13 juli 2008Vincent Radermecker and Ron Marchal (Mosler) take revenge for the tough luck of their unfortunate team-mates.
For Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin it was not to be. Kumpen experienced a serious crash during the qualifying session for the second race and the Mosler MT900 was too seriously damaged to be repaired in time, neither for the Friday race nor for the second race on Saturday. The race took off in front of packed grandstands, but with a threatening sky overhead, notwithstanding the track being dry at the start. Bart Couwberghs was soon out of the race, but it was especially an incident on the Raidillon which created the problems. As the result of an incident between two other cars Raf Vanthoor spun in the middle of the track, and in the initial start charge was hit by Christian Kelders (Porsche) and the Brit David Shelton (BMW). This incident resulted in a lengthy safety-car intervention, right though to the beginning of the pitstops time window. Unfortunately Jeffrey Van Hooydonk and Guino Kenis drew the short straw, seeing they were unable to take full advantage of their excellent start.
Most of the favourites came in to the pits one lap before the end of the neutralisation, only Guino Kenis (the winner of the Friday race) and Henk Haane, at that moment respectively second and third, missed the boat and lost all chances of clinching a victory.
In the meantime Eddy Renard had overtaken under yellow flag conditions and Vincent Vosse was obliged to endure a stop-and-go, whereby he immediately lost all contact with Fred Bouvy. But the Verviers based driver still managed to pull a sixth place out of the bag, and this after an excellent chase to catch Koen Wauters and Wim Lumbeeck.
Robert Dierick had taken over the lead, ahead of Maxime Soulet, Vincent Radermecker, Tim Verbergt and Fred Bouvy.
But the yellow Dodge could not hold off the pressure from the charging competition. Both the GPR Porsche and the sole Gravity Mosler got passed and Vincent Radermecker became the new leader. He was able to build up a slight gap and it looked as though victory was in his sights, until a heavy rainstorm threw a spanner in the works. But Radermecker kept a cool head and made it through to the chequered flag to the great relief of the Gravity team.
“This was probably the most trying last lap in my life”, the winner, together with his team-mate Ron Marchal, admitted. “I was permanently in third at 100, 120 km/h. I just didn’t dare go any faster for fear of aquaplaning. And on top of that I had to keep a close eye on the competition to make sure they weren’t getting closer.”
Maxime Soulet and Greg Franchi in their GPR Porsche finished second and naturally come out well in the championship rankings. They now have an eight point lead over the Ferrari F430 of Bouvy-Coens.
“The Mosler was untouchable, but we’re now in the lead of the championship and that is of major importance. We can now concentrate 100% on preparing for the 24 Hours of Zolder”, the young Soulet commented on the podium.
Third place went to Tim Verbergt, together with Danny De Laet, who managed to overtake the A+Viper of Robert Dierick during the last lap. And as outcome a third podium for the JD by Astromega Lamborghini.
In the other categories victories went to the Porsche 996 Supercup with Van Oost-Maes (Division 2) and the Porsche Biturbo of Bouillon-Voets (Division 3).
Results Race 2 : 1. Radermecker-Marchal (Bel-NL/Mosler MT900) 21 laps; 2. Soulet-Franchi (Porsche 997 Cup S) at 13.142; 3. Verbergt-De Laet (Lamborghini Gallardo) at 43.711 ; 4. Dierick-Van Hooydonk (Dodge Viper) at 1.09.547 ; 5. Bouvy-Coens (Ferrari F430) at 1.12.469 ; 6. Vosse-Renard (Ferrari 430) at 2.10.672 ; 7. Koen Wauters-Schreurs (Dodge Viper) at 2.21.219 ; 8. Van de Plas-Lumbeeck (Dodge Viper) at 2.31.430 ; 9. Dockerill-Greensall (GB/Ferrari 430) at 2.59.586 ; 10. Balthazar-Beaubelique (Fra/Ferrari 430) at 1lap;… 12. Van Oost-Maes (Porsche 996 Supercup) aat lap (1st D2) ; 17. Bouillon-Voets (Porsche 996 Biturbo) at 2 laps (1st D3)
Championship (unofficial): 1. Soulet-Franchi 92 ; 2. Coens-Bouvy 84 ; 3. Van Hooydonk-Dierick 76 ; 4. Radermecker-Marchal 63 ; 5. Maes-Couwberghs 61 ; 6. Wauters-Schreurs 60
