BELCAR SHORT NEWS 2006-05-31 – BSN14

Belcar driver Michaël De Keersmaecker is by far the fastest challenger in class 1A of the European Rallycross championship. After his maiden win in Portugal, the Opel driver took a second victory in France. But the opposition looks strong and seems ready to give De Keersmaecker a hard time in the Czech republic next weekend, where once again the JDK driver will do everything to defend his lead.
Meanwhile the G&A crew of Guino Kenis and Michaël De Keersmaecker are impatiently awaiting the first outing of the new Mosler. But first the brand new Chevrolet 5l-V8 has to be installed in the American supercar. “There is a fair chance of seeing the car during the next race in Zolder, but before Zolder we have to finish the build process. We recently replaced the shock absorbers with new Moton ones and as soon as the engine is ready, we can take the car on track for a shakedown. Even though I prefer to remain rather careful in predicting anything, I believe that the potential of our car will be huge. A podium spot in class-2 could be within our possibilities from the first race on”, explains Guino Kenis, who is technical advisor of Michaël De Keersmaecker in the European Rallycross championship. While Guino takes care of the set-up of the car, Michaël succeeds on the track.
There has been much ado about the end of the collaboration between BPO and the Daikin Racing Team. Daikin Racing personnel very much regret the end of the association and underline the fact that they fulfilled all of their commitments. The crash of Caroline Grifnée earlier this season in Spa had nothing to do with the abrupt ending of the Ferrari story. The team is looking to find a solution for the racing ladies, Alexandra Van de Velde and Caroline Grifnée, as soon as possible.
GLPK is leading the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original, but in the FIA GT championship Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin seem to be missing out on any good fortune. At Brno, the GLPK Carsport trio Kumpen-Longin-Hezemans, were in fifth spot, right behind the Maserati of Bartels-Bartolini, when another Vitaphone driver, Biagi, a lap behind at the time, knocked Mike Hezemans out of the race.
Bartels and Bartolini finished fourth while GLPK only came home in 14th spot. The German-Czech tandem Bert-Janis won the race in a Zakspeed Saleen S7R.
Last weekend, the BTCS held their second weekend of the season during the German ADAC meeting. Some of the Belcar top teams also are participating in this series and are doing very well. KS Motorsport won both opening rounds at Spa and was leading the series before coming to Zolder. KS again won the race on Sunday and finished fifth on Saturday in Zolder. Steve Vanbellingen and Armand Fumal remain on top of the standings, before going to Spa for the 12 hours.
The Renault Mégane Trophy of Fred Bouvy and Vincent Vosse ended up in second position twice, while GS Motorsport took 2nd and 3rd in GT with the Porsche duo Steinberg-Muytjens.
Last but not least, CEO – Van Rossem/De Laet - won GT on Sunday and was 5th overall in this race. In the top-10 of the championship, we find 5 regular Belcar drivers.
Chris Mattheus raced at home last weekend. The Belcar driver of course lives in Monaco where he participated in the Michelin Porsche Supercup, before the Grand Prix F1 of Monaco. The Flandria Rent driver brought home his 997 without any damage and also took his first point of the season.
During the Belcar Home Race the organizers counted 10.000 visitors, despite the weather, for the first visit of the Belcar Series to Zolder.