CUPRA rivals Franco Girolami and Aurélien Comte are tied at the top of the TCR Europe drivers’ championship standings going into the summer break, with the two drivers battling throughout the exciting second race at Spa-Francorchamps, with Comte coming out ahead by just two positions to join Girolami on 259 points.

Girolami and Comte were running fourth and fifth after the first lap, before Comte was able to pass Girolami at Les Combes, but after the safety car the two drivers found themselves running side-by-side into Eau Rouge after Comte had made a successful dive on Levente Losonczy’s Honda into La Source, with both Comte and Girolami running wide at Raidillon, allowing Losonczy back through.

Girolami was able to get ahead of Comte at Les Combes, before a mistake on the final lap cost the Monlau Motorsport driver two positions and he fell to eighth place in the final order behind title rivals Comte and Ruben Volt.

“It was quite a difficult race,” said Girolami. “We were struggling with the pace and it was difficult for me to fight. I was in a few fights sometimes I gained, sometimes I lost, but then on the last lap I made a little mistake and lost two positions.

“(With Comte) we gave each other respect at Eau Rouge, and we didn’t touch each other. Then on the last lap the rain started around Turn 15, I made a mistake, but it was my mistake. I’m still in the lead of the championship so that was our target, we’ll put our focus on the next race to try and improve.”

Aurélien Comte, who had a one point lead before the weekend but is now tied was circumspect after a difficult weekend for the SP Compétition team.

“This weekend was very difficult for us with the ballast, and I’ve had a bad feeling with the car since the beginning of the weekend. We’ve worked hard with the engineers to find the solution, and my pace in Race 2 was much better.

“It was a very hard race, especially with the rain on the last lap. Franco wasn’t too quick in the wet conditions, and he braked early several times, and one time he pushed me out, then at Turn 13 I was on his left side, and in the wet we touched.”

Heading into the two month break, Girolami and Comte lead the standings on 259 points, while the ALM Motorsport duo of Ignacio Montenegro and Ruben Volt are also in touch, 26 and 30 points behind.