ZOLDER - The fourth round of the Belcar Series brought us to Circuit Zolder for the biggest and most important race of the season: The 24 Hours of Zolder.
After our podium at Spa we wanted more and with the very competitive Lamborghini we wanted to go for victory. Together with Cédric Wauters and 2 new team mates who were already driving the other Lamborghini for Totaalplan racing this season (Mario Martlé and Kenneth Linthout).
The first practice session on Thursday was all about getting to know the track and getting used to it. The temperatures in the paddock and on track were incredibly hot and would be a challenge for anyone to overcome. We were well prepared and that helped us on track to quickly find our speed and clock consistent lap times. P9 was the result in FP1. We kept the same feeling in FP2, where we managed to improve the car and our lap times even more, which gave us a solid P2.
After practice we got ready for pre-qualifying and superpole. Our strong pace earned us a P2 in pre-qualifying. With this P2, we would start our superpole lap as the penultimate car on the grid. A super lap from my team mate Cedric put us on an unexpected pole position for Saturday, beating the Audi GT2 driven by a professional driver. A well-deserved result after the hard work and preparations of the team prior to the weekend and the session itself.
A long Thursday was not over yet with night practice still to go. This proved to be a real success for us, as the lower track temperatures benefited our car. Everyone was able to set fast and consistent lap times throughout the session. With the car feeling better every lap, we were able to take first place in that final practice session. Two times P1 in a row to crown a promising Thursday is exactly what we wanted. Friday was all about practising pit stops and getting well rested for Saturday's race.
A sun-drenched Saturday set the scene for a hot and tough race. Mario took the start and after a good initial breakaway, the stronger Audi came alongside him and squeezed him at the apex, leaving no room and contact was inevitable. Mario was spun around while the Audi took the lead. Mario was able to retrieve the car without damage but fell back to last place. A catch up race was necessary but with the number of cars on the track fighting for position it was not an easy catch up race and after an hour we were about 1:30 behind the leaders, a pity but nothing lost. The first hour was over and Mario pitted to refuel and give the car to me, during refuelling a problem was discovered so they had to stop refuelling, due to a communication problem I got in the car anyway and halfway through the lap I had to stop the engine due to a engine cooling problem. The extraordinary temperatures on and around the circuit caused the engine to get far too hot and risked blowing up. The car was towed back to the pits and the mechanics did everything possible to repair the car as quickly as possible, a leak was discovered and repaired just before a red flag neutralized the race for a while. After the red flag and safety car period, we were about 23 laps down on the leaders. Victory was gone by then, but we kept hoping for a good result and maybe even a podium. Cedric got in the car and made up a lot of time, after a strong double stint he handed the car to me, darkness had already fallen over the track and the car really came alive during these stints. After a double stint of about two and a half hours we had reduced the gap to the leaders to 18 laps. A mega job by Cedric and me and it looked good. I handed the car over to Kenneth for his double stint, he did his job perfectly and was able to keep the status quo to the leaders. Mario was next for a double stint, he started with some conservative lap times but was getting up to speed. He was driving strong until disaster struck, an oil patch on the exit of the Bianchi corner made the car uncontrollable and he went hard into the tyre barrier. The driver was fine, but unfortunately the car was not. Our race was over after only 11 hours and 30 minutes. A disastrous way to end a 24 hours race and gutted to not be able to finish this race.
A very disappointing end to this 24 Hours of Zolder where we came with very high expectations and a chance to fight for victory. Unfortunately it was not to be this year, but next year we will come back stronger and faster to win this race. I would like to thank all sponsors, friends, family and guests for your support and for being present at our magnificent VIP event. Now it is time to catch our breath until we start again next month at the Nürburgring in Germany.
All the results of the weekend can be found here.
