Sam Dejonghe & Denis Dupont win Zandvoort qualifying race

RACB National Team’s Sam Dejonghe and Denis Dupont won the qualifying race in Zandvoort in their SEAT León TCR, benefitted after the DG Sport Opel Astra of Frédéric Caprasse crashed out of the lead after the mandatory driver change.

Jean-Louis Dauger had started the race from pole position in the Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic TCR, but quickly slipped down the order as Denis Dupont took the early initiative in the RACB SEAT.

Dupont soon found himself under threat from Pierre-Yves Corthals in the sole Opel Astra TCR in the race however, with Corthals briefly popping into the lead at Tarzan on lap two, but Dupont managed to get back ahead at the exit. Corthals was then able to make the move one lap later and began building a strong lead.

Corthals now lead ahead of Dupont, while Loris Hezemans moved up to third in the Ferry Monster Autosport SEAT, with Stéphane Lémeret making progess in the #18 Boutsen Ginion Honda, working his way up to fifth.

On lap 12, Hezemans passed Dupont for second at Tarzan, which soon became the race lead when Corthals made an error further around the lap and dropped to second.

The compulsory pit stops now started to come into play and Hezemans was one of the first to pit along with Dupont, with Olivier Hart and Sam Dejonghe taking over the two respective SEATs.

Corthals stayed out until the last possible moment and pitted just before the 35-minute mark, and his co-driver Frédérid Caprasse rejoined in the lead ahead of Dejonghe, but went off at Scheivlak and became the only retirement of the race, with the safety car deployed as the Astra TCR was recovered.

When the race resumed, the second drivers’ battle continued, with Dejonghe leading from Hart until an incident with Vincent Radermacker’s Milo Racing Volkswagen Golf saw the #10 SEAT León retire from the race.

The Delahaye Volkswagen Golf of Alexis van de Poele and Romain Leval went on to finish second, while a stirring drive from Norbert Michelisz saw the Hungarian work his way up from ninth to third at the finish in the #18 Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic TCR.

Radermecker finished fourth ahead of Ronnie Latinne’s Volkswagen.

The fastest laps of the qualifying race determine the grid for Race 1 oat 9:55 on Saturday and Race 3 at 16:25 on Sunday. Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Tiago Monteiro was fastest in the second driver stint and will start Race 1 from pole position ahead of the Milo Racing Volkswagen of Vincent Radermecker, while Ferry Monster Volkswagen of Loriz Hezemans will start Race 3 from pole on Sunday ahead of the Bas Koeten Racing SEAT of Jeffrey van Hooydonk.