Pierres-Yves Corthals wins Race 4 at Zolder, moves to second in standings

DG Sport Compétition’s Pierres-Yves Corthals won the fourth race of the day of the TCR Benelux series at Zolder in his Opel Astra TCR. Corthals finished the race four seconds clear of the Boutsen-Ginion Honda of Stéphene Lémeret, and now moves to second in the points’ standings behind the Honda driver.

The fourth race was instantly more aggressive than the third, with Corthals leading into Turn 1 from the rolling start while Lémeret made up three spots to move to second as the the SEATs of Francisco Mora and Denis Dupont battled it out for during the first lap for the last podium postition.

Mora came out on top after the Villeneuve chicane, and the Portuguese driver began to pull away as Dupont found himself in the midst of activity for the rest of the race.

Ronnie Latinne put on a recovery drive after an early trip through the gravel in his WRT Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, and passed Amaury Richard’s Delahaye Volkswagen on lap five for sixth, before catching and passing WRT team-mate Denis Dupont’s SEAT for fifth a lap later.

Richard would then try a move on Dupont’s SEAT at the Villeneuve chicane, with the two running side-by-side, but Richard would soon slow and retire with apparent suspension damage after contact with the RACB Club-backed SEAT.

From then on, the race settled down, with Corthals controlling the race up front over Lémeret and Mora, while Alexis van de Poele in fourth in the Delahaye Volkswagen had to keep an eye out for the closing WRT Golf of Latinne during the final laps.

Corthals’ third win from the five races this weekend moves him and co-driver Frédéric Caprasse to second in the drivers’ standings, now 58.5 points behind the Boutsen-Ginion Honda driver Stéphane Lémeret at the halfway point of the season.