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BELCAR SHORT NEWS 2006-03-29 – BSN9

One day before the Belcar Shakedown at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday and most of the teams of the Mediagroep Van Dyck Original are complete. Some teams and drivers are still looking for an extra driver or even the necessary funds. For instance Fred Bouvy is working hard to find a solution to go racing with the PSI Experience Biturbo or 996 GT3-RSR. The McDonald’s Racing Teamis also looking to replace Stefan Tavernier in the Porsche 996 biturbo. If nobody shows up for the first race, Luc Gabriël, team manager, will join François Bouillon behind the wheel of the car.

MSE finally announced its crew for the brand new BMW E46. Peter Beckers built a new BMW M3 Coupé touring car and he will drive this car alternating with the father and son Van Samang. Bart Van Samang will start in the Belcar Original series.

In the BonGou Belcar Endurance Cup, Vanmanshoven-Cassiers will share the MSE BMW Compact and the Van Samang pair will on a few occasions race the beautiful Marcos Mantis, but not so for the first outing.

More than a year ago, Patrick Beliën was convinced that he would retire by the end of the 2004 season. But he came back for another season in 2005 and how! He and Jan Jakobs won a third consecutive title in the Tourism division and apparently this title gave him wings. Right now, he and Jan are working on a very good-looking project in order to run a brand new BMW Z4 M Coupé. This fine car, developed by BMW Motorsport, will only be delivered after the first road going version of the Z4 Coupé rolls out of the factory. “And this will only be by the end of June”, explains Patrick. “And BMW has still to develop the M-version of the car. Following the best-case scenario, the car will only be ready for competition in August or even September.”

“We will not adapt the BMW E46 to the new rules, the car is for sale and ideal for the BonGou Belcar Endurance Cup. Meanwhile, I could do some races in class 3 of the Belcar Original in another, older BMW M3, together with Dimitri Cuyvers.”

We will also be missing the G&A Mosler at the first race in 10 days’ time. The development of the car in the States is delayed and the car will only be ready for the second race of the year. Guino Kenis and Michaël de Keersmaecker will start the first race with the old BMW Z3 or the newly built BMW 130i. If the pair decides to run the 130i, it would be the maiden race of this G&A product in the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar.

AD Sport has decided to start the season for the Wauters brothers with the Porsche Biturbo. According to Albert Vanierschot, it’s difficult to adapt the ex-GLPK Viper to the new Belcar Original rules; the catalytic converter is a particular problem. Most likely, AD Sport will enter a second car for Patrick Schreurs and Albert Vanierschot himself. AD has a large choice of Porsches, but the ex-Menten Biturbo and the new Boxster are the preferred ones.

Last but not least AD Sport might also enter a car in the BonGou Belcar Endurance Cup. “We have different options and some of them are capable of grabbing the title in the BonGou Belcar Endurance Cup, but we still haven’t found a driver pair”, explains AD-boss Albert Vanierschot.

Last Monday, reigning Belcar champion Marc Goossens shook down his new weapon, the Eurotech Marcos LM600. Marc was very happy with his new ‘toy’. “Eurotech, the team of Wim Noorman, has done a wonderful job by building up a brand new car following the new 2005-rule book in about a month”, explains Marc Goossens. “We have had a full shake down on Monday without any major mechanical problem. The weather conditions were all but ideal and we still have a lot of work to do. I know that it’s difficult to make any forecast, but to me, this a car has a huge potential.”

Ruben Maes is looking forward to the beginning of the season … without his team mate Jos Menten. Jos, Ruben’s normal partner, will be in Istanbul for the opening round of the LMS with PSI Experience. But with Kurt Mollekens partnering Ruben, the PSI-youngster gets a very good ‘interim’ co-driver.

Peter Van Delm also is keen to start the season and he will have Guido Werckx next to him for the first race of the season in the 3^rdPorsche GT3 Supercup of First Motorsport. Guido and his brother Danny will also start in the BonGou Belcar Endurance Cup with their faithful BMW. The car has been rebuilt during the winter months.

As the Belcar Endurance Cup, the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Historic Sprint are local championships; the competitors have no obligation at all to sign-up before the season, even if they have the intention to compete the entire season. This is in contrast to the Belcar Original - so it’s difficult to make any predictions on the entry list. But there already is a huge interest for the Historic series - 24 cars already entered for the entire season. There is also an interest from teams outside Belgium and even from some FIA-contenders. Among the makes, there are Lotus, Mustang, Cobra, TVR and even Ferrari and Marcos and certainly Porsche. Pauwels, Moortgat, Van Elderen, Kevers, Van Ham will represent the German make. Even a BMW could figure on the list…

BSN9 (en)