The four Sprint Races at Zandvoort provided plenty of emotion with three different winners and a number of incidents. 2016 champion Stéphane Lémeret savoured again the sweet taste of victory in Race 1 at the wheel of his Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic. Italian teenager Giacomo Altoè provided a surprise in Race 2, driving his Delahaye Racing Volkswagen Golf to an authoritative win. Races 3 and 4 went to a local hero, Jaap van Lagen, for the first time in an Audi RS3 LMS run by the Certainty Racing. But the Dutchman had to fight to overcome the resistance of Aurélien Comte’s Peugeot 308.
After two events, Guillaume Mondron (Delahaye Racing) leads the standing with 159 points, 47 more than his new teammate Altoè. Benjamin Lessennes (Boutsen Ginion Racing) is third a further two points adrift.
Race 1 – Altoé was fastest from the grid, but Lémeret overtook him after Turn 1 and took the lead. After a safety car intervention following an incident, Lémeret successfully defended his lead from Altoè’s attempts that culminated in a contact on the last lap. Lessenes and Detry finished third and fourth after passing Abbring’s Peugeot.
Race 2 – Pole sitter Lémeret stalled his engine and Altoè sprinted to the lead, chased by Lessennes and Detry. The young Italian was able to create a gap and from mid race onward the first four cars were running in a stretched line on their way to finish in the order. On lap 6 Lémeret, who was lying seventh, slowed down after a contact with another car and retired, while the Audi cars of Meijer and Reicher collided as they were fighting for the seventh position.
Race 3 – Van Lagen sprinted from the pole and rejected an attempt from Comte who dropped to fourth behind Coronel and Mondron. The leader built a comfortable gap; behind him Comte was able to overtake Mondron for third and during the final laps even tried to steal second place from Coronel.
Race 4 – This time Comte managed to take the lead ahead of van Lagen; the latter attempted an overtaking manoeuvre at the Tarzan on lap 2, and then successfully completed it on lap 3. Comte stuck on the Audi’s tail, while Coronel defended the second place from Morien. On lap 8 Coronel’s car had a puncture and crashed at the final bend; Potty (who was sixth) also crashed in avoidance. The race finished behind the safety car, with van Lagen first ahead of Comte and Morien.
The next rounds of the TCR Benelux Series are scheduled at Zolder, in two weeks.
