Owing to the civil engineering work being carried out at the Zolder track, the opening round of the Belcar original, and all the other series of the Belcar 2006 umbrella, will not be at Zolder but at Spa-Francorchamps. All teams participating in one of the Belcar series will have two days of free practice in order to prepare for the season. Both Thursday sessions are free. The first session, the so-called ‘Belcar Shakedown’, takes place at Spa on Thursday March 30 while one week later, right before the actual opening weekend of the series; the ‘Belcar Launch’ will be held on the new Zolder track.

The sporting rules of the Bongou Belcar Endurance Cup, the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Historic Sprint are to be found on www.belcar.com.

It’s official now: GLPK will not only come back to Belcar for a full season in the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original, but Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin will also drive a brand new car. Anthony Kumpen: ”We’ll be on the grid with a top car and the title is our one and only ambition. We also have a brand new sponsor for our 2006 project. But all parties agreed on not revealing the details until our team launch on March 6. This ‘happening’ will take place in the mega dancing Versuz in Hasselt. I will keep this appointment and so you will have to wait till the 6th ... but I might reveal just one detail: it will not be the Viper again. The car has been rebuilt after the crash during the Euphony Zolder 24 hours and has been sold to a team active in Belcar.”

Johan Van Loo, who won the Philip Verellen Junior Trophy in 2005, has signed up with GS Motorsport, the team of ‘patron’ Georg Severich. Van Loo will drive the second Porsche 996 GT3 Supercup 2005 in class 3. Neyens and Steinberg will drive the other Porsche 996 Supercup. Van Loo comes from First Motorsport where he made his debut last year, together with Dirk van Rompuy. The team finished 3rd in GTB and 3rd in the Welcome Trophy. Who will partner Johan Van Loo within GS Motorsport in 2006 is as yet unknown.

S&P Racing, the team managed by Fred Grönitz, is keen to come back to Belcar in 2006. Steve Metior and Patrick Ceusters will again race the Porsche 996 GT3-R in class 2. Fred Grönitz: “We’re happy with the progression of Steve and Patrick in the ex-Lamot Porsche 996. The car is still competitive and we now have an RS-engine and RSR-suspension. By the end of last season, we proved to be a good contender in GTB. Patrick, together with Henk Haane, finished a good 3rd in class in the final Belcar race of 2005. The spirit of the team for next season is already very good. It will be the fifth season with Steve and Patrick together and this is only possible if everything is ok within a team. If Steve, who has a busy professional life, is unable to race, Karl Jacobs will replace him. In 2006, we will also run a Porsche Biturbo in class 1. It’s the car of Wim Meulders and a few seasons ago, Eric Geboers managed to lap within 1 min 35 sec at Zolder with this car; so basically, the car is very good. We are now rebuilding the car so that it will conform to the new rules. The second driver is still TBA.”

Gabriël Racing carries on with the duo Bouillon / Tavernier but the team recently took on a new name: McDonald’s Racing Team. The squad will enter the Porsche 996 Biturbo again (class 1). Luc Gabriël also bought a good Porsche GT3 Supercup to race in class 3. Philippe Leybaert, a former Clio and Yaris cup driver, could be in line for a seat.

Toon Van De Haterd returns to Belcar. He will enter the Marcos Mantis already seen in 2003 in Eurotech colours. In 2003, he and Hans De Groot finished 7th in GT and 3rd in GTA after a consistent season. Van De Haterd asked Autosport Centrum Schaijk (ACS), formerly known as Promotech Motorsport, to rebuild the 5-litre V8 Ford powered Mantis. The team is still looking for a second, fast driver, as Hans de Groot will only start in the 24 hours owing to his business commitments. The car will, very likely, start in class 2. With a good power to weight ratio (570 bhp and 1100 kilos) this could well be a surprise.

Wim Noorman of Eurotech will announce very shortly his plans for the upcoming season in an official press release.

And last but not least, Cor Euser plans a comeback to the Zolder 24 hours with his mighty Marcos LM 600. His plans to develop a BMW 6-series seem to be on hold, as developing the car is not so easy, certainly as BMW Motorsport is not supporting the project. If ever the BMW comes to track, Cor wants it to be faster than the Marcos LM600.