Denis Dupont puts WRT SEAT on pole at Zolder

Team WRT’s Denis Dupont has taken pole position for the latest round of the TCR Benelux series at Zolder, with the Belgian driver and his co-driver Sam Dejonghe’s aggregate times just six-hundredths faster than the Bas Koeten Audi of Willem Meijer and Meindert van Buuren.

The first benchmark was set by Benjamin Lessennes in the Boutsen Ginion Honda Civic of 1:42.451, with the 18-year-old Belgian then improving to set his best of 1:39.803 before pitting to hand over to co-driver Stéphane Lémeret.

Lémeret’s best however was a 1:40.411, which puts the Honda Civic fifth on the grid on aggregate, just three-tenths behind in the tight qualifying session.

Guillaume Mondron then went fastest in the Delahaye Volkswagen, before Willem Meijer was quick from the off after taking over the Bas Koeten Audi, but was soon outpaced by Dupont in the SEAT, twice dipping into the 1:39s, producing a best time of 1:39.462.

Third fastest on aggregate was the DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 of Aurélien Comte and Kevin Abbring, with Comte setting a 1:39.901, with Abbring almost as fast despite having just three laps in the car, just nine thousandths slower than Comte.

The #52 Team WRT Volkswagen of Maxime Potty and Mathieu Detry will start fourth, with Detry the fastest of the pair, setting a 1:39.896 early in the session, while Potty set a 1:40.013 in the team’s new Golf GTI TCR.

Championship contender Guillaume Mondron will start the qualifying long race from sixth, with the Belgian fast with a 1:39.776, but his new co-driver Lorenzo Donniacuo was seven-tenths of a second slower.

The next two on the grid will be the #66 Bas Koeten Audi of Mike Morien and Stan van Oord, with Jonas de Kimpe eighth, running on his own in the DK Racing Volkswagen.

The qualifying long race starts at 16:50 CET.