Autosportfoto

Lessennes jokers to perfection in WTCR OSCARO

Benjamin Lessennes praised his Boutsen Ginion Racing for enabling him to make a four-place ‘joker' lap leapfrog on the final lap of Race 3 in Vila Real.

Having started in P12, the Belgian teenager took his joker early in the third race of the WTCR Race of Portugal weekend. And the move paid off as several periods behind the safety car meant the majority of the field were forced to wait until the final lap to joker, which allowed Lessennes to climb four places in one go.

"I feel pretty good about today," said the Honda driver. "On the one hand I missed the reversed-grid pole by just two hundredths of a second, but I did the maximum possible with the car in that session. In Race 2 I was battling with Nathanaël Berthon on the first lap and he came across on me way too late and we had contact, which put me out.

"In Race 3 I went from P12 to eighth because we made a great call on the ‘joker' lap strategy, and I have to thank my team for that."

Lessennes' Team Manager, Olivia Boutsen, said: "We had some luck because the number of safety cars in Race 3 meant that our ‘joker' lap strategy worked perfectly, but it was also our decision to get him to take it when he did, and that paid off."

Zdroj: fiawtcr.com