The Boutsen-Ginion Racing team won its second consecutive TCR Benelux title, as Benjamin Lessennes succeeded his teammate and 2016 champion Stéphane Lémeret. Despite having built a comfortable leading margin before the final event at Assen, Lessennes secured the title by the skin of his teeth.
In fact, an incident at the start of the third sprint race added unexpected spice to the final moments of the season, but Lessennes eventually managed to claim a fifth place in Race 4 that gave him the title ahead of Guillaume Mondron.
Paul Siljies and Willem Mejer won Saturday’s 60-minute Qualifying Race in their Bas Koeten Racing Audi RS3 LMS. Maxime Potty (Team WRT Volkswagen Golf) led until the driver’s change, followed by Denis Dupont (Team WRT SEAT León), but after the pit stop Mejier began chasing Sam Dejonghe’s SEAT that he passed on lap 21 and then stole the lead from Mathieu Detry on lap 25. The DG Sport Peugeot of Aurélien Comte-Kevin Abbring did not start due to an engine issue, which eliminated them from the title fight.
The Bas Koeten Racing’s Audi cars of Mejer and Morien set the pace on the wet track at the start of the sprint Race 1. However, Mejer was given a drive-through for jump-start and on lap 7 Morien dropped to third behind Dejonghe and Detry who crossed the line first and second. After the race, Detry was handed a 30-second penalty for a collision with Tom Coronel (Boutsen-Ginion Honda) and this meant that Morien and Coronel were promoted to second and third respectively.
Dejonghe took another win in Race 2, leading from lights to flag. Following the Race 1 penalty that had dropped him to seventh, Detry recovered to second, overtaking Coronel on lap 2 and Morien on lap 3. Eventually, Morien dropped down and Coronel finished in third place.
In the third race, Dupont took the lead at the start, while Potty and Lessennes collided at Turn 4 and then limped back to the pits. Dupont built a gap and won ahead of Rik Breukers, while Paul Siljes finished third ahead of Guillaume Mondron despite serving a drive-through for a collision
Potty claimed an unexpected victory in the final race. While the WRT driver was recovering from the back of the grid to third ahead of Breukers, the leading duo of Dupont and Sieljes collided. Dupont retires, while Sieljes hit his teammate Breukers while rejoining. Potty won, with Mondron and Aurélien Comte second and third.
