A Belgian Driver, a Belgian Circuit, a First Victory
Amaury Bonduel, racing for BDR Competition out of nearby Baisy-Thy, secured his first Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe victory in Race 2 at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday. The win came at the end of a 50-minute race that required three safety car interventions, produced a chain of penalties across multiple classes, and saw the official results rewritten after the checkered flag dropped. Loris Spinelli actually crossed the line first. A post-race time penalty applied to his Bonaldi Motorsport teammate Max Weering reshuffled the classification and elevated Bonduel to the top step.
For anyone who follows customer racing, this is the kind of result that makes the Super Trofeo series worth watching. Bonduel started second on the grid, leading the Pro class entries, dropped to fourth in the opening chaos, clawed his way back through pit strategy, and then found himself in the right position when the stewards finished their work. The story of how he got there is more interesting than the final classification suggests.
“I am very happy to take my first victory in Super Trofeo, and also at home in Belgium, it is a fantastic feeling. This is our first season in the championship and first with the BDR Competition team so our aim was to learn as much as we could and achieve good results.”
Those words tell you where Bonduel is in his career. A first season, a new team, realistic expectations. The victory, especially at his home circuit, changes the trajectory.
Three Safety Cars and a Lap-One Pile-Up
The grid was already down to 35 Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 entries before the rolling start. Micanek Motorsport lost both cars: one to an engine failure on the formation lap of Race 1, the other after Libor Dvoracek’s heavy accident at Blanchimont during free practice forced a withdrawal.
What followed was the kind of opening lap that makes race directors earn their salary. The Pro-Am pairing of Lewis Williamson and Massimo Ciglia led from pole in the Leipert Motorsport car, while Bonduel found himself fighting Brendon Leitch and Martin Kodric for second. That battle opened the door for Race 1 winner Milan Teekens to slot into third, though his Target Racing entry would retire to the pits almost immediately.
The first safety car came out after a multi-car incident at Les Combes. Emanuel Colombini and Antonios Vossos collided, leaving Lamborghini Cup contender Gerard van der Horst with nowhere to go. Earlier on the same lap, Am polesitter Andrzej Lewandowski tagged Oscar Lee’s Rexal FFF Racing entry, which spun into Gabriel Rindone at La Source. Lewandowski’s drivethrough penalty for that contact would cost him the Am class victory and the championship lead, a consequence that rippled through the standings in ways far more significant than the incident itself looked in real time.
A large field of Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 cars skillfully maneuvers through a challenging turn on the circuit.
How the Stewards Rewrote the Podium
The second safety car period came after Weering spun Johan Boris Scheier’s Arkadia Racing car at the entry to Bruxelles while they fought over 11th place. Weering picked up a 10-second penalty for the contact. On its own, that might have been a footnote. Combined with the post-race time adjustment applied to the Bonaldi Motorsport entry, it became the reason Bonduel stands atop the results.
Spinelli, who had swapped into the #61 car during the mandatory pit window, drove an aggressive second stint. He passed Bonduel for the effective lead on the Kemmel Straight after the third and final safety car restart, moving around the outside of Massimo Ciglia at Les Combes before pulling clear. On pure on-track pace, Spinelli was the faster driver in the closing laps. Bonduel, to his credit, never let the gap grow large enough for Spinelli to absorb Weering’s accumulated penalties.
The Pro-Am class produced its own penalty drama. Dmitry Gvazava and Ciglia traded positions in the final five minutes before Dan Wells made contact with Gvazava’s car at Bruxelles, earning a 10-second penalty. Emanuele Zonzini pulled off a last-corner pass on Ciglia to take the Pro-Am lead on the road, only to be demoted to second by a time penalty of his own. Customer racing, where the stewards’ room is essentially the final corner.
In the Am class, Arkadia Racing’s Stéphan Guerin inherited victory after Lewandowski’s earlier drivethrough. Guerin now leads the Am championship by three points over Rindone. Belgian siblings Benoît and François Semoulin won the Lamborghini Cup for the second time in the weekend, completing a double at their home event.
Victorious drivers proudly display their trophies on the podium after a successful race in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe.
Championship Math After Spa
Despite Weering’s penalty, the Bonaldi Motorsport pairing of Weering and Spinelli still commands the Pro championship with 120 points heading into the penultimate round at Barcelona in late September. Bonduel sits second on 83, a 37-point deficit that makes a title challenge extremely difficult with two weekends remaining.
Bonduel acknowledged the gap himself, noting the championship is “a bit difficult to fight for” but pledging to push through the remaining rounds. His Race 1 result was compromised by a team radio failure that caused him to miss his pit window, a mechanical gremlin that underscores how thin the margins are in a series where every team runs identical Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 machinery. When the cars are the same, operational execution becomes the differentiator. BDR Competition, in its first Super Trofeo season, learned that lesson the hard way on Saturday morning and applied the correction by Saturday afternoon.
The Am championship picture is far more fluid. Guerin’s three-point advantage over Rindone means Barcelona could swing the title in either direction, and Lewandowski, who led the standings before his Spa penalty, remains in contention.
What Spa Reveals About the Super Trofeo’s Role
The Super Trofeo Europe series, running since 2009, occupies a specific niche in Lamborghini’s motorsport ecosystem. Every car on the grid is a Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, rear-wheel drive, powered by a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10, stripped to its competitive essentials. The one-make format eliminates engineering advantages and puts the emphasis on driver skill, team strategy, and the ability to stay out of trouble on opening laps. Spa, with its combination of high-speed sweeps through Eau Rouge and tight braking zones at La Source and Les Combes, tests all three qualities simultaneously.
What makes this series compelling from a Lamborghini perspective is where it sits in the broader ladder. Ferrari runs its Challenge series on a similar customer-racing model. Porsche fields the Carrera Cup. Lamborghini’s version functions both as a competitive championship and as a proving ground for drivers who want to move into GT3 competition. Bonduel’s trajectory, from learning season to race winner at his home track, is exactly the kind of development story that Squadra Corse can point to when recruiting the next generation of factory-supported drivers.
The timing matters, too. Lamborghini’s Temerario GT3 program represents the company’s first fully in-house competition car, according to Autoblog. When that car enters GT3 grids, the drivers who cut their teeth in the Super Trofeo will be the natural candidates for seats. A maiden victory at Spa is a strong line on any racing résumé.
Leading the charge, two Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 cars dominate the front of the racing pack.
Bonduel’s Win and What Comes Next
Bonduel’s victory validates the entire customer racing concept. A local driver, in his first season, with a first-year team, winning at the circuit closest to his home. The path to that result involved dropping positions on the opening lap, recovering through pit strategy, surviving three safety car restarts, and then benefiting from penalties assessed to faster rivals. None of that diminishes the achievement. Staying in position to capitalize when the stewards finish their paperwork is its own skill in one-make racing.
The 2022 Super Trofeo Europe season continues at Barcelona in late September before concluding with the season finale and World Finals at Portimão in November. Weering and Spinelli remain heavy favorites for the Pro title, but Bonduel now carries the confidence of a race winner into those final rounds. For a driver building his career through Lamborghini’s motorsport ladder, that confidence matters as much as the trophy.
A vibrant grid of Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 cars lines up, ready for the intense start of the race.
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