Press releases
1. The 24 hours of Spa: previewThe 24 hours of Spa: preview
This year the 55th edition of the Ardennes classic promises to be a real racing party. In 2001, FIA decided to make the 24 hours part of the FIA-GT championship. This change from touring cars to GT’s created some scepticism among journalists and public but the choice proved to be the right one. The grids were full again and the public responded massively. With 54 cars on the grid, this year’s event can only confirm this evolution.
A huge battle between several makes is far from decided on forehand. Ferrari, Lister, Saleen and Chrysler will probably fight till 16.00 on Sunday. The leaders in the championship, Bobbi and Biagi (Ferrari 550) will not have an easy task if they want to win a 6th consecutive time. The other contenders are Larbre (winner at Spa in 2001 and 2002), the official Lister Storm of Leinders, the Force One Vipers or even the Zakspeed Viper. The latter is run by Jean-Michel Martin and driven by Lamy, Mollekens and de Radigues.
If these big boys battle for the overall standings, the fight in the other classes will also be severe. In n-GT, the battle among Ferrari and Porsche will be severe. JMB, Team Maranello on the Italian side and Freisinger and EMKA on the German side will probably entertain the public all the way down.
In the 3rd category, the national GT cars, we find some strange and exotic cars such as Morgan, Mosler, Seat and Lotus. This category also gives a good opportunity to Belgian drivers to compete this classic race. So, everybody should have enough reasons to come to Spa this weekend, see you overthere,
Copyright © Joost Custers
Pre race and qualifying report
The first real battle between the GT’s took place on Thursday evening. Even if qualifying still had to be started, one of the main contenders was already lost all chances to gain pole. The #14 Lister of Bas Leinders got off during free practise and the car was badly damaged. The team needed till Saturday morning to prepare the car again. This incident not only put the Lister out of qualifying but also was the reason of Bas being replaced by Tom Coronel.
Qualifying started under dry conditions but the track was still wet when the cars came out. Several red flag situations interrupted the evening sessions. In this difficult conditions, the #23 Ferrari clearly got away best with a pole position of 2.15.718, almost a second quicker than lasts year pole.
The Italian car was followed by the #2 Konrad Saleen, the #15 Lister, the #4 Viper…Most of the Belgian drivers found a place on the first rows: Van de Poele (2nd), Kumpen (4th), Goossens (6th), Vosse (7th)… The Friday session changes little to all this and most teams already prepared their cars for the race.
In n-GT, Italy again won the battle. The English Ferrari team claimed first two places (#89-88) followed by the semi-official Porsche of Freisinger (#50). Bert Longin was unlucky when engine broke down in the last session. In the national series, the Zakspeed missed 95% of the sessions but still took pole. The beautiful Corvette and the sensational Seat followed on short distance. In the smallest category, the German Land Porsche took the spoils. On Saturday morning the Italian BMS team decided to withdraw the #21 Ferrari for technical reasons. So 53 cars will be on the grid this afternoon for a 24 hours battle.
Copyright © Joost Custers
Race 16.00 à 22.00
The start is given at 16.00 but a premature move from the #23 Ferrari caused a second start, some 10 minutes later. Eric van de Poele made a superb start a jumped into the lead followed by a bunch of Chryslers and Ferraris. Very quick, Van de Poele managed to build up a little gap. Just behind, the #1 Larbre Viper had a good fight with the #4 Force One Viper till Mike Hezemans (#4) went off very heavily at the Radillion. The safety car came out for almost 45 minutes. Meanwhile, two other Vipers were in serious trouble. The #18 Zwaan Viper withdraw with a broken transmission and the #25 Belmondo Viper lost precious time in the pitlane due to gearbox and clutch troubles.
As the safety car comes in, the rain starts poring down. Rain is not making the race easier. Several drivers complain about the bad conditions but others take benefit out of it. The #50 Freisinger Porsche, a car running in the smaller n-GT category is now leading the field. After 4 hours the car has build up a little gap on several ‘bigger’ GT cars. The #14 lister, the #1 Viper and the #15 and 6 Lister follow in the same lap.
Meanwhile, several Belgian drivers dropped out of the race. Bert Longin’s teammate Gardel had a heavy impact with the exotic Morgan. Both cars are out. The #106 Corvette also loses several places and is now in 20th position. Patrick Selleslagh himself was driving the car. The #2 Saleen of Van de Poele has no windscreen anymore and drops back the order. Also other top teams weren’t always lucky. Belmondo saw one of his Snakes dropping back, the Nash Saleen suffers from the same problem as her sister car. Both Moslers are now out.
We also look at the other smaller teams. RTM enters a gentleman driven Porsche Supercup and their only aim is to finish. One of the drivers explains his first experience at Spa: de Gastines (#105 Porsche): I’ve done a very difficult stint. First we had a bizarre start, as we drive at the back of the field, we didn’t notice what happened. The field was like an accordion making driving very dangerous. Than, several incidents interrupted the race, which made it again difficult to race. But we are still very confident, running high in our class (3rd). We will not change our strategy and just continue our brave tour.”
Copyright © Joost Custers
21.00 -> 00.00: History continues
We’ve again had incidents, safety cars, incidents, safety cars…
Here’s a little résumé:One could wonder how many cars will still be running tomorrow morning. This edition of the 24 hours is really a very hard one. Cars and drivers suffer but on the other hand the battle remains open and exciting. Patrick Selleslagh, driver on the Corvette C5R explains: “We have some real troubles due to the rain. First we’ve had a real bad set of tyres, so we had to come in after a while. Since the rain intensified, we have had water coming into the car. This causes not only a poor visibility but it’s not very good for the car either. Then we have softened the dampers to get better grip in the wet. So even if the car is alright, we’ve lost precious time.” This illustrates how difficult things are in these conditions.
In the race, Vincent Vosse (#1 Viper) is building up a 1 lap gap on the surprising #50 Freisinger Porsche. The latter has led the race during several hours but the Viper responded and between 22.00 and 24.00 he took over the lead and went much quicker around the Ardennes track. In third place goes round the first Ferrari, the JMB #9 of Babini-Peter and Gounon.
In the national GT class, the Zakspeed Viper is still leading although it suffered a lot during qualifying. Kurt Mollekens explains: “We have had some minor problems but given the conditions and our broken engine, we must be lucky…”
A real surprise is the #117 Porsche Super Cup of Sylvie Delcour. This little Porsche enters almost the top-15.
Copyright © Joost Custers
01.00 -> 05.00: Half way and nothing is decided yet
At 5 o’clock this morning, the battle wasn’t far from over yet. The #1 Larbre Viper and the #50 Porsche are only separated by one lap. The Porsche seems to be ‘forgotten’ to belong to the n-GT class instead of the GT class. Ortelli, Lieb and Dumez take maximum profit out of the difficult conditions. Behind the leading duo, the # 9 Ferrari, the #24 Belmondo Viper and # 15 Lister also keep the presure on.
Some minor incidents happened, but the main victim of this long night must certainly be Vanina Ickx losing over 45 minutes. The daughter of the 6 times Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx, got off the track and got stuck. Once returned to the pitlane, reparations were necessary.
In the national class and single make, everything is quiet now. Both the leaders are building up their lead. The Zakspeed Viper is now 8 laps ahead of the AD Porsche driven by Kris Wauters and 12 laps ahead of the #160 Lefort-Lambert Porsche. The Gillet going round without clutch has some severe gearbox troubles. Tony Gillet explains that they will change everything from the engine till the gearbox…
In the smallest class, the Land Porsche continues its way up. It’s now in 12th position, 10 laps ahead of the Alméras Porsche and the Ruffier Porsche. Both cars are separated by only 80 seconds.
With 5 out of 6 cars still classified, the SMS class seems to be the healthiest one in this race.
With the coming of the light, the # 9 Ferrari comes in with heavy brake troubles. The Belmondo Viper goes by immediately. This makes two Vipers chasing one Porsche. Will the German car resist the snake attack?
More news after a good breakfast,Copyright © Joost Custers
Race Morning till 13.00: GT & n-GT
As the morning made his appearance, the sun shone again, certainly for the n-GT Freisinger Porsche controlling the race magnificently. Even if Huisman drove a great stint, the Larbre Viper really struggled to close in on the Porsche. Meanwhile, other top-cars were dropping out. The #24 Belmondo Viper suffered a broken gearbox and dropped from a potential podium back to 10th. The #9 Ferrari disappeared with a broken engine and the Lister Storm hit several smaller problems resulting in a place just outside the top-10.
But the real climax did happen around 11.00. Bouchut brought his Viper in and the car was immediately pushed into the box. The mechanics needed 40 minutes to replace the gearbox and all hopes on an 3th victory were gone. The Freisinger Porsche was now leading by several laps. The #22 Ferrari moved up to 2nd and another n-GT, the # 72 Seikel Porsche took 3rd Two other n-Gt’s got into the top-10. The #57 and the #53 Ferrari are well placed in this race.
National GT and SMS 1000 à 1300
At 10.15, the Land Porsche leading in SMS seems to be in trouble as it loses precious time in the pitlane. But Wolfgang Land explains that this is a scheduled stop to replace the brakes. The team loses a beautiful top-10 place as after 12 minutes the brakes are replaced. But the events among the top teams again open the gate to the top-10 as the Lister drops out of the top-10. At 11.40, the Land Porsche again takes 10th but followed on little distance by the #74 Porsche. An unfair battle…Once in 11th, the poor Land car is defending its place against the # 15 Lister. How hard and unfair can life be?
Almost at the same time, the Corvette starts his passion. First the alternator belt broke and then the oil temperature started raising. The car is now down in 19the position.
A little incident occurred on the # 111 when Chaillet came in with a flat rear tyre. More fun at lunch time, with more rain. Most of the field is coming in to change tires. The construction with Lotus parts and Duck tape is one of the first. With another 3 hours to go, the rain comes down heavily again. Will this still influence the battle in the two subcategories? The respective victories seem to be assured (Zakspeed and Land) but the battle for the other honours is still open. The #160 is leading the #105 RTM Porsche by one lap and the Ruffier Porsche is only 54 seconds behind the Alméras Porsche.
Copyright © Joost Custers
14.00 till the finish
The last few hours of the race were unlike the rest of the race rather quiet. The only real incident occurred at 15.50 when the #22 Ferrari came in and almost lost its second place. Behind the leading duo, another surprising Porsche, the #72 Seikel took third spot on the podium.
The top-5:
1 #50 N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3
2 #22 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Ma
3 #72 N-GT Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3
4 #1 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper
5 #126 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper (winner in national GT)
Where the Belgian drivers did not finish on the overall podium for the first time in 10 years, the honours in the National GT and single makes went twice to Belgian drivers in a German team. 5th overall and winning the national GT were as mentioned before Mollekens and de Radigues. Second was the AD Porsche of Wauters-Wauters-Vanierschot and Dutchman Menten and third the RTM Porsche of Nelissen Grade-Van bellingen and de Gastines.
In the SMS, Sylvie Delcour and Loïc Deman, partnered by Scharmach won on a Land Porsche 996 GT-3 Cup. Two French teams took the other podium places, the Alméras Porsche and the Ruffier Porsche.
This was a great race and to much happened to sum it up again. But we will certainly not forget the Leinders-History, the crashes, the weather and an unbelievable win of an N-GT car. See you all next year,
Copyright © Joost Custers
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