28 augustus 2007Great guests in Zolder: Bouchut, van de Poele, Heylen, Duval, Goossens ...
With less than two weeks to go before the first training sessions for the 2007 24 Hours of Zolder, the final names are being slotted in and registered for the event; Whereas during Belcar races we are used to seeing two drivers, teams of four drivers are now being put together to compete in this 24 Hours race.
The least we might say is that the quality of the grid is quite exceptional. We will have the championship tenors ,such as Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin, Vincent Radermecker, Stéphane Lémeret, Fred Bouvy, David Loix, Maxime Soulet, Ruben Maes of Guino Kenis on the grid. On top of that we will welcome a host of pretty fast guests.
Let us start with some of the sporting stars of this moment. It goes without saying that Jan Heylen is our super representative in the upcoming Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium. This Conquest-driver will be partnering regular drivers Kris Wauters and Raf Vanthoor in the AD Dodge Viper, not forgetting back from the past Koen Wauters. Second Belgian prominent name in these 24 Hours of Zolder is none other than François Duval. Last weekend Dudu proved himself on the German roads in the Kronos Xsara WRC and together with Fred Bouvy, David Loix and Armand Fumal in a Porsche 997 GT3 of Prospeed they will be one of the outsiders for victory.
Our ex-F3000-drivers Marc Goossens (presently highly active in the US Grand Am and Nascar series) and Kurt Mollekens will also be present and looking for a top podium spot. Marc Goossens will be part and parcel of the GPR-team, and will be sharing the Porsche 997 with the Dumarey brothers and Maxime Soulet. On the other hand Mollekens will be one of the main stalwarts of the PK Corvette, because Kumpen and Longin will be 'commuting' between Adria (FIA GT) and Zolder. Last but not least at PK Carsport we come across the winner of the last two previous editions; David Hart, who clinched victory not only in 2005 but also 2006 with the GT1 Corvette of ... SRT.
At GPR Marc Duez and Ruben Maes will be joined by Tim Verbergt, as previously mentioned, and Pascal Mathieu. Pascal Mathieu is in fact an ex-GPR-competitor. He has previously driven for the team in a Porsche 996 during the BTCS.
So this is old news. What now follows is hot from the press room. In the first instance we can announce the arrival of two pretty great names and newcomers to the 24 Hours of Zolder, namely ex-world FIA-GT champion Christophe Bouchut and fourfold winner of the 24 Hours of Spa as also ex -F1-driver Eric van de Poele. Both of these drivers will be at the wheel of the Mosler of Gravity Mosler. "I was looking for two drivers who could in an economical manner get the best out of the car", is how Loris de Sordi defended his choice. It goes without saying that Bouchut and van de Poele become the obvious team mates of the regular DHL-Mosler drivers, namely Radermecker and Lémeret.
In the second Mosler we find Christian Lefort and... Vincent Vosse, not forgetting Christian Kelders and Yves Lambert.
Carrying on with Mosler, but this time with G&A, Guino Kenis and Michael Dekeersmaeker are joined by Joël Schuybroek (as long as his arm injury has healed) and the leader of the FIA GT4 category Eric De Doncker. Let us not forget that G&A recently won the G3 during the 24 Hours of Francorchamps.
The uncertainty surrounding the presence of Racing for Belgium has also been solved, after the announcement of David Sterckx as the third driver in this really superb Aston Martin DBRS9. Up until this moment no one knows who might become the fourth driver of this Aston.
Additionally we have François Verbist and Stef Vancampenhoudt on the 997 Supercup of First, Jos Van Roij who will be joining the Penders-Lamot-Dujardyn trio, Van Mol with the three Thiers brothers, Eric Bruynooghe, in his last 24 Hours, together with Vanierschot-Steegmans-Schreurs, Colman and Bonaerens amongst the leaders of Division 2 Couwberghs-Neyens and Steinberg-Muytjens in the first Dodge Viper of GS Motorsport.
When it comes to the overall victory we need to look into a crystal ball: no less than some ten teams are in contention for overall victory in these 24 Hours of Zolder, and which might result in it becoming one of the most contended races over these last few years...
