Photo: Jacques Letihon Photographe

Sam Dejonghe and Denis Dupont win Assen qualifying race

Team WRT SEAT drivers Sam Dejonghe and Denis Dupont won the qualifying race at Circuit TT Assen, while championship leader Stéphane Lémeret, with his Honda co-driven by Norbert Michelisz this weekend, saw his championship lead decimated as he failed to finish.

The race was led in the early stages by Loris Hezemans in the Team WRT Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, but they retired after just ten laps. The race was even shorter for wild card Tom Coronel, whose Boutsen-Ginion-run Honda Civic stopped after three laps with an electrical problem.

The race was won by the Belgian duo of Dupont and Dejonghe after 30 laps, with a lead of 26 seconds over the only remaining Honda of Benjamin Lessennes and Renaud Kuppens, with the DG Sport Opel Astra of Fred Caprasse and Pierre-Yves Corthals completing the podium.

As a result, the Opel duo have now slashed Lémeret’s lead in the championship to 28.5 points with 250 remaining, with Dejonghe and Dupont also still in strong contention, just 94 behind.

The fastest laps from the race set the grid for the first race in each pair of sprint races tomorrow. As a result, Renaud Kuppens will start Race 1 from pole in his Bouten-Ginion Honda Civic, ahead of Sam Dejonghe’s SEAT, with Fred Caprasse’s Opel starting seventh and points leader Stéphane Lémeret ninth in his Honda.

For Race 3, Boutsen-Ginion’s Norbert Michelisz will start from pole position ahead of Loris Hezeman’s Volkswagen, with Tom Coronel third in his Honda Civic. Championship contender Pierre-Yves Corthals will complete the second row in the lone Opel Astra TCR.

The first race starts at 10:40 CET on Sunday.