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A cool race weekend for Honda Civic pairing Benjamin Lessennes/Tom Coronel in TCR BeNeLux
Zolder, 6 June, 2017 – The TCR BeNeLux field with a great variety of international drivers headed to the circuit of Zolder in Belgium for the third round of season. This time, Boutson Ginion Racing was the only team to represent Honda’s interests with its JAS Motorsport Civic TCR and driver pairing Benjamin Lessennes/Tom Coronel. In all five races, the duo climbed on the top step of the podium for the prize-giving ceremony. A unique achievement: five wins from as many races! In the process, 17-year-old Benjamin Lessennes also was picked as the ‘Junior Driver of the Weekend’ while Honda Benelux picked up the ‘Car of the Weekend’ accolade. In the TCR BeNeLux drivers’ standings, Lessennes is now leading with a total of 235 points. Tom Coronel is third with 195 points.
Afterwards, a visibly happy Tom Coronel commented: “Now this is the way I like it, of course. This weekend, everything worked out perfectly and then, you have a golden combination. Apart from qualifying for the one-hour race, we were on top in every session. In the TCR races, tyres are playing a very important role. In the one-hour race, we started with fresh tyres and my team-mate brought the car into the pits for the driver change at the halfway point with a seven seconds’ lead. After the minimum pit stop time of 60 seconds, I joined the race and I crossed the finish line to win by 20 seconds. Such results really boost our confidence. It is also fantastic for the team, Boutsen Ginion Racing, with engineer Kevin and Honda Benelux. The schedule for Sunday included the TCR sprint races of 20 minutes each, two apiece for Benjamin and myself. At the start, I chose to operate the car manually and switch off all the gizmos. That cost me one position to Peugeot’s Kevin Abbring at the start, but I had caught him again after only one lap. Then, it was all about making it to the finish without too much tyre wear. I managed to do that and I was first behind the safety car for the second race that followed immediately afterwards. There is no time in between, so you really need to look after your tyres. In the second race, everything went perfectly as well and once again, the Honda shone with its superior traction, particularly in the third sector. There, I could pull away from the others every time. Thus, I was able to pick up my third trophy of the weekend. My team-mate Benjamin completed the success by winning the other two sprint races, bringing the total for the only Honda Civic on the grid for this weekend to five. It was also nice to be so successful during an event with such a good crowd. This weekend, we raced on the Blancpain GT Series support bill and I saw many Dutch fans on the grandstands. That was particularly nice because they don’t get to see me racing close to home very often in the FIA WTCC. On the other hand, my participation in the WTCC does mean that I have to miss out on the next TCR BeNeLux round, also here at Zolder, because I will be racing the ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet in Argentina that weekend.”
Results:
SR1: 1. Tom Coronel, Honda Civic TCR, 12 laps ; 2. Potty, VW Golf TCR, 3.564 ; 3. Dejonghe, SEAT Leon TCR, 6.878 ; 4. Abbring, Peugeot 308 Cup, 11.997; 5. G. Mondron, SEAT Leon TCR, 13.919; 6. Comini, Audi RS3 LMS, 25.940.

SR2: 1. Tom Coronel, Honda Civic TCR, 12 laps ; 2. Potty, VW Golf GTI, 4.264 ; 3. Abbring, Peugeot 308 Cup, 11.826 ; 4. Dejonghe, SEAT Leon TCR, 12.620 ; 5. Comini, Audi RS3 LMS, 20.194 ; 6. G. Mondron, SEAT Leon TCR, 20.568.
SR3: 1. Lessennes, Honda Civic TCR, 12 laps ; 2. Dupont, SEAT Leon TCR, 6.285 ; 3. Vervisch, Audi RS3 LMS, 10.156 ; 4. E. Mondron, SEAT Leon TCR, 11.799 ; 5. Comte, Peugeot 308 Cup, 11.977 ; 6. Detry, VW Golf TCR, 12.579.
SR4: 1. Lessennes, Honda Civic TCR, 12 laps ; 2. Comte, Peugeot 308 Cup, 4.204 ; 3. E. Mondron, SEAT Leon TCR, 12.164 ; 4. Detry, VW Golf TCR, 15.320 ; 5. Meyer, Audi RS3 LMS, 22.079.

Standings:
Overall: 1. Benjamin Lessennes 235 ; 2. Guillaume Mondron 214; 3. Tom Coronel 195; 4. Aurelien Comte, Kevin Abbring 157; 5. Maxime Potty, Mathieu Detry 147; 6. Stefano Comini 134.

Car: 1. Honda Civic 224; 2. Audi RS3 LMS 208; 3. VW Golf 156; 4. SEAT Leon 156; 5. Peugeot 308, 146;
Junior: 1. Benjamin Lessenens, 157; 2. Maxime Potty, Giacomo Altoè 90; 4. Mathieu Detry 87; 5. Sheldon van der Linde 55; 6. Mika Morien 54.
Team: 1. Delahaye Racing Team 62; 2. Boutsen Ginion Racing 49 ; 3. DG Sport 43 ; 4. Team WRT 38; 5. Bas Koeten Racing 28; 6. Comtoyou Racing, Certainty Racing 15. 

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