10.2022: On the drenched Autodromo Nazionale Monza track, David Pouget (GPA Racing) won race 24 of 2022 ahead of Milan Compétition drivers Nicolas Milan and Marc Guillot. While Nicolas Milan reclaims the Clio Cup Europe lead, his teammate Marc Guillot takes his ni

On the drenched Autodromo Nazionale Monza track, David Pouget (GPA Racing) won race 24 of 2022 ahead of Milan Compétition drivers Nicolas Milan and Marc Guillot. While Nicolas Milan reclaims the Clio Cup Europe lead, his teammate Marc Guillot takes his ninth Clio Cup crown by winning Clio Cup Eastern Europe.



Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing) also secured the Clio Cup Europe Challengers Cup title, as did Quinto Stefana (Milan Competition) and Rene Steenmetz (Chefo Sport) in the Clio Cup Italia and Clio Cup Eastern Europe Gentlemen Drivers Cups.
 



On Sunday, the skies opened up at Monza, but David Pouget was still quickest in qualifying to take his second pole position of the weekend ahead of Nicolas Milan, Marc Guillot and Jerzy Spinkiewicz. Clio Cup Europe leader Anthony Jurado (Milan Competition) was tenth before moving up one position after Felice Jelmini (PMA Motorsport) was disqualified for a parc fermé infringement.



The race started behind the safety car. After two laps of observation to get to grips with the tricky wet track, the field was released and David Pouget kept the advantage while benefiting from better visibility than his pursuers.



While the leading quartet remained the same, Andreas Stucki (Stucki Motorsport) lost ground by slipping behind Gabriele Torelli (Faro Racing), Tomas Pekar (Carpek Service) and Anthony Jurado. However, the order soon changed as Marc Guillot took second place from Nicolas Milan on lap four, but the man with 13 Clio Cup titles fought back to engage in a duel that allowed Jerzy Spinkiewicz to squeeze in between the two French drivers.




This battle worked in David Pouget's favour, especially as Nicolas Milan, Jerzy Spinkiewicz and Anthony Jurado went straight at the first chicane on lap six. Despite a similar mistake at the next braking point, Gabriele Torelli emerged in second place ahead of Tomas Pekar, but the Czech driver also locked up his wheels and fell behind Marc Guillot and Nicolas Milan.



David Pouget drove an error-free race to go on for the win with an almost six-second margin of victory. The fight for second place concluded in a photo finish, with Nicolas Milan ahead of Marc Guillot, Gabriele Torelli and Tomas Pekar by less than six-tenths of a second.



Anthony Jurado was sixth, followed by Alejandro Schimpf (Cotauto Motorsport) before the Spanish driver received a 15-second penalty for not respecting track limits. Jerzy Spinkiewicz then inherited seventh place and the Challengers' victory ahead of Guillaume Maio (GM Sport), Adrian Schimpf (Cotauto Motorsport) and Nikola Miljkovic (Tempo Racing Team). Quinto Stefana finished 18th overall and won the Gentlemen Drivers category ahead of René Steenmetz and Horn (GPA Racing).




CLIO CUP EUROPE



David Pouget claimed his third victory in Clio Cup Europe and continued to narrow the gap to Nicolas Milan, who retakes the lead in the general classification by four points ahead of Anthony Jurado. Marc Guillot completed the podium. With only 36 points covering this leading quartet  - a win is worth fifty – the four races remaining promises to be spectacular.



Jerzy Spinkiewicz won for the 11th time in 14 races and secured the Challengers Cup title ahead of his closest rivals, Guillaume Maio and Nikola Miljkovic. Meanwhile, the victory of Quinto Stefana and second place of Rene Steenmetz has revived the Gentlemen Drivers Cup, with the two men now two and 22 points behind the leader, Stephan Polderman (Chefo Sport).





CLIO CUP EASTERN EUROPE



Marc Guillot only needed a fourth-place finish to secure the title, but he won the Clio Cup Eastern Europe with flying colours, beating Tomas Pekar and Anthony Jurado.



 Having won titles in France, Spain, Italy and Central Europe, the French driver has now ninth title to his name after a campaign that saw him finish on the podium in all 12 races of the season and received a three-hand watch from B.R.M. Chronographes for his title. Runners-up Anthony Jurado and Tomas Pekar received a B.R.M. Chronographes jewel for their places in the final general classification of the series.



Finland's Juuso Panttila, who sealed the deal in the Challengers Cup on Saturday, celebrated his triumph with a 10th victory ahead of Henrik Seibel (Carpek Service) and Taiwan's Lin Chen Han (Uniq Racing). Rene Steenmetz clinched the Gentlemen Drivers Cup crown after an epic duel with his teammate Stephan Polderman throughout the season at Magny-Cours, Zandvoort, the Hungaroring, Hockenheim, the Red Bull Ring and Monza.



 Like every category title-winner in all five Clio Cup series’, Juuso Panttila and Rene Steenmetz received a piece of jewellery from B.R.M. Chronographes.





CLIO CUP ITALIA


On Saturday, Gabriele Torelli lost his lead in the Clio Cup Italia, but he was back on form on Sunday while his rival Felice Jelmini had to settle for seventh place after starting from the back of the field. Today's winner will head to the season-finale in Barcelona with a 12-point lead over his rival.



Runner-up today, Mattia Lancellotti (Faro Racing) resisted Cosimo Papi (Scuderia Costa Ovest) and Cristian Ricciarini (Essecorse) to win the Challengers Cup, where Cristian Ricciarini still has a 30-point advantage over Giacomo Trebbi (MC Motortecnica).



Lastly, Quinto Stefana won for the seventh time this year to secure the Clio Cup Italia Gentlemen Drivers Cup title. Vittorio Zadotti (Scuderia Costa Ovest) and Alex Lancellotti (Faro Racing) completed the category top three today.





The Clio Cup Series now heads to Circuit Paul Ricard, where Clio Cup Europe and Clio Cup Spain will contest the penultimate round of their season and Clio Cup France will conclude its 2022 campaign.




Guillaume Renard - photos Alpine