Cayrolle did not appear on the grid after his clutch failure in Race 1. Colciago was on pole on the reversed grid, but he was overtaken by Huisman and Priaulx at the start. Huisman managed to defend his first position for the entire first lap, but at the beginning of the second, Priaulx passed him and jumped into the lead. A group of nine cars was fighting nose-to-tail for the first positions. The closest fight involved Tarquini, Dirk Müller and Rydell, who were seventh, eighth and ninth. 

On lap 3, Colciago tried to steal second position from Huisman, but Larini dived inside his team-mate and past him, moving up to third; Colciago went wide at Rivages and slipped down to fifth behind Jörg Müller. Almost at the same time, Dirk Müller overtook Tarquini for sixth. Sardelli went off at the Source after a collision with another car, while Tavano’s Honda retired after a spin. 

On lap 4, Huisman could not withstand the pressure of his pursuers any longer, and at the Source he lost three places to Larini, Jörg Müller and Colciago. Dirk Müller and Giovanardi were fighting door-to-door for sixth place. The fierce battle behind him enabled Priaulx to pull away; the Briton stretched his margin to more than two seconds. On lap 5, Dirk Müller overtook Giovanardi on the straight and climbed to sixth; a few moments later the German driver earned another position from Huisman. Rydell retired from ninth when his Volvo’s airscope broke. 

On lap 6 Dirk Müller overtook Colciago for fourth and closed on to Larini and Jörg Müller. On lap 7 Tarquini overtook Giovanardi for sixth; at the same time Dirk Müller jumped ahead of his team-mate Jörg. During the final lap the two Müllers tried hard to steal second place from Larini, but in vain. Priaulx scored his second win of the season and gave Bart Mampaey’s RBM Team a well-deserved home win. While fighting for seventh position, Giovanardi and Huisman clashed at Fagnes; the Italian got the worst of it and went into the gravel trap. 

As for Tarquini, he went of at the Bus Stop chicane, one hundred metres from the finish line, when the front right tyre got flat; this cost him a sixth place and four points in the Championship. Colciago was classified fifth, with Huisman sixth, and first of the Independent drivers. Tom Coronel and Ruberti filled the remaining points positions.

RACE 1

From the pole, Priaulx completely missed his start and Dirk Müller took the lead from Tarquini, Jörg Müller, Giovanardi and García. Priaulx slipped down to tenth position. On the long straight after the Raidillon, Tarquini jumped into the lead, but he missed the braking point at Les Combes and drove straight on beyond the kerbs. This enabled Dirk Müller to retake the lead. However Tarquini managed to stay second, ahead of Jörg Müller. 

Behind the leading trio, Larini managed to pass García for fifth and was closely chasing Giovanardi. The Stewards imposed a drive-through penalty on García for overtaking Priaulx outside the track limits. During the first lap, Diefenbacher went off the track after a collision with André Couto. The fight for the lead was close. At the beginning of the second lap, Tarquini took the lead again, outbraking Dirk Müller at the Source. The Alfa man tried to create a gap, but the two Müllers remained stuck on him. Larini was putting pressure on Giovanardi, with the two of them being chased by Ruberti and Rydell. 

On lap 3, Huisman overtook Rydell for seventh and Cayrolle retired due to a clutch failure. Giovanardi, Larini and Ruberti managed to join the three leaders: at the end of the third lap the first six drivers were covered by only two seconds. Priaulx was recovering after his bad start and overtook Rydell and Huisman, moving up to seventh. Rydell lost another position to Colciago. Tarquini fought hard to defend his lead, as Dirk and Jörg Müller tried to overtake him in every corner. 

On lap 5, Priaulx stole sixth position from Ruberti, then closed on to the Giovanardi-Larini duo. At the end of the following lap, the leading sextet – Tarquini, Dirk, Jörg, Giovanardi, Larini and Priaulx – was still within two seconds. During the following lap, Larini managed to overtake Giovanardi and climbed up to fourth. Couto’s Honda stopped along the track due to an electrical problem. 

Tarquini kept his rivals behind him to the chequered flag, scoring his fourth win of the season with a very narrow margin ahead of Dirk and Jörg Müller. Larini was classified fourth, from Giovanardi and Priaulx. On the last lap, Huisman overtook Ruberti, which gave him the seventh position and another success in the Independent Trophy; just before the end, Ruberti also lost the eighth position to Colciago.

Gabriele TARQUINI: “The first race was very good, because my car was really fantastic. On the first lap, I made a mistake after I took the lead, missing the braking point at Les Combes. But I managed to get into the lead again, and my car was very good for the next two or three laps. However I had to take care of my tyres, especially because of the 40kg of ballast I was carrying, and it was very difficult to control Dirk. It was a big battle, a hot race. I had my rear-view mirror full of BMWs. The second race was not as good. I was driving very carefully, aiming to score as many points as I could. But on the last lap a tyre went down; it was a shame, because I lost four points, but racing is like this and I have to accept it. However is very difficult if I carry on scoring points only in the first races like in the last two meetings. In Donington I won the first race and I scored nil in the second. Here it was the same. I cannot win the title just by winning the first races.”

Nicola LARINI: “It’s not been easy. I have not yet won a race this year, but it is important to score points. I did it in Donington and I did it here, managing to stay in the fight for the title. In the first race unfortunately I lost time trying to overtake Giovanardi, and when I finally managed to do it, it was too late to chase Tarquini and the Müllers. In the second race the car was good at the beginning, but to attack Jörg was not easy anyway. After I passed him, I focused on defending my second position, because I knew that I couldn’t keep Priaulx’s pace.”