With the publishing of the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original regulations, now the entry news is becoming apparent. SRT has announced the end of its collaboration with Belcar champion Marc Goossens, and Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen will join his fellow countryman David Hart in 2006. As Jeroen will also compete in the entire Le Mans Series, of which the first round at Istanbul clashes with the Belcar opening race, he will miss the opening Belcar event. Jeroen drives for Spyker Racing in LMS: his brother Sebastiaan will replace him at Spa.

Marc Goossens, who has already confirmed a small program in the American Busch Series, has no program in Belgium yet. The Belcar champion 2005 is naturally disappointed after everything he accomplished with SRT during the past two seasons. Meanwhile Goossens is looking for an international program, but Belcar also remains an option. Marc welcomes propositions from all well structured Belcar teams, even if it is not class 1.

G&A Racing will enter a Mosler MT 900R in the 2006 Belcar Original, a surprise as the team has always been faithful to BMW. Guino Kenis has ordered a brand new Mosler MT 900R in the States. The engine is a BMW V8 with over 550 bhp, while the gearbox is a sequential Hewland one. With 1025 kg, a good balance and well-developed aerodynamics, the car might be a potential winner in class 2. As the car will only arrive at the end of March, Gino will have to look for a replacement for the first race. The BMW V8 E46 has been sold, but G&A still owns the BMW Z3 and the 130i. Michaël De Keersmaecker has not confirmed a full season so Gino Kenis is still looking for drivers for the Mosler, BMW Z3 and BMW 130i.

PSI is also looking for a second top driver to partner Fred Bouvy in one of its Porsche 996 GT2-R Biturbos. It’s very likely that the team from Thimister will enter three Porsche Biturbos in the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original season. One for Fred Bouvy and a driver TBA, one for a famous duo that will announce its plans later on and a last one for the Thiers brothers. The Thiers family will enter the car under Russell Racing. The three Thiers brothers would like to broaden their horizon and so they chose a class 1 Porsche instead of their 996 GT3 RS. With Belcar rules only being confirmed for one year, they decided to cancel all further investments in the former GTB Porsche. The Biturbo is also a new challenge after years of top racing in GTB. Frank, Kurt and Hans Thiers now get the chance to compete against the top class cars in Belcar. Frank Thiers: “Our Biturbo is the ex Palttala - Van Sande car that has been fully overhauled. PSI will ensure the maintenance of the car while Russell Racing handles the technical assistance during the race weekends. We have nothing to prove against the top drivers of PSI and so our strategy will be completely different from them. We have to learn to drive the car, so we will not make use of its full potential but we’ll rather count on reliability. We hope to finish regularly within the top 5 and are aiming for an occasional podium spot if the top teams fail to finish. In 2007, we could still get back to our 996 GT3 and we will have gained lots of experience.”

More news from the same Belgian region; Laurent Van Moerkerke gets a full upgrade on his Stealth B6 and what’s more, Val Hillebrand joins the team. Van Moerkerke: ”We still have to decide but it’s very likely that we will race the Stealth again with the 6-liter Panoz engine. The car is now being completely rebuilt and we will also fit a brand new adjustable Moton suspension.”

“I convinced Val Hillebrand to race for our team, as he knows as no other how to get a perfect set-up. He is a former FIA-Sportscar world champion and has lots of experience in these kinds of racing cars. Val is very motivated and he wants to drive at the front.” “We also could have chosen a 5-liter engine in order to enter the car in class 2 but we want to aim for the top of Belcar.”

Perti Kuismanen has still to take a decision for the upcoming season. The Viper gets a full winter treatment and the driver from Finland will decide on his program in a few weeks time. Another Belcar year is far from unsure. The second driver has yet to announced.

Many other teams are also keeping their lips sealed and waiting for their pre-season press conference before announcing plans.

Good news comes from Holland. The new Rudolph Racing team with the Grouwels brothers is coming to Belcar. After a season in the Dutch Supercar Challenge with a US Carworld Dodge Viper, the Grouwels brothers decided to enter their Viper, under a new structure (Rudolph Racing) in the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original. Last year, they finished 3rd in the DSC while the other US Carworld Viper (Dubois / Wijnen) won the championship. Roger Grouwels: “We come to Belcar for two reasons. We want to promote our product (Rudolph Energy Booster) in Belgium and we prefer endurance rather than sprint races. Our car is conforming to FIA GT3 rules and so we are allowed in the Belcar class 2.”

A good part of the Rudolph racing crew comes from Brother Racing, but this team remains active in Belgium. The BMW E46 will race in the BTCS while the Peugeot and the Clio go to the Belcar sprint and endurance cup (other races under the Belcar umbrella). Armand Essers, who drove the Brother Racing BMW last year, joins KS-Motorsport and will drive a BMW Silhouette.

The Dodge Viper of US Carworld has been sold and the team replaced it by a Corvette C6. Pieter Dubois promised to come to Belcar, if the DSC calendar allows it, and do some Belcar Original races.

Two Belcar drivers and one Belcar team had reason to party at the Casques d’or on the Belgian Motor Show in Liège. Kelly Jamers was the best lady, while Bert Longin (Belcar) and GLPK-Carsport (Teams) also won a prize.

A full review of the Belgian 2005 motorsport season will be for sale within a few weeks (BMR boek - Belgian Motorsport Review 2005). The book includes 608 pages; with the full Belcar book being part of it, plus the Zolder Touring Cup and Sprinters Cup Zolder also receive good coverage. One can order the book at: www.bmr2005.com. Also for sale is the Mediagroup Van Dyck Belcar 2005 DVD with over 2 hours of film and more than 200 pictures. (www.hibn.com)