Photo: TCR

Benjamin Lessennes secures Boutsen Ginion Racing test role

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Reigning TCR Benelux champion Benjamin Lessennes has been named as official test driver by the Boutsen Ginion Racing team ahead of the new World Touring Car Cup season.

Lessennes – who drove for Boutsen Ginion last year – will aid the team with preparation for the new season as race driver Tiago Monteiro continues his recovery from the injuries he sustained in his testing accident in Barcelona last year.

The former F1 racer returned to the track at Monza last week to assess his fitness and is set to conduct a limited number of laps at Zandvoort for filming purposes when the team reveals the livery of its Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR cars for the first time.

Lessennes will then take over the running of Monteiro’s car for the remainder of what will be a two-day test as the team works on preparing for the season opener in Morocco.

“I am very pleased and honoured to be appointed as test driver,” Lessennes said. “After my TCR Benelux title with Boutsen Ginion Racing in a Honda in 2017, it is a big step to make, but I am very excited. I tested the new car last November during its development phase and will use that experience to help Tiago and Tom as much as I can ahead of the new season.”

Tom Coronel will also be in action across both days and admitted he couldn’t wait to sample his new car for the first time.

“I can’t wait to drive my new car for the first time at Zandvoort as it should provide great practice for the WTCR event there in May when we expect around 80,000 fans to attend,” he said.

“I won races in TCR Benelux with Boutsen Ginion Racing last year and it seems that the new Civic TCR car is an improvement in all areas, so I’m confident we can develop a very fast and effective package.”