Photo: ADAC Procar Media

Christian Klien wins first race of the day at Spa-Francorchamps

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Christian Klien has taken victory on his ADAC Procar Series debut at Spa-Francorchamps, passing early race leader Johannes Leidinger and going on to win by six seconds, whilst in Division 2 there was a furious battle for the victory.

At the rolling start, Klien took the inside line into the first corner which allowed Liqui Moly Team Engstler team-mate Johannes Leidinger a run around the outside and into the lead, where the young German was able to build up a lead of almost two seconds by the end of the first lap.

Klien held on to second whilst Swiss driver Markus Huggler had briefly moved up to third, but had fallen back to fifth and last in the S2000 Division 1 class by the end of the second lap.

Klien reeled in race leader Leidinger on lap two and made his charge at Les Combes on lap three. From then on it was a processional affair in Division 1 as Klien built up his lead over the remaining six laps and the two Engstler BMW 320sis pulled away by over 30 seconds over Jens Weimann’s Thate Motorsport car.

glatze

In Division 2 for Super 1600 specification cars the fight was more intense. Ralf Glatzel had led from pole position in his black Ford Fiesta ahead of Belarussian team-mate Yury Krauchuk, but on lap three the two were both caught and passed by Austrian David Griessner in the lone ETH Tuning Peugeot 207 Sport.

At the end of lap four, an error by Griessner at the bus-stop allowed the two Fords back ahead of him, though he was able to retake Krauchuk into the first turn and then Glatzel at Rivage.

Griessner’s weakness was definitely the final corner however, and an error again on the next lap allowed all three of the black Glatzel Racing Fords of Glatzel, Krauchuk and Kai Jordan ahead of him. Griessner was able to dispatch all three before Les Combes, but the Austrian’s tyres began to fade on the next lap, with Krauchuk passing for the lead again at Les Combes with Glatzel following him through.

With Griessner slipping down the order it was now a fight for the win between the three team-mates. Jordan passed team-mate Glatzel for second in class at Eau Rouge on the penultimate lap and was attacking Krauchuk for the class victory right up until the chequered flag, crossing the line just two-tenths of a second behind the Belarussian.

The second race of the day is scheduled to start at 15:40 CET.