Stéphane Lémeret celebrates hard-fought TCR Benelux title at Mettet

Stéphane Lémeret won the inaugural TCR Benelux series drivers’ title, with support from factory Honda driver Norbert Michelisz for the third time at Circuit Jules Tacheny de Mettet, and the 43-year-old was delighted after a tough season battling against arch rival Pierre-Yves Corthals and his co-driver Frédéric Caprasse.

“I’m really, really happy, as it was a long season and it was a lot of stress today,” said Lémeret to TouringCarTimes. “We also had a lot of pressure from Honda, as there was quite an official presence from Honda, and they did a lot to help us win

“It was a lot of pressure to be in front of the championship, but I had much less pressure due to Norbert, as I knew that I had the best team-mate that I could imagine, so it was a little bit easier for me than for Corthals for example.

“I also think I managed to manage the stress a bit better than Corthals. He’s already a really old competitor for me, we were fighting 20 years ago in other categories, and he was better than me in those years, and I think I’ve improved myself and I did a better weekend than him so it was good revenge.”