4th August 2002:  FIA European Touring Car Championship, Spa Franchorchamps ( Belgium ), Rounds 13 & 14

Local hero Pierre Yves Corthals lines up on pole position with Giovanardi alongside him, and at the lights Corthals holds onto the lead at the from Fabrizio Giovanardi, Jorg Müller and Rickard Rydell. However on the straight after Raidillon both Giovanardi and Jörg Müller overtake Corthals, who brakes too late at the chicane, cuts onto the grass and collides with Larini and Ekblom. They all retire immediately. Both third Nordauto driver Romana Bernardoni and RJN Nissan driver Chris Buncombe go off at the Liège corner, Bernardoni remaining stuck in the gravel. Giovanardi leads the race but he is closely chased by Jörg Müller and Rydell. Huisman retires with a persisting misfire on his BMW

Giovanardi holds off Jorg Muller who is pressurising him heavily until the BMW driver gets past under braking for the Kemmel chicane on lap 5. The next lap sees Eric Cayrolle spin the Bigazzi Alfa 156 out of fifth allowing Gene, Ruberti and Hanson to dive through.

Lap 7 sees Giovanardi slow down and pull off with transmission failure on his Nordauto Alfa 156, ending an unhappy meeting for the championship leader, which has seen him pick up only two points all day and his lead reduced to 10 points.

Jorg Muller claims his second ETC win of the season, from Rickard Rydell. Tom Coronel in third gains his first podium of the year while Paolo Ruberti is best Alfa finisher in fifth, just behind the BMW of Jordi Gene. James Hanson makes it two Volvos in the top six by picking up the final point.

Winner of race 1, Nicola Larini,  “The first race was difficult as I did not have enough speed on the straight to make a gap. Without the 20 kg penalty weight, I am wondering where Jörg Müller would have been... In the second race, I was good in the straight but some unprofessional drivers hit me on the doors. I lost a big opportunity.”

Paolo Ruberti in the AGS Alfa 156 GTA was happy with the way the event eventually panned out. “The weekend did not start well for us but our bad luck finished with the gearbox I broke yesterday in qualifying. Today, I made good starts in both races. I managed to avoid all the collisions, and there were many today ! This enabled me to finish 7th in the first race. Race 2 was even better. I was involved in the first lap collision but then I recovered very well and I had a good fight with Gené. In some sections of the track, I was faster than him. I did not manage to overtake him but I am happy with my 5th place”.

Meanwhile series leader Fabrizio Giovanardi had another weekend to forget. “I am very upset because, as in the last race, I was involved in a first lap accident. I had taken the lead when Jörg Müller pushed me off. My competitors are doing everything to make me lose points and the Championship lead. The result is that now my lead has been cut down to 10 points. In the second race, it was difficult to maintain the lead, probably because one of my dampers had been damaged in the collision with Jörg Müller and something finally broke in the transmission. The only positive thing is that Larini is still second behind me. We will work together to let Alfa Romeo win the title.” 

Larini made a poor start at the lights, allowing Jorg Muller to squeeze between him and Giovanardi to lead the field around the first lap. Into second place, after the Raidillon, Giovanardi tries to overtake Jörg Müller on the outside, but at the chicane he cuts the grass the grass, causing him to spin, but does well to control the car and rejoin in fourth place. Behind him a collision eliminated the BMW cars of Jordi Gené and Dirk Müller, as well as Tavano’s Honda Civic. Bigazzi Alfa driver Eric Cayrolle slid in the gravel trap at Blanchimont, but managed to rejoin, while both De Simone and Buncombe retired with broken clutches. After an eventful lap Jörg Müller is left leading, closely chased by Larini and Ekblom.

Lap two saw Sandro Sardelli's excellent race come to an end, the Honda man spinning off from an impressive 7th place, while the fast starting Paolo Ruberti, up into 8th place, was bumped down to tenth by Tommy Rustad and James Hanson.

Lap 4 sees Nicola Larini snatch the lead off Jorg Muller under braking for the Kemmel chicane, while team mate Fabrizio Giovanardi is right behind new boy Corthals in sixth. Two laps late Giovanardi is past the Carly Motors BMW into fifth, while on the same lap Luis Villamil retires with engine failure.

Larini is pressurised by Jorg Muller all the way to the line, eventually crossing it 2/10ths ahead of the BMW driver to claim a hard fought victory. Fredrik Ekblom claims 3rd, fractions behind, Rydell comes home fourth ahead of Larini's team mate Fabrizio Giovanardi, and Belgian newcomer Pierre Yves Corthals claims a point on his series debut.

Larini had been on form immediately, setting a time of 2:34.697 five minutes into the session, while the other drivers were unable to get below the 1m34s barrier. Eventually half way through the session Jorg Muller squeezed into the 34s with a 2:34.908. Meanwhile Dirk Muller dropped out with crankshaft failure on his BMW at the same time.

With ten minutes to go Giovanardi jumped up to third place with a 2:35.507, but immediately he was pushed down to fifth by Ekblom and Rydell. Then in the dying seconds he pulled out a 2:34.474 from nowhere to put the Nordauto car onto the front row.

Larini improved his provisional pole time with a lap of 2:34.201, improving his fastest by half a second and securing pole for good. Behind him and team mate Giovanardi, Jorg Muller in third was the only other driver to dip below the 2:35 barrier. Further back, Tom Ferrier was the highest placed non-works Alfa driver in 9th place, one ahead of series debutant Pierre Yves Corthals in the Carly Motors BMW.

Further back Sandro Sardelli qualified the CiBiEmme Honda Civic in 13th place, three places ahead of team mate Salvatore Tavano, the best showing this season for the Japanese cars.

Paolo Ruberti in the AGS Alfa 156 and James Hanson ( Volvo ) both suffered gearbox problems, failing to set representative times and lining up at the rear of the field which was brought up by Duncan Huisman who stopped with crankshaft failure right at the start of the session.

Pole winner Nicola Larini commented after the session, “I am very happy with my second pole position of the season. Our car is very good on this track, but now the gap we had over the BMW cars has been drastically cut. We got the most out of yesterday’s free practice. We used very old tyres and therefore it was not easy to judge our performances, but we learned a lot for the race set up. I am confident because it seems that front tyre wear will not be a problem here, but I am sure that both races will be very close.”

Fabrizio Giovanardi meanwhile was happy to have got himself onto the from row, “My qualifying result was partly spoiled by the mistake I made yesterday in the second free practice session. I had no time enough to take a final decision on the set up, then the team decided to let me try a totally different solution from Nicola’s. At the beginning I was not concentrated and I spoiled my attempt on the first set of new tyres, partly due to the traffic. But at the end I managed to have a clear lap and claim a front row position. It was not the pole, but today Nicola was the fastest driver on the track and I am very happy for him. The important thing is that we have claimed the front row and if we will manage to score a good number of points tomorrow, the final part of the Championship will be much easier for us.”