Fantastic start for Coronel and Lessennes with double-pole for Sunday
Benjamin Lessennes leaped to second in the drivers’ championship after winning the qualifying long race at Zolder on Saturday with co-driver Tom Coronel, with Coronel crossing the finish line 20 seconds clear of Team WRT’s Maxime Potty to secure the first win for the #2 car this year.
Lessennes started the race from second on the grid behind the #52 Volkswagen Golf of Matthieu Detry, but leaped into the lead at the start and never looked back, quickly building a seven second lead over the WRT cars behind him.
“I had a very good start. I’m feeling much more confident with the clutch, as I’m only 17 so I’ve never driven a manual car,” said Lessennes to TouringCarTimes.
“The car was great. I set the best lap, and when I asked my engineer how far the second fastest car was, I was told it was three tenths, so I could lift a little bit and keep the tyres for Tom’s stint.”
Coronel then more than doubled the gap during the last half of the race, despite not feeling like he pushing at all in the Honda Civic, taking the Boutsen Ginion Racing team’s second win of the season, and Coronel’s first in the TCR Benelux series.
“When I got in the car they said I was 7.5 seconds ahead, then a few laps later they said I was ten, so I started to drive more carefully,” Coronel said to TouringCarTimes. “Then they said 14, but I said I was driving slower! So I then went half a second slower, and then on the radio they said I was now 18 clear.
“The car was good, I had good traction in the last sector. The exit of the hairpin every time I was full throttle with no understeer, and you easily gain time.
“In these kinds of races it’s important to be consistent and be clever with the tyres, so I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”
With Lessennes setting the fastest lap in the first stint, and Coronel fastest in the second, the two drivers have secured pole position for their first respective sprint races tomorrow, with Coronel’s at 10:50 CET, and Lessennes’ at 17:00 CET.
