BELCAR SHORT NEWS 2006-05-10 – BSN13

Some Belcar teams and/or drivers were active in other than Belcar races in the past few weeks.

Mixed feelings within the GLPK Carsport team; the team made its debut with the Corvette C6-R in the opening round of the FIA-GT at Silverstone. The trio Kumpen-Longin-Hezemans got pole during qualifying, but only finished 8th in the race. It looked good at Saturday as a perfect collaboration between GLPK Carsport, Pratt & Miller and Michelin resulted in a very strong pole position by Mike Hezemans.

The tricky weather conditions on Sunday forced the teams to make a tyre choice for the race and GLPK Carsport went for hard rain tyres, while most other teams started on intermediates. Anthony Kumpen admitted that this time, GLPK made the wrong choice. After a difficult start, Mike Hezemans came in very early for slicks, but lost even more precious time in the gravel bed after a spin on some oil. Kumpen and Longin both recovered to 8th place, but were still very disappointed. But the speed of the Corvette is promising and the opponents are warned.

The brand-new European FIA GT3 championship also raced at Silverstone this weekend. 17-year old Maxime Dumarey was the youngest participant; he will also start in the Euphony Zolder 24 hours, and also the sole Belgian driver.

Dumarey raced the Tech 9 Porsche 997 together with the British driver Olivier Bryant. The pair finished 9th and 10th overall, a good result after all. In the first heat, Maxime drove as high as 4th, before dropping back to 9th.

In the third round of the Michelin Porsche Supercup at the Nürburgring, Flandria Rent driver Chris Mattheus finished 22nd. Even if Chris, who races under a Monegasque licence, learns quickly, he still has to make progress on all levels before joining the top.

In Portugal was held the first round of the European Rallycross championship. Reigning vice-champion in division 2 Michaël De Keersmaecker promoted to division 1A. He made an overwhelming debut by winning the opening round. After a clutch failure spoiled his first heat, Michaël had to perform outstanding in the remaining qualifying heats in order to get qualified for the finals. The JDK driver, coached by Guino Kenis, got home twice in second position in his RML Opel Corsa and so ensured a start position on the front row for the finals. After a stunning start, he took the lead and kept it till the finish. Michaël now has to confirm this weekend in France for the second round of the championship.

AD Sport even raced in Senegal. The team of Albert Vanierschot traditionally started in the Senegal 6 hours with two cars: a Porsche 993 for Patrick Schreurs-Vital Budo and a Radical for Anton Gonnissen-Kurt Dujardyn. The Porsche qualified in 9th and finished 4th, while the Radical started 5th and got home in 5th.

In Laguna Seca, Marc Goossens finished 7th in the 6th round of the American Rolex Sport Car Series at the wheel of CITGO racing Pontiac Riley. The Marcos driver partnered Mika Duno and the pair qualified in 11th position before finishing within the top-10. Marc was optimistic after the race, but admitted that there still is some fine tuning necessary.

Next week, there is no short news, but a preview for the second Belcar race, the Belcar Home Race at Zolder. This races takes place on the 20th and 21st of May. Together with the Belcar Original, we’ll also see the Belcar Endurance Cup, the Belcar Sprint Cup, the Belcar Historic Sprint, the spectacular Legend Cars and last but not least, the Dutch Supercar Challenge.