BELCAR SHORT NEWS 2006-09-29

Last week, Circuit Zolder promoter of the Belcar Series, and PRC, promoter of the BTCS (Belgian Touring Car Series), found an agreement on collaboration for 2007. The first negotiations started in March 2005 and finally both parties found, with the help of the RACB, an agreement.
There will be four common meetings in 2007, two at Zolder and two at Spa, but the major changes are that the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original will become a championship for GT’s only, while the BTCS will be open for Touring Cars and Silhouettes only. The only exceptions will be the Zolder 24 hours, where Touring Cars and Silhouettes are allowed to run as guest cars and the Spa 12 Hours – the major race of the BTCS -, where Cup-GT’s are still allowed, also as guest entries.

Both promoters are free to finalize their calendar for 2007 with two or three other meetings. The RACB – the governing body in Belgium – is happy with the agreement between both parties as Belgium proved to be too small to have two completely separate series, especially for the teams, drivers, spectators, marshals and media.

These new regulations will not have a very spectacular impact on either series. It’s a win-win operation for both parties and things will be clearer for everybody. The majority of Touring Cars already race in the BTCS, and those still active in the Belcar Original were not really able to bother the GT’s. On the other hand, the GT’s seen in BTCS were mostly Belcar-regulars, with the exception of GPR and BPO. Circuit Zolder will still organize the Belcar Endurance Cup, open to both GT’s and Touring Cars.

The only team really competing in both series this year as also and last year was KS-Motorsport. But the team seems to be pleased with the new rules, especially as they still can run in the Zolder 24 hours, open to Silhouettes too.

The major lines of the agreement are now known and within a few weeks, both parties should finalize the collaboration. The result of this collaboration is also that other competitions of the respective promoters such as the Belcar Endurance Cup, Belcar Sprint Cup and Belcar Historic Sprint (Belcar Series) or VW Fun Cup and Roadster Cup (PRC) could individually be part of different race weekends of one of these promoters.

Even if CEO already knew some bad luck this season, the team wants to round off the season in strength. Bert Van Rossem and Ruben Maes will race a brand-new Porsche 996 GT3-RSR in the final rounds of the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original, while Fred Bouvy and Pim Van Riet will be at the wheel of the CEO 996 GT3 Supercup. Both cars will be without any doubt frontrunners in their category.

After the bad luck in the Euphony Zolder 24 hours, GLPK again was unlucky in the past rounds of the FIA-GT. In Dijon, an alternator problem caused the end of their race, while another technical problem resulted in a seventh at Mugello. GLPK-Carsport is actually 6th in the overall standings with three races to go. Last year, the team finished fourth and won two rounds of the FIA-GT championship.

Even if the ambition of PSI-Experience was to finish on the podium in the last round of the LMS, Jos Menten, Pertti Kuismanen and Belcar regular Jos Menten only finished fourth in GT1. In qualifying, the Dutchman was only 3-tenhts of the pole set by the Oreca Saleen. During the race, the PSI-crew was able to maintain a top-three spot for most of the race, but Kuismanen lost third to the Aston Martin DBR-9 of Team Modena in the closing stages of the race.

The penultimate round of the BTCS at Zolder, during the Q8 Truck GP, was one to forget for KS-Motorsport. Steve Vanbellingen caught 50 kilo’s ballast during qualifying after going quicker than the norm time of 1.36. Together with Armand Fumal, Fast Steve was unable to do better than 7th and 8th in the races, after a plenitude of problems. Races can differ as KS-Motorsport lived a perfect weekend two weeks earlier during the Zolder 24 hours.

Fred Bouvy won the second race of the BTCS-weekend at Zolder, together with Vincent Vosse, at the wheel of the Renault Mégane Silhouette. The pair is now runner-up in the championship and still has all chances to become champion. Tom Van de Plas twice won in T2 and is now the new leader in the T2-satndings, while CEO (Danny De Laet and Van Rossem) finished second in GT in the second heat of the weekend.

Last but not least, Vincent Vosse became LMGT1-champion in the Le Mans Series at Jarama. Vosse, teaming up with Gabriel Gardel and Pedro Lamy, offered a seventh consecutive title in an international GT-series to Larbre Compétition. Congratulations!