Sam Dejonghe celebrates podium in a difficult season for Team WRT SEAT

Sam Dejonghe and Denis Dupoint finished third in today’s qualifying long race at Zolder, the Team WRT SEAT duo’s first podium result of the season, with Dejonghe hoping the TCR Balance of Performance measures for the SEAT León are revisited soon.

Dupont was able to move up to second from fourth on the grid, holding back team-mate Mathieu Detry in WRT’s Volkswagen Golf during the first half of the race, before Dejonghe took over, but soon lost a spot to Detry’s co-driver Maxime Potty, and had to settle for third.

“Until now we’ve had a very difficult season, so it’s not too bad to be third,” said Dejonghe to TouringCarTimes.

“Of course we want to challenge for the win. Denis did a good start, but he needed to push quite a lot to stay in front, and it was difficult as when I got in the car, as the front tyres were mostly gone so it was difficult to manage.

“When I got out of the pits, Maxime had pitted one lap before me and was more used to the track at that point. I tried to push hard to stay in front, but I didn’t have the grip to do so, which was frustrating – but at this moment, the Golf with the current BoP is a better package. If you look at the International Series, you can see the SEAT is struggling with the BoP everywhere, so I hope they re-examine and change it as I think the Golf is a bit too quick at the moment.”