10 juni 2007Kenis-De Keersmaeker (Mosler) win in extreme conditions
The third round of the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar was one to remember. Even before the race, during the morning warm-up, the Prospeed Porsche of Fred Bouvy retired with a broken engine. But all this was just a prelude to what was yet to come.
The start was given under a threatening sky, but on a drying track. Pole man, or rather woman, Stéphanie Boden led the whole bunch, but not for too long. By the end of the third lap, Dodge Viper drivers Vanthoor and the Italian Perrazini went into the lead and only one lap further, Maxime Soulet in the GPR Porsche became the fourth consecutive leader of the race.
Meanwhile, the Mosler of Radermecker and the Corvette of Kumpen made up their way after a difficult qualifying on Friday, while the Aston of Coekelbergs lost precious time, being one of the few cars starting on rain tires.
As seen in Bucharest the Vertigo loves tricky conditions and Renaud Kuppens also made his way through the field, being sixth after only a few laps in the brand new Vertigo GT3.
After 20 minutes in reasonable dry conditions, things changed dramatically. A shower, as it only can happen at Spa, came down and most teams very quickly came in for tyre changes, but not so the PK Corvette, the G&A Mosler, the NGT Porsche – leading Division 2 - and the Vertigo. This very brave choice would play a major role in the outcome of the race.
A crash of an Italian Viper led to a first safety car procedure, while the Gravity Mosler was leading the race. After 35 minutes, the minimum racing time for a driver in Belcar, and some very difficult moments in appealing weather conditions, PK, G&A, NGT and Vertigo came in to put on slicks, but also to do carry out the mandatory driver change. By doing so, all of them possibly could avoid a second pit stop.
At front, Radermecker was constantly lapping quicker than the Porsches of Soulet and Duez behind him. Michaël De Keesmaecker in the G&A Mosler also took profit out of the excellent behaviour of his car in the extreme wet conditions and drove an excellent stint.
But the weather even got worse, lightening and thunder now giving the race a very special character, and when the Ceusters-Van Moerkerke went off at the Raidillon the safety car came out again. Another victim of the extreme conditions was the little Vertigo. Kuppens hit another competitor, damaged the radiator of his car and that was it.
As most teams now came in for their driver change, the race order changed again. The G&A Mosler was leading the GPR Porsche of Guillaume Dumarey, the Mosler of Stéphane Lémeret, the Dodge Viper of Kris Wauters, the GPR Porsche of Rubens Maes and the Corvette of a struggling Bert Longin. After the race, PK admitted that a wrong tyre choice caused the bad behaviour of the Z06. The team put on old rain tyres, believing that rain wouldn’t last for too long.
As conditions were too dangerous to race again, the Belcar competitors took the chequered flag under yellow. This meant a first overall victory for G&A, while NGT won in Division 2 and Tthiers brothers in Division 3.
Quotes:
Radermecker: “I think that without the SC period lasting till the end, we could have won the race. Our car performed extremely well in the extreme conditions. This week’s decision to higher the ride height of the car was a great advantage in the wet.”
Guino Kenis: “WE were both very fast in very difficult conditions and the victory feels great!”
Guillaume Dumarey: “We made the right choice to keep Maxime behind the wheel as he’s very fast in such conditions. We’re now second in the championship, only a few points behind the Corvette.”
Final Result: 1. Kenis-De Keersmaeker (Mosler-Chevrolet), 36 laps in 2h06.48.059 ; 2. Dumarey-Soulet (Porsche 997 GT3) at 5.117 ; 3. Radermecker-Lémeret (Mosler-Chevrolet) at 5.529 ; 4. Vanthoor-Wauters (Dodge Viper) at 11.279 ; 5. Duez-Maes (Porsche 997 GT3) at 11.851 ; 6. Longin-Kumpen Jr (Corvette Z06) at 20.996 ; 7. Perazzini-Cioci (Ita/Dodge Viper) at 33.824 ; 8. Neyens-Couwberghs (Porsche 996 Supercup) (1ste in D2) at 35.048 ; 9. Boden-Van de Velde (Dodge Viper) at 42.121; 10. Chaillet-Nef (Dodge Viper) at 45.130 ;… 13. Thiers-Thiers (Porsche 997) at1lap (1ste in D3)
