13 juli 2009Wauters-Van Hooydonk after a brilliant final battle in the rain
For the third consecutive time the Belgian GT Championship Mediagroep Van Dyck travelled on down to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Following on from the 1000 km of Spa and the 12 Hours of Spa, the 25 Hours VW Fun Cup was now the stage for two exciting races of the BGT 2009. The first race was held on Friday evening, whilst the second one took place on Saturday midday.
The start of the second race of the Belgian GT Championship Mediagroep Van Dyck on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit was once again highly promising. Up front Vincent Vosse at the wheel of his Barwell Aston Martin managed to hold off Duncan Huisman’s Ford GT for several laps, but the Dutchman was truly very strong and took over the lead after some ten minutes. Several favourites behind Vosse experienced problems, namely Jean-François Hemroulle in his Audi R8 LMS and François Verbist in the First Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S.
“There must have been an oil patch at the Source, because the entire leading pack had problems steering through it”, François Verbist explained. “Not only the Aston, but the Ford, the Audi and myself had problems braking.. The Audi then careered off track and I had to swerve like mad, which cost me at least twenty seconds.”
Game over for the Audi R8 LMS and the First Motorsport Porsche dropped back in the rankings. This allowed Huisman, Vosse and Jeffrey van Hooydonk to build a lead up front. The drivers called in at the pits in this same order and it appeared as though the race had been decided. But some ten minutes from the chequered flag a heavy shower caused a sudden change in the rankings. Pertti Kuismanen, in the Ford GT, spun allowing Koen Wauters to take over the lead. Behind the KRK Viper Bert Longin in the meanwhile demonstrated his brilliant driving skills in the wet, climbing back from nowhere into second spot.
“And if I’d had an additional lap I could have won”, the former motocross rider told us. “As a motocross rider I had learned to adapt to ever changing surfaces and that came in handy this midday.”
Behind the Porsche Pertti Kuismanen and Damien Coens fought out a dogged battle right up to the line for the third place and the 66 year old Finn just pipped the Ferrari at the post. The Finnish Westend Porsche of Vanhanen-Nurminen took fifth, ahead of the Thiers brothers and both Lamborghinis of JD by KS Motorsport.
Van Hooydonk-Wauters presently lead the championship now ahead of Hemroulle-Verbergt and Longin-Verbist. The following rendezvous of the Belgian GT Championship Mediagroep Van Dyck is the 24 Hours of Zolder on 22nd and 23rd August.
Belgian GT Race 2
1. Van Hooydonk-Wauters (Dodge Viper) 24 laps; 2. Verbist-Longin (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S) +1.784; 3. Huisman-Kuismanen (P-B/Fin Ford GT3) +6.040; 4. Bouvy-Coens (Ferrari F430 GT3) +6.360; 5. Vanhanen-Nurminen (Fin-Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) +1:21.544; 6. Thiers-Thiers (Ferrari F430 GT3) +1:49.696; 7. De Laet-Van der Zwaan (B/NL-Lamborghini Gallardo) +1:58.992; 8. Vollebergh-Van der Zwaan (NL/Lamborghini Gallardo) +1:58.992; 9. Van der Straten-Lémeret (Ford Mustang FR500 GT3) +2:09.632; 10. Renard-Vosse (Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3) +2:27.512; 11. Princen-Deridder (Ford Mustang GT4) +3 laps.
Intermediate classification in the championship:
Teams:
KRK Viper n° 4 -> 58
Phoenix Audi n° 9 -> 52
First Porsche n° 50 -> 37
Kuismanen Ford n° 12 -> 36
Delahaye Ferrari n° 3 -> 33
Drivers:
1. Wauters/Van Hooydonk -> 126
2. Hemroulle/verbergt -> 115
3. Kuismanen/Huismann -> 97
4. Verbist/Longin -> 93
5. Bouvy/Coens -> 90
