Photo: Jacques Letihon Photographe

Aurélien Comte wins final sprint race of the day at Zolder

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DG Sport Compétition’s Aurélien Comte claimed his second win in the TCR Benelux Touring Car Championship in Sprint Race 4, converting pole into another victory, finishing ahead of the Team WRT Volkswagen of Maxime Potty, with the Volkswagen of Lorenzo Donniacuo snatching third in an exciting finish.

Comte started on pole courtesy of his Race 3 victory, and the fast-starting Peugeot held firm into Turn 1, with Potty closing off the nose of Lessennes’ Honda to make sure he had second position on the way into the corner.

From then on, Comte began to build a small lead, as Potty defended against Lessennes’ Honda, with Sam Dejonghe in the WRT SEAT keeping a watching brief behind in fourth.

Lorenzo Donniacuo made quick progress in the #4 Delahaye Volkswagen, recovering from his troubles in Race 3, passing Jonas de Kimpe’s DK Volkswagen at the start, before working his way past the two Bas Koeten Audis on laps four and seven to move up to fifth.

This soon became fourth as there was trouble for the Honda of Benjamin Lessennes, who pitted for a safety check after a spin on lap seven and rejoined back down in eighth position, which meant Dejonghe was now up to third, but the SEAT driver had Donniacuo’s Volkswagen right behind him battling for the final podium spot.

The two put on a great show for the final laps, while Comte comfortably took the win up in front with Potty just under two seconds behind.

The fight for third lasted right until the end, with Donniacuo making his move at the final corner of the last lap, taking away third from Dejonghe’s SEAT on the drag down the finish straight, scoring vital points for co-driver Mondron’s championship

Behind were the two Audis, with De Kimpe’s Volkswagen seventh and Lessennes the last classified finisher in eighth.

Lessennes still leads the championship, but is now just three points clear of Mondron, with the WRT Volkswagen pair of Potty and Mathieu Detry just 34 points behind heading to the next round of the championship at Mettet on September 24th.