Photo: Jacques Letihon Photographe

Loris Hezemans wins crash-shortened Race 4 at Zandvoort

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Loris Hezemans won the second race of the day at Zandvoort in the TCR Benelux series, winning the race in his Ferry Monster Autosport SEAT León TCR ahead of Race 3 winner Jeffrey van Hooydonk, with the race finishing behind the safety car.

Van Hooydonk started the race from pole position for the rolling start in his Bas Koeten Racing SEAT, but Didier van Dalen in the Delahaye Volkswagen tried his luck around the outside at Tarzan from fourth on the grid, but was knocked wide and into the gravel.

Van Hooydonk made a mistake at Tarzan on lap two and went wide, allowing both Hezemans and Pierre-Yves Corthals in the DG Sport Opel through, but Corthals would go off later in the lap and fall to the back of the train.

Alexis van de Poele would be the next retirement, after the Delahaye Volkswagen driver would make contact with Bas Schouten’s SEAT while fighting for fourth.

Schouten’s race was about to get worse however, as he was tackled by Renaud Kuppens in the Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda round the outside through Turn 10. Kuppens rear-right would lock with the front-left of Schouten’s SEAT, which propelled the SEAT into the barriers on the fifth lap, forcing the deployment of the safety car.

With the damage to both the car and the barriers too severe to repair within the 20-minute timeframe, the race would end behind the safety car with Hezemans securing his first win of the season.

Stéphane Lémeret now leads the championship on 204 points, 74 ahead of Alexis van de Poele and Romain de Leval heading to the next round of the championship at Zolder on August 20th-21st.