14 oktober 2008The battle for the titles: the -Ferrari of Bouvy-Coens versus the Porsches of Soulet-Franchi and Couwberghs-Maes - excitement guaranteed
Drivers and teams are facing the final curtain in the Belgian GT Championship. During the final European round of the FIA GT Championship the verdict will also fall on the BGTC. This coming Saturday and Sunday at Circuit Zolder the decision will become apparent as to who will become champion, both for the drivers as also the teams, of the Belgian GT Championship Mediagroep Van Dyck. Two heats of one hour, one held before and the other after the FIA GT, will be the battleground of the 2008 finals.
In the Drivers Championship, the regularity of the Ferrari 430 in the Francorchamps Motors – Delahaye livery retains a definite asset. The car has never flinched and presently Frédéric Bouvy and Damien Coens top the rankings with 110 points as compared to 102 for Franchi-Soulet in the GPR Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S. Notwithstanding Franchi and Soulet claiming three victories, their retirements during the first meeting as also the Menzo 24 Hours of Zolder could cost them dearly. In third place, and a definite contender, we have the Bart Couwberghs – Ruben Maes (Porsche NGT) duo who are four units (98) down on the similar car of GPR. Couwberghs and Maes came out well with their victory during the 24 Hours of Zolder. With a mere difference of twelve points and with a further forty points still to be shared out, the last word is far from being said.
We need to take other parties into consideration in this fight for the championship. Both Gravity International Racing Moslers will have a final opportunity to put their season aright in Zolder and perhaps run away with the laurels. Jeffrey Van Hooydonk will undoubtedly pull out all the stops to give the Dodge and A+ Racing their first victory, but there are a few outsiders such as; the G&A Mosler of Guino Kenis and European rally-cross champion Michael De Keersmaecker, both KRK Racing Vipers and the Sport Garage Ferrari with the winners of the penultimate race at Spa, namely Vincent Vosse and Eddy Renard.
In the battle for the teams’ title the fight is even more intense. NGT heads the list with 49,5 points, ahead of GPR and Francorchamps Motors – Delahaye, who both have 46 units. This implies that exactly on year after the title in Division 2 and a victory in the Driver Challenge for Bart Couwberghs, NGT could once again add another laurel to their record of achievements..
“The differences between us are minimal, both on the track as also in the intermediate standings, and these details will decide the outcome of this championship”, Ruben Maes comments looking ahead. “Our tactics will obviously be different from those applied during the 24 Hours, because on Sunday we’re competing in two hard fought sprints of 60 minutes...”
However the competition is also rearing its head. “We just need to finish ahead of the competition”, Fred Bouvy remarked. “Damien Coens and I are fully at ease on this Limburg circuit and we’re going for it. We’re definitely not going to count on the second heat. On top of that we won’t be fitting the new type of tyres, which are far wider. Starting to experiment now is not a good idea.”
The same remarks were forthcoming from Maxime Soulet of GPR. “We’re going to attack, because I far prefer to battle it out than play with mathematics and come out failing. It obviously won’t be easy to recoup those eight points from Bouvy and Coens, which implies that we won’t be starting as favourites for the final assignment of the season.”
In D2 and D3 the titles might already have been allocated, but we are expecting a few additional guests this coming weekend. In Division 2 we have the Dutch teams of Lammertink (Porsche 996) and Moritz (Marcos) appearing on the starting grid once more, whilst in Division 3 Westend Racing will also be back on track. And last but not least the beautiful Ginetta G50R of KS Motorsport will be competing in the guest category.
Intermediate standings:
Drivers Championship: 1. Bouvy-Coens 110; 2. Soulet-Franchi 102; 3. Couwberghs-Maes 98
Teams Championship: 1. Porsche NGT 49,5; 2. Porsche GPR 46; 3. Ferrari Francorchamps Motors 46
