07 mei 2009More than 20 GT3s gunning for the Raidillon!
United we stand. Following on from a first successful meeting, with no less than eight makes at the start, the Belgian GT Mediagroep Van Dyck 2009 is into its second weekend, as a forerunner of the mythical 1000 Km of Spa. It will be an exceptional event seeing the Belgians will be enjoying the company of the British GT, a similar SRO GT3-championship.
This means that the starting grid will be even more enticing, with no less than 23 GT3s and ten different makes on the grid. In addition to our Ferrari, Aston Martin, Ford GT, Dodge Viper, Ford Mustang, Lamborghini, Audi R8 LMS and Porsches we will see the fast Mosler (with two Rollcentre MTR900 with amongst others Martin Short, Gregor Fisken and Stuart Hall) as also the Ascari KZ1R.
It goes without saying that there will be separate classifications for these two championships; however the entire field will take the start as one and race together as one also. This will undoubtedly increase the spectacle value of both races, to be held on Saturday at 12.10hrs and Sunday at 9.05hrs.
In other words an early start for all of us on the Sunday morning. Following on from the Belgian Race Kick Off we can once again expect to enjoy a thrilling and open race. Especially now that matters will be entirely different on this fast Spa circuit. Horsepower and top speed will play a decisive role here. We can definitely expect fireworks from the Dodge Viper (especially from the Koen Wauters and Jeff Van Hooydonk model) as also the Aston Martins (with no less than three at the start). On top of that the Kuismanen Racing GT Ford should also come out strongly at Spa.
Last year the Ferrari didn’t do itself justice in the Ardennes, however there will be six of them on the starting grid this year, including one British version for the fast Allan Simonsen. It goes without saying that ‘our’ championship leaders Frédéric Bouvy and Damien Coens will be there with their prancing horse, but carrying 40 kg of ballast following their victory and third place at Circuit Zolder. This is almost equivalent to what the pro-pro teams are given as weight penalty, namely 50 kg. Jean-François Hemroulle and Tim Verbergt (Phoenix Audi) and the First Motorsport Porsche of Bert Longin and François Verbist, the latter being unbeatable this last weekend in the Clio Cup at Spa, are names on the pro-pro list.
Last weekend the new Audi R8 LMS put in a perfect appearance at Silverstone, with three podium places in the FIA GT3, and the Porsche was also one of the faster contenders on the British F1 circuit. In the meantime the impressive Ford Mustang of team VDS has undergone an 80 kilo slimming diet and will be up against the three Ginetta G50s of the same team as opponents in GT4. Similarly both Lamborghini Gallardos of JD by KS Motosport, should also turn up trumps on this occasion.
Qualifying starts on Friday at 14.40hrs, with a first session of 20’ to determine the grid for race 1 followed by a second session for race 2.
