2017

Below, the details of the season ..

Sept 2017, Blancpain GT Sports Club, Barcelona, Round 6

Qualif :

• P7 : Karim Ojjeh
• P9 : CY Gosselin
• P14 : Pierre Feligioni

Qualifying race  :

• TOP 10 for Pierre Feligioni !
• P21 : Karim Ojjeh, off
• NC : CY Gosselin, driveshaft broken

Main race : red flag !!

• P10 : P. Feligioni
• P20 : CY Gosselin
• P22 : K Ojjeh

Positive point of the week-end : Karim Ojjeh finished on the podium, P3 for the overall classification of BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB 2017 !!!

August 2017, BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB, Budapest, Round 5 

Race meeting on a sunny and very hot track. Good laptimes during test and qualifying sessions (P5) for Karim Ojjeh, but the BMW #2 had an accident during race 1, prevented us from the 4th position. No time to repair correctly between the 2 races.

No point this week-end, but Karim remains P3 in the championship.

Rendez-vous in Barcelona for the Blancpain GT Sports Club finale, 29-30 Sept 2017 !

Results GT Sports Club :

• Qualif : P5
• Race 1 : DNF
• Race 2 : DNS

July 2017, BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB, SPA, Round 4

• BMW M6, #2, de Karim Ojjeh,
• Lamborghini, #4, de Claude-Yves Gosselin
• Lamborghini, #6, de Pierre Feligioni

Results qualif :

• P3 : Karim Ojjeh, BMW M6 #2
• P11 : CY Gosselin, Lambo #4
• P21 : Pierre Feligioni, Lambo #6

Results qualifying race : heavy crash at the start of the race, fortunately our cars were not involved, but the race was really shorter due to long safety car ..

• P5 : Karim Ojjeh
• P10 : CY Gosselin
• P17 : Pierre Feligioni

MAIN RACE  : PODIUM !

Claude-Yves Gosselin took 2 points with his 10th place, Pierre Feligioni finished P17.

Karim Ojjeh : “I guess you can say that the podium of the main race was the achievement of hard work from everyone in the team.  It’s not “my” podium but “our” podium as a team.  We are getting to know the car better and better.  It will be harder at the last two races.  However, we intent to be prepared!”

June 2017, BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB, PAUL RICARD, Round 3

Free practices 1 :

• P10 : Karim Ojjeh on the BMW M6, #2
• P15 : Claude-Yves Gosselin, Lambo #4
• P20 : Pierre Feligioni, Lambo #6

Second session is even warmer, some improvements :

• P4 : Karim Ojjeh
• P8 : Claude-Yves Gosselin
• P20 : Pierre Feligioni

QUALIF SESSION :

• P2 : Claude Yves Gosselin !
• P5 ; Karim Ojjeh
• P22 : Pierre Feligioni

Qualif race :

• P4 : Karim Ojjeh
• P7 : Claude-Yves Gosselin
• P19 : Pierre Feligioni

Main race :

• P4 : Karim Ojjeh
• P19 : Claude-Yves Gosselin
• P20 : Pierre Feligioni

Standings championship : P4 for Karim Ojjeh !

May 2017, BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB, SILVERSTONE, Round 2 : 2 races, 2 PODIUMS ! P3 & P2 !

Qualif race : PODIUM for our BMW M6 #2 !

Main race :

Karim Ojjeh : “A good step up.  We needed after Mizano.  We have now proved we can challenge the top cars and drivers.  We simply need to continue the momentum.  The team was great, but I will dedicate my podiums to Kevin, my race engineer who did a super job!”

April 2017, BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB, MISANO, Round 1 : Qualifying race : TOP 9 !

26 cars on the grid for the first round of the championship, 3 cars for our team, the BMW M6 and 2 Lamborghini Reiter,

Qualif

• P18, CY Gosselin, Lambo #4
• P20, K.Ojjeh, BMW #2
• P23, P.Feligioni, Lambo #6

Qualif race

• TOP 9 for Karim Ojjeh !
• P10,  CY Gosselin
• P19, P.Feligioni

BLANCPAIN GT SPORTS CLUB MISANO : Main race : Results

P13 : CY Gosselin Lambo #4
P19 : P.Feligioni Lambo #6
DNF : K.Ojjeh BMW #2, fighting for 6th position, hit by another car.

TCR International, DUBAI, Last meeting of the season

• FP1 : P19
• FP2 : P20
• Qualif : P19

The races :

• Race 1 :

Started P18, (due to turbo issue during qualifying session), Aurelien Panis managed to overtake up to P11 , but was hit by another competitor. Finished P14.

• Race 2 : Started P18, finished P13 with a broken splitter during the first lap of the race,

TCR International season is over, let’s focuse on 2018 !

Oct 2017, TCR Benelux, Assen, NL : Benjamin Lessennes : 2017 CHAMPION !

2016: Stéphane Lemeret, TCR Benelux Champion, on a Boutsen Ginion Honda !
2017: Benjamin Lessennes, TCR Benelux Champion … on a Boutsen Ginion Honda !

Last round of the TCR Benelux this weekend in the Netherlands; the Belgian driver, Benjamin Lessennes and Tom Coronel, the Dutch driver shared the wheel of the Japanese car.

The team arrived in Assen with the firm intention to fight till the end for our driver to win the championship, but with the weight of “Success Ballast” and racing incidents, we had to wait till the last sprint at 17:30 to get the confirmation !

Indeed, during the 3rd sprint, and while there were still 50 points to distribute, Benjamin Lessennes was pushed in the gravel bed during the first lap of the race. However, he was able to be extracted and to finish his 2 sprint races.

A meeting full of stress and emotions and finally, the confirmation of his talent, since he won the championship at just 18 years of age!

Results :

• Combined qualif : P3
• Qualif race : P5
• Sprint 1 : P3 – T Coronel
• Sprint 2 : P3 – T Coronel
• Sprint 3 : P6 – B Lessennes
• Sprint 4 : P5 – B Lessennes

• Championship TCR Benelux 2017 : P1 : B Lessennes !
• Championship Junior : P1 : B Lessennes !
• Car of the year : Honda !

Benjamin Lessennes: “Very emotional week-end with ups and downs but fortunately a successful outcome ! For my part, I made a good qualification. My sprints were a little harder because at the 4th corner in sprint 1, I was hit by an Audi which damaged the car. But the main thing is that we are champion .. I want to thank very much my Boutsen team  and Honda for all their support.“

Olivier Lainé : “I am proud of the combativity that Benjamin has shown this season and more particularly this week-end. In two seasons, he has learned a lot and proved that he is one of the safest hopes of Belgian motorsports. We had the chance to welcome in our team, at the beginning of their career, boys like Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Maxime Martin or Maxime Soulet, they are professional drivers today. When I see what Benjamin has done on the last two years in TCR Benelux, I think he is really promising driver ! I also take the opportunity to thank all the team members and particularly Honda Benelux for the fantastic support since 2 years now “

Tom Coronel : “Well done guys, it is a mega result for ever !”

Oct 2017, TCR International, Zhejiang, China

• Race 1 : P10, but classified P9 for the points, SO 2 POINTS ! (as Hyundai was not eligible for points).
• Race 2 : No more power at the end of the race, probably a turbo issue. Aurelien was P9 !  Good fight ! Great race !  We will come back stronger for the next race in Dubai, 16-18 November 2017 !

Sept 2017, TCR Benelux, METTET, Round 5 : 2 wins and 1 podium !

A week end full of twists for our team for the 5th round of the TCR Benelux championship.First of all, the pole position for our 2 drivers, Stephane Lemeret and Benjamin Lessennes, each time fastest in their respective qualifying session,  and consequently the first place on the front row for the long race. But the long race will be very short for us, a breakdown of transmission annihilating all our efforts!  Our Honda Civic TCR nr. 2 will have to start at  the back of the grid for the sprint races 1 and 3 !

But the Sprint 1 offered Stephane Lemeret  a  P5 as result, and brought us back to the podium with a P3 in Sprint 2.

Sprint 3 with Benjamin Lessennes, unbridled, managed the feat to finish at the top of the podium. Started from the pole position for the Sprint 4, he doubled the wagered to gain the maximum points !
Benjamin Lessennes, no more leader during the  lunch time, left Mettet as  leader of the championship with 14 points ahead and as best Junior driver of the week-end.

Everything will be decided during the final meeting of Assen, 21-22 October 2017.

Results :

• Qualif : P1
• Qualif race : DNF
• Sprint races 1 & 2 : P5 & P3
• Sprint races 3 & 4 : P1 & P1

Stephane Lemeret: “This weekend in Mettet, the Honda Civic of the Boutsen Ginion Racing was above the level of the competitors in terms of performance. We found the ideal set-up  with our engineer Kevin Boutsen and the mechanics who did a great job. Unfortunately with a transmission broken at the start of the first race,  it was difficult for us but we were able to score important points for the championship, which was the goal of the meeting. “

Benjamin Lessennes: “A Sunday that started with a technical problem and therefore a big loss of points knowing that the championship is very tight. As conclusion we finalized the week end with two magnificent sprint races and two more victories in TCR Benelux.”

Sept 2017, TCR INTERNATIONAL, BURI RAM, Thailand : Race 2 : the win for Aurelien Panis !

Second race meeting with our team for the French driver (in TCR International) and already a win in Race 2, at the Buri Ram International Chang circuit, 400 kms from Bangkok.

First race was a little bit more difficult, due to the penalty we get for engine’s change during last race in Germany. Starting from the back of the grid, Aurelien had also to pit to clean his radiator ..

Qualified P10 for Race 2, Aurelien was able to start in Pole Position, following the 10 first reverse grid regulation !

A fantastic start of the race for the black and orange Honda as he was leading since the first corner.  Position that he kept all the way long to claim his first victory in TCR International ! Just awsome !

Aurélien Panis : “I knew before the races that our pace was really good, because in Free Practice and Qualifying was really fast but we didn’t get the perfect lap to be in front. P10 and so start Race 2 from pole position was the best possible qualifying result for us. I must say thank you to the team because the car was great to drive. I’m very happy to be in TCR International and to win today. For the young drivers it’s a really good series and it’s great to be fighting with the top drivers like Michelisz, Vernay or Comini”

Olivier Lainé : “Aurelien has concretized the potential we had already seen in TCR Benelux, (Zandvoort). His week-end has been amazing. We will continue to work in this direction.”

Results :

• Qualif : P10
• Race 1 : P19
• Race 2 : P1 – Fastest lap during the race 2.

July 2017, TCR Benelux, Zolder, Round 4 : 

Saturday 15th of July : Qualif : P4 Benjamin Lessennes and Stephane Lemeret but P6 in combined qualif.

Wonderful start of the race for Benjamin Lessennes. Started P6, P2 after a few turns, but at the end of first lap, has been hit by the driver in second position. Back to the pit, to put a new wheel, .. Benjamin could rejoin even if he had some problems with the steering. Stephane Lemeret replaced him at the half of the race. Our Honda could not finish better than P7. Team is now repairing the car for the 4 sprints race of tomorrow.

Sunday 16th of July 2017 : 4 sprints : 2 podiums and good points for the championship !

Stéphane Lemeret was at the wheel of the Honda Civic for Sprints 1 & 2 :

• Sprint 1 : P3 !
• Sprint 2 : P4

Benjamin Lessennes was doing the Sprints 3 & 4 :

• Sprint 3 : P3 !
• Sprint 4 : Puncture, back to pitbox, finished P8

May 2017, TCR Benelux, Zandvoort, Round 2 :

Saturday 20th of May : Long qualifying race : A day without success today ..

April 2017, TCR Benelux, Spa, Round 1 : Double podium in qualif race !

Result Qualif 1:

• P2 : Benjamin Lessennes
• P4 : Stephane Lemeret

Result Qualif 2 :

• P4 : Enzo Guibbert
• P7 : Tom Coronel

Qualif combined :

• P3 : Lessennes / Guibbert
• P5 : Lemeret / Coronel

Great start for Tom Coronel, P2 at the first corner.

P4 for Enzo Guibbert.

Pit window open, Tom Coronel still P3, Guibbert P5.

Driver’s change, for Honda #2, Benjamin replaces Enzo Guibbert.

Driver’s change for Honda #1, Stephane Lemeret takes the wheel.

One moment leader of the race, Stephane finishes P2.

Benjamin Lessennes did a fantastic job, finishing P3 !