Rocco Coronel and Mex Jansen won both Supercar Challenge races at TT Circuit Assen’s Jack’s Casino Racing Days. The guest pairing led throughout in a #123 Koopman Racing BMW M4 GT3, one of a fleet of Koopman cars that locked out both podiums and dominated the weekend, leaving fellow Koopman BMW racers and title contenders Marlon Birdsall and Harry Barton to fight over the places behind.
Race 1
Jansen built a lead of around 26 seconds in the #123 BMW M4 GT3 during the opening stint, ahead of championship leader Birdsall in the #111 Koopman Racing BMW M6 GT3, and Coronel brought it home. A drive-through penalty for an infringement at the driver change barely dented the margin, Coronel rejoining still in front and stretching clear to win by more than 17 seconds.
Behind, Birdsall’s teammate and title rival Barton made the most of a full-course yellow during the pit window. A well-timed stop in the #118 Koopman Racing BMW M6 GT3 dropped him back out ahead of Birdsall, and after his run of trouble at Zolder he nursed it home in second to take a bite out of Birdsall’s points lead. Wessel Sandkuijl in the #142 Koopman Racing BMW M6 GT3 and Ted van Vliet in the #108 JR Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 ran fourth and fifth until a drive-through for Van Vliet let Hein Koopman’s #103 Koopman Racing BMW Z4 GT3 through.
Dennis Nelemans led Supersport Plus in the #222 Niemann Autosport BMW M4 GT4, having fought past Berry van Elk’s BMW M4 GT4 in the opening half-hour. Priscilla Speelman and Teunis van der Grift controlled Supersport 1 in the #323 Ferry Monster Autosport Cupra León TCR, and Rick van Zijverden did the same in Supersport 2 in the #421 Hans Weijs Motorsport BMW M240i. In Sport, Mark Jobst took the lead from the DWS Racing Volkswagen Polo Cup before the stops and won by 13 seconds in the #561 Speedsports Zilhouette Sport.
Race 2
Coronel and Jansen made it two from two, Jansen this time bringing home the #123 Koopman Racing BMW M4 GT3 that Coronel had started. The pair pulled 45 seconds clear of the Koopman M6 GT3s of Birdsall and Barton, who swapped roles: Birdsall held second, ten seconds up on Barton, who had to fight forward from the 13th row.
Coronel broke clear at the start and again after an early neutralisation, and the win was never in doubt. Birdsall carried heavy success seconds at his stop, letting Barton close to within a second just after the pit phase before edging away again in the second half to end the weekend’s exchange level. Sandkuijl looked set for fourth until he missed the pit window and took a drive-through, dropping to fifth and promoting Van Vliet’s #108 JR Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.
Nelemans completed his own double in Supersport Plus. The #242 McLaren Artura Trophy of Charles Zwolsman and Albert Jochems led the early running before Nelemans came through in the second half in his #222 Niemann Autosport BMW M4 GT4.
Supersport 1 turned on a collision at the Stekkenwal. The two on-track leaders – Teunis van der Grift in the #323 Ferry Monster Autosport Cupra León TCR and Tom Drummen in the #321 Koopman BMW M4 GT4 – had been fighting over the class lead when they tangled. Bert de Heus and Jayden Post inherited the win in the sister #305 Ferry Monster Autosport Cupra. Cor Euser took Supersport 2 in the #445 Cor Euser Racing BMW E46 M3, fighting back past Saturday’s winner Van Zijverden and holding on to the flag. In Sport, a first-corner clash took out Laurens de Wit and Saturday’s winner Jobst, and Rob Nieman – judged at fault – comfortably overturned a 20-second penalty on pace to win in the #502 Spirit Racing Renault Clio.
Birdsall holds the advantage
The weekend leaves the GT Division title fight much as it started. Barton chipped away at Birdsall’s lead in the opener, only for his Koopman teammate to answer in Race 2 and restore the balance, so the two BMW M6 GT3 drivers head for the summer break still separated by a healthy margin in Birdsall’s favour. Their next meeting comes at the Hockenheimring on 11-13 September, where the Supercar Challenge shares the bill with the International GT Open.
