With two four-hour races held on the magnificent Circuit de Dijon-Prenois, in the heart of Burgundy, theEuropean Fun Cup got off to a flying start last weekend. What's more, competitors were treated to a 100% Fun Cup meeting, with competitions from Belgium and France coming together, all under pleasant weather conditions.
On a track where Formula 1 has written the greatest duel in its history (Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux in 1979), the top teams were obviously omnipresent at the front of both jousts. And, as is customary in the Fun Cup, the gaps between them remained narrow right up to the chequered flag.
In Race 1, for example, the top 4 finishers were separated by just 30 seconds as the chequered flag dropped!
It was the #280 Milo Sens, with the inescapable Kevin Caprasse, Lorenzo Donniacuo and Simon Tourneur, who had the last word, beating the #556 No Limit Racing of Frenchmen Ludovic Bellinato and Evan Giltaire, accompanied by Kevin Balthazar, by just 6 seconds. The #424 Groupe Lemoine by M3M, with Guillaume Mondron, Edouard Chevalier and Cédric Bollen, completed the first podium of the season, just a handful of seconds ahead of the #480 Milo Racing of Timo Van Impe, Alexandre Renneteau and Lucas Taelman!
The other categories were equally indecisive, with the #282 M3M of Louis-Victor Berthe, the indefatigable Bernard Dandrifosse, Alex De Schepper and Tom Van Langendonck winning the Fun class, beating the #530 Vmax by Milo of Benoit Arnaudet, Jérôme Farinaux and Eros Gioannini, as well as the #999 Knauf by Acome X SRS of Manu Nava, Germain Brocard, Anthony Rosa and David Doutrepont. The #488 Ben Watches X Milo of Pierre, Ben, Sam and Max Schroeder took the first Pure trophy of the season, finishing just outside the top 10 ahead of the #255 DZ Racing of Amine Zeghouani, Sébastien Dorkel and Jean-Luc Vandormael, and the #18 DPW Racing of Wout Sneppe, Hank Rogiers and Michiel Lescroart.
The first two-seater confrontation was decided by... 1.6 seconds, turning in favor of the #315 Fun 4 Racers by Comtoyou of Frédéric Taquet, Geoffrey and Maxence Bara, and Quentin and Philippe Denis, against the #365 CarPass LRE by Comtoyou of David Levy, Philippe Wintgens, Christian Gengoux and Gautier Engisch.
Christian Huberty, the young wolf in the #446 Milo JAPP, was the best Rookie, while the #485 Config Racing Junior saw the two best Ladies in the race, Elea Trenchant and Zoe Meulders, at the wheel!
And that's two!
One sleep later, the European Fun Cup was off again for another four hours of racing, during which the #280 Milo Sens would never leave the front-runners, allowing its formidable trio to kick off the season with a sumptuous one-two finish! This time, Caprasse, Donniacuo and Tourneur were again ahead of #556 No Limit Racing and #424 Groupe Lemoine by M3M! In the run-up to the finish, Gabriel and Louis Mazuin's #514 Michael Mazuin Sport and Koen De Wit and Pieter Ooms' #415 Clubsport Racing ran out of fuel!
Arnaudet, Farinaux and Gioannini's #530 Vmax by Milo had the last word in Fun against the #282 M3M and the #505 Clubsport Racing, the latter driven by Jean-Luc Heymans and Samir Messaoudi.
As for the Schroeder family's #488 Ben Watches by Milo, it doubled up on a Pure victory with a sumptuous 6th place overall, well ahead of the #149 Config Racing of Luke Pfeiffer, Julien Schein and Jérôme Thil, also in the absolute top 10, and the #278 Be GSL Racing by SRS of Evan Becerra, Federico Nardi and Louis Gysembergh.
Another victory for the #315 Fun 4 Racers by Comtoyou in the two-seater class, again ahead of the #365 CarPass LRE by Comtoyou. Completing the podium this time was the #388 Milo CBRS of Michel Koning, Philippe Fisette and Alain Dupont.
Jack Tabery and Grégory Guissard, at the wheel of the #33 Dedicated by M3M, were victorious this time in the Junior ranks, while Elea Trenchant and Zoe Meulders doubled up in the Ladies' category with the #485 Config Racing Junior.
After a more than successful debut on the heights of Dijon, theEuropean Fun Cup is already gearing up for its first meeting of the season at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with an 8-hour event on May 2 and 3, usually seen as a rehearsal for the legendary Hankook 25 Hours Fun Cup, the perfect way to kick off the summer season...
