Paul Ricard

Podium on GT4 debut for Mees Houben

Mees Houben has started his first GT4 European Series season with second place. Together with team-mate Lachlan Evennett, he took the Speedy Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to the podium at Paul Ricard, in a field of 40 cars. The pair set the eighth-fastest time in both qualifying sessions. In race 1, Mees took the start. After his half-hour stint he handed the car to Evennett, who gained places in the closing stages and brought the Toyota home in second. The win went to Cedric Fuchs and Enrico Förderer in the SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG. A year earlier, Mees also finished on the podium in his very first MX-5 race. Once again, he did it on his debut in a new championship. In race 2 the roles were reversed. Evennett started and handed the Toyota to Mees in tenth place. In the final part of the race Mees moved forward and crossed the line sixth. After the race, the team received a ten-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped the pair to sixteenth (twelfth in the Silver category). A podium on debut and clear race pace in both races: a better start to the season was hardly possible.