Giacomo Altoè takes easy win at Zandvoort in Sprint Race 2
Giacomo Altoè followed up on yesterday’s long race victory with a win in the second sprint race at Zandvoort, comfortably leading the Boutsen Ginion Honda of Benjamin Lessennes across the line, and helps launch co-driver Guillaume Mondron into the lead of the championship.
The grid for Race 2 was as Race 1’s results, with Stéphane Lémeret on pole in the #1 Boutsen Ginion Honda, but he bogged down at the start allowing Altoè to get the jump into Turn 1 with Lessennes up to second and Team WRT Volkswagen driver Mathieu Detry up to third.
Lémeret was down to seventh, and during the early stages was challenging the #7 Team WRT SEAT of Denis Dupont for position, but would eventually pull into the pits to retire with a mechanical issue on lap seven.
Just before Lémeret pitted, the two Audis behind of Simon Reicher and Willem Meijer came together on the way into Arie Luyendijk, with both cars bouncing off across the gravel trap, and were both forced to pull into the pits for repairs.
Altoè had built a three second lead, but this reduced to just over a second over Lessennes over the last two laps, but Lessennes never got close enough to attack the Volkswagen for the win.
Mathieu Detry secured the final position on the podium for Team WRT, with Kevin Abbring finishing fourth for DG Sport Compétition in the Peugeot 308, with Danny Kroes fifth in the Ferry Monster Autosport SEAT León TCR.
Altoè’s win helps launch Guillaume Mondron into the lead of the drivers’ championship, with Mondron now on 137 points, 32 clear of Stefano Comini and Sheldon van der Linde, who are no longer in the championship, with Benjamin Lessennes fourth on 96 points in the Honda, with Altoe fifth on 90.
Jaap van Lagen starts the first of this afternoon’s second pair of sprint races from pole position in the Certainty Audi RS 3 ahead of Mondron in the Volkswagen.
