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WORLD AND LIFE
TCR 2017
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Results
Spa, Round 1, Sunday 23 April
1. Stefano Comini (Audi RS3 LMS); 2.
Benjamin Lessennes (Honda Civic); 3.
Jean-Karl Vernay (Volkswagen Golf)
Spa, Round 2, Sunday 23 April
1. Stefano Comini (Audi RS3 LMS); 2.
Jean-Karl Vernay (Volkswagen Golf);
3. Benjamin Lessennes (Honda Civic)
Spa, Round 3, Sunday 23 April
1. Mat’o Homola (Opel Astra); 2.
Sheldon van der Linde (Audi RS3
LMS); 3. Rob Huff (Volkswagen Golf)
Spa, Round 4, Sunday 23 April
1. Sheldon van der Linde (Audi RS3
LMS); 2. Maxime Potty (Volkswagen
Golf); 3. Rob Huff (Volkswagen Golf)
The TCR Benelux Series lived a very
entertaining season-opening event at
Spa, with many guest stars. On
Saturday, the Delahaye Racing SEAT
León of the Mondron brothers took
the Qualifying Race, while the
Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS won
three out of the four Sprint races
(two with Stefano Comini, one with
Sheldon Van der Linde) and the DG
Sport Compétition Opel Astra of
Mat’o Homola clinched the other
victory. Comini-Van der Linde
emerged as the first points leaders
(105 points) ahead of the Mondron
brothers (69) and Vernay-Huff (64).
Guillaume and Edouard Mondron won
the Qualifying Race ahead of the
Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic
cars of Stéphane Lémeret-Tom
Coronel and Benjamin Lessennes-
Enzo Guibbert. The race was marked
by a lively first lap, which saw the
poleman Homola withdrawing with
electrical problems and a pile-up at
the chicane that eliminated Dénis
Dupont (Team WRT SEAT) and forced
Rob Huff (WRT Volkswagen Golf) to
pit for repairs.
Comini, fifth on the grid, took the
lead in Race 1 at the end of the first
lap; however on lap 5 he was passed
by Frédéric Caprasse’s Opel who was
given a 5-second penalty for jump
start. Comini retook the lead in the
penultimate lap and won from
Lessennes and Jean-Karl Vernay
(Team WRT Volkswagen).
In the second race, Comini led from
lights to flag beating Vernay, his
former teammate in the
International Series. Lessennes
finished third, while Kevin Abbring’s
Peugeot 308 and the 2016 champion
Lémeret’s Honda couldn’t take part in
the race due to the damage sustained
in a collision at the end of Race1.
The Honda couldn’t be repaired,
which forced Coronel out of Races 3
and 4.
Homola beat bad luck to take victory
in Race 3 with his Opel Astra. He
took the lead from the pole at the
start, but he had to fight hard in the
closing laps to keep at bay van der
Linde’s Audi and Huff’s Volkswagen.
In Race 4, van der Linde gave
Comotoyou Racing and Audi their
Victories for Audi,
Opel and SEAT at Spa
third win of the day. He built a
comfortable lead and resisted the
great recovery from Maxime Potty
(Team WRT Volkswagen) who had
passed teammate Rob Huff for second
during the final lap. Homola, was on
pole, but had to stop in the pits on
lap 2 with technical issues.
The next rounds of the TCR Benelux
Series are scheduled at Zandvoort,
Netherlands, on May 20/21.