The Opel Astra TCR claimed its first victory today at Zolder in the Qualifying Race of the TCR Benelux event that is also valid as fifth round of the TCR Trophy Europe.
Pierre-Yves Corthals started from pole position in the DG Sport Compétition Astra and led throughout the first part of the race, before handing the car to his teammate Frédéric Caprasse who finished the job and crossed the line first with a comfortable margin ahead of the WRT Volkswagen Golf driven by Ronnie Latinne and Maxime Potty.  
The fight for the second position was much closer and eventually the pairing of Latinne and Potty managed to beat the RACB National Team’s SEAT León of Sam Dejonghe and Denis Dupont by a narrow margin.
The Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Honda Civic of Renaud Kuppen and Benjamin Lessenes classified in fourth position, while the sister car that the current championship leader Stéphane Lémeret shared with BTCC multiple champion Matthew Neal dropped to a disappointing eighth place ahead of the Ferry Monster Autosport SEAT driven by the Portuguese duo of Francisco Mora and José Rodrigues.
Action will resume Saturday morning at 9:10, with the first two of the event’s four 20-minute sprint races. Dejonghe will start from pole position after having posted the fastest lap in the second part of today’s Qualifying Race.
The four sprint races will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.tv.