2016

TCR Benelux 2016 : Champion !!!

October 2016, TCR BENELUX : Round 5 : Mettet : Stéphane Lemeret, Champion, Honda Champion !!

Round 6 and Finale of the first TCR Benelux championship !

5 races, 4 wins, a real Honda festival !

For this last meeting of the season, our 2 Honda Boutsen Ginion were ready to fight with following line-ups :

– Honda #5 : belgian drivers, Renaud Kuppens & Benjamin Lessennes

– Honda #18 : belgian driver, Stephane Lemeret and hungarian WTCC driver, Norbert Michelisz, already present at Assen.

5 Races (1 endurance and 4 sprints) were planned for Sunday 30 October, plenty of work for team members..

But great results for us at the end of the day !

Long qualifying race : 2 drivers, 1 mandatory pit-stop for driver’s change :

P1 : Honda #18, Norbert Michelisz & Stephane Lemeret
P7 : Honda #5, Renaud Kuppens & Benjamin Lessennes

Sprint 1 : every driver is participating to 2 sprint races

P1 : Honda #5, Benjamin Lessennes, his first win in TCR Benelux !
P3 : Honda #18, Stephane Lemeret

Sprint 2 :

P2 : Honda #18, Stephane Lemeret
P3 : Honda #5, Benjamin Lessennes

Sprint 3 :

P1 : Honda #18, Norbert Michelisz
DNF : Honda #5, Renaud Kuppens

Sprint 4 :

P1 : Honda #18, Norbert Michelisz
P4 : Honda #5, Renaud Kuppens

Stephane Lemeret is the first Champion of the new TCR Benelux championship 2016, as the Honda !

Benjamin Lessennes : “The week-end did not start well, as we had some mechanical problems.. No qualifying session for us .. Long race was correct. But my first Sprint race was just fantastic : my first win in TCR and a podium for the my second sprint race !”

Renaud Kuppens : «For me, it was a difficult meeting, as we had problems during practices and then during the race, due to mistakes from another driver. Fortunately, the team is really great.”

Stephane Lemeret : « Thank you so much to all the members of the Boutsen Ginion Racing for the great achievement we did this week-end in Mettet. First TCR Benelux champion of the history is something I will remember all my life and this is thanks to the great job of all the team ! Thanks also to my team-mates Tiago Monteiro, Matt Neal, Kris Richards and, of course, the incredible Norbi Michelisz ! »

Norbet Michelisz : « I am very happy for myself, but also for Stephane and for the team Boutsen Ginion, they really diserved the title of Champion. I was really happy to work with all of them, it was a really good experience for me, and hope to be back again soon ! »

Olivier Lainé : « A first season in TCR Benelux with the best result. I would like to thank Honda for their confidence and their partnership all over the season. Thanks to Kronos and RACB for the launch of this new championship, even if some updates have to be done. Congrats to all the new drivers, Belgium got talent ! Thanks to all team members and our drivers, Benjamin, Renaud, Stephane, Norbert, Tiago, Matt and Kris for their team spirit that has conttributed to our successes ! »

Octobre 2016 : TCR BENELUX, Round 5, Assen, NL

Qualifying race

2 engine problems on the Honda #18 et #1 when they were in first and second position .. Working hard to solve the problems.

Podium P2 for Renaud Kuppens and Benjamin Lessennes !

4 Sprints :

Double win for Honda #18, Norbert Michelisz
Double podium, 2 second places for Honda#1, Tom Coronel
Benjamin Lessennes, P9 & P4 !! on the Honda #5 !

Sept 2016 : TCR BENELUX : Round 4, Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg

Long race with 1 pit-stop and drivers change

P4, Honda #18 Stephane Lemeret / Kris Richard
DNF, Honda #5, Renaud Kuppens & Benjamin Lessennes. Engine problem.

4 sprints races :

2 sprints for Stephane Lemeret : the win and P4 in second race
2 sprints for his swiss teammate, Kris Richard : P3 in his first race, P2 in his second race.