SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte has taken the lead of the TCR Europe standings after Race 1 at Circuit Zolder, holding on to second from qualifying to overhaul CUPRA stablemate Franco Girolami in the standings.

The French driver got away well at the start, and was able to start applying pressure to Nicola Baldan’s Audi in the final laps, but wasn’t able to get close enough to attack for the lead of the race.

Comte settled for second, and with the 35 points scored while his closest rival Girolami finished off the podium in fourth, has now taken a six-point lead in the drivers’ standings going into tomorrow’s second race, where Girolami will start two places ahead of him on the grid.

“My race wasn’t bad, but Nico (Baldan) was so fast, he had very good pace,” said Comte.

“On the last lap I tried to push for him to make a mistake, but there was no mistake coming.”

“It’s good I’m leading the standings, but it’s a long championship, but it’s been a good start to the season for us. I’m happy for the team and for CUPRA.

“Tomorrow we start P9, but it’s very difficult to overtake here, so the first job will be to make a good start and then we’ll see.”