Despite missing out on the podium in both races, Mike Halder has taken the lead of the standings after Spa-Francorchamps, as the driver who picked up the most points over the course of the weekend for ALM Motorsport.

The German driver finished in fourth in Race 1, and grabbed fourth again at the final moment in Race 2, passing Junesung Park’s Hyundai at the final corner of the last lap in an incident-packed race, and was one of the top performing drivers still running on slick tyres when wet tyres had become the option to have.

“I had a good start, but I was hit into Turn 1 as one of the Hyundais had spun, and then I was hit again in the rear,” said Halder. “The car was driveable, but the brackets were gone and the splitter was flapping around. Our speed on full slicks was very good like in Race 1 compared to the others. I passed one-by-one without taking any risks, and in the end I finished P4, and second of the slick cars, which was very good. I had a lot of a fun even with a damaged car.”

On his battle with Park, Halder added: “I knew from the previous laps that the outside line at the final corner was faster than the inside line and I hoped that he would defend on the inside. He left me space, and then we had a drag race out of the last corner, which was a nice fair fight.”

Halder, still yet to win a race this season but is building his title challenge through consistency, now leads the standings by five points over Nicolas Taylor. Junesung Park is third in the standings, while Alex Ley slipped from the lead to fourth after missing out on both races after his crash in qualifying, but is only 27 points down, less than a win away in terms of points.

ALM Motorsport are now second in the teams’ standings, while PMA Motorsport continue to lead that category by 13 points after strong performances from its drivers Taylor and Nicola Baldan this year.