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During runs 7 & 8 for the FIA European Touring Car Cup on 21/22 June on the legendary race track of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the RAVENOL team SAN had to suffer a bad setback that has repercussions on their championship position. After 30-year-old SAN-pilot Ulrike Krafft once again dominated the S1600 class and got the pole, gear damage at her Ford Fiesta 16V made her quit the first race four laps before the end from the first position. She was unable to take part in the second one at all, leaving Spa with only three points for the pole due to these problems and losing the leading table position to Gilles Bruckner. However, she is barely two points behind, so that the fight for the title will now be continued at the finals in Pergusa on Sicily. In the ETCC Ladies' Trophy, however, she clearly kept the lead.
All weekend, the weather was fine and everything went very smoothly at first. Ulrike once again showed her usual dominance in the free training and qualification on Saturday on the 7.004 km long and very difficult race track. With a lap time of 2:56.227 minutes, she finally set the best mark in the qualification, faster than her closest competitor and brand colleague Gilles Bruckner by 1.818 seconds. "We did a lot of work on the chassis setup in the two free test sessions yesterday and made good progress, which pays off now with the best time. It would be nice if I were able to secure the title here in Spa, but let's wait and see – anything can happen on this difficult track," the ambitious application engineer said in the subsequent press conference.
After the morning warm-up, the ETCC Teams were in for another long wait on the racing Sunday until the race manager released the flying start for the first race at 4:05 PM. Ulrike used her pole and turned into the narrow La Source-curve after the start/finish stretch as the first in the S1600 class. Subsequently, she was able to quickly secure a safe distance of almost two seconds before her competitors, leading the race quite confidently. She had to quit early in the fourth lap. "Suddenly, I was unable to shift gears, and I had to stop the car by the track," she told her team boss after the return to the box. Her race mechanic tried to replace the gear during the repair break, but the time wasn't quite enough for her to start in the second race. Thus, Gilles Bruckner inherited the win that he repeated in race two. "We are still fighting for the title. We will work all the harder at the finals in Pergusa," Ulrike and the team agree.