Photo: letihon.be

Edouard Mondron’s podium keeps championship alive for brother Guillaume

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The #5 Delahaye Racing pair of Guillaume and Edouard Mondron fought against a difficult track for the SEAT León, which also struggled with two layers of ballast at the Circuit Zolder this weekend, with Edouard Mondron scoring the best results of the weekend with fourth in Race 3 and then third in Race 4.

Guillaume had switched back to the SEAT León, after pairing with Giacomo Altoè two weeks’ ago at Zandvoort where the car took two victories, increasing his lead in the standings in a mixed weekend for championship rival Benjamin Lessennes.

But with Lessennes taking five straight wins at Zolder, Mondron’s lead went from 49 ahead to 21 behind by the end of the Zolder weekend.

Edouard drove the car in the last two sprints, fighting off the Peugeot of Aurélien Comte and the Volkswagen of Mathieu Detry to keep fourth, while in Race 4 he benefitted from late-race retirements for the SEAT of Denis Dupont and the Audi of Frédéric Vervisch to take the final spot on the podium behind Lessennes and Comte.

“The car this weekend was awful to set-up, as we have all the weight from the BoP and the success ballast, so since Friday it’s been really difficult,” said Edouard Mondron to TouringCarTimes.

“In Sprint 3, I was all defensive. It was interesting to do some defence here at Zolder. It’s difficult to overtake, so I managed to do this strategy and it worked. If you look at the back of my car it’s all scratched as they were pushing, pushing, pushing.

“In the fourth race, I was a little more alone as Mathieu (Detry) and Fred (Caprasse) were fighting each other, so I was kind of solo. Then there were issues for two guys in front of me, so third place is good. It’s good for my brother as we managed to get some points for the championship.”

The Mondron brothers aren’t committed to the fourth round of the championship, again at Zolder next month, and were just due to return for the final races at Mettet and Circuit TT Assen, but their championship promise may mean they re-evaluate.

“We don’t know yet if we’ll be there,” said Edouard Mondron. “We were waiting for the result of this weekend, so we have to think about it.”