Winner of the opening race of the weekend at Montalegre in the Supercar Lites category, Julien Meunier could hardly have asked for a better start to the season.
Able to shake up the leaderboard in Q3—securing top qualifier status—the double French Super1600 champion executed his run to perfection, holding off a relentless Lukas Andersson who left him no room for error.
It was a performance that had every reason to lift the spirits of the OMSE driver on Sunday morning ahead of day two of competition.
“Of course we had a lot of questions coming into this weekend, but we came here to win,” explained Julien Meunier. “We knew we had the pace. We’d already shown it at Estering, even if we couldn’t quite convert it into a win there. This time it came together, and it’s a great reward.”
Buoyed by his victory in Saturday’s race, Meunier approaches the second day of action with renewed confidence.
“We’re on a good trajectory. Naturally, we’re feeling more confident than yesterday. But anything can happen. I was third in the standings before Q3 and we still came out on top, so I know how quickly things can swing either way.”
Although Meunier clocked the second-best time in Q1 behind Tobias Daarbak, he wasn’t able to convert his pole position into a second fastest time of the 2025 season. However, the landscape changed on Sunday in Montalegre. After using the traditional joker lap on Saturday, drivers were now required to navigate the newly designed version created specifically for the World Championship.
“The new joker lap seems quite tricky. I tried it this morning during practice. Honestly, I think it’s more interesting than the previous layout, but it demands a lot of finesse. You can’t enter too aggressively, you have to carry just the right amount of speed through the middle, brake carefully on the gravel—without being too straight—and really pay attention to the track markers or lines on the exit, or it’s an automatic penalty. But it’s a nice addition; it adds a bit more spice, which is great.”
The level of competition, too, is anything but tame.
“There’s definitely a battle going on with Tobias and Lukas. They’re both very fast, but everything has stayed clean and respectful. In the final yesterday, I spent a lot of time defending, which cost me quite a bit. I think I could’ve gone faster if I’d been able to drive more freely, but I had to shut the doors because the pressure from behind was strong. That said, it was all very fair—and that’s exactly how it should be.”
As for race two, the objective remains straightforward.
“A second win today? Maybe… But for me, the key is to stay at the top of the hierarchy. Leaving Portugal as the category leader—that’s the goal. Finishing second wouldn’t be a disaster. But of course, we want to show that yesterday wasn’t just a one-off.”