Oreca Viper and Marcos LM 600 win the rhino’s GT Series at Spa
The rhino’s GT Series sees new winners again in the Ardennes. The Dutch father and son team Buurman and the Swedish Behrens/Wallinder team won the races at the famous track of Spa – Francorchamps.
The rhino’s GT Series was part of the support program at the 1000 of Spa this weekend, at the track in the Ardennes which is loved and hated at the same time by so many. The second race meeting of the new Series this year saw several new participants in Class EGT1. Next to the Ferrari Stealth and Porsche, Marcos LM 600 Corvette Oreca Viper and also Ultima took part in the battle. This powerful selection of cars formed a heavy competition for Wolfgang Kaufmann who won the first races in the Ferrari 550 at the Nürburgring.
Dutchman Yelmer Buurman put the black and orange Marcos LM 600 at pole position for the first race. Kaufmann placed the black Ferrari 550 second on the grid, but the car with second driver Dutchman Bernhard ten Brinke was no match for the Buurman family during the race. The Marcos took the lead at the start and ran away from the pack, whilst the Ferrari went off the track during the first lap after the pit stop. Also Pierre von Mentlen had no luck. He spun his yellow V8SuperSTAR in the first lap and retired later with technical problems. Erik Behrens and Magnus Wallinder brougth the white Oreca Viper back in second place before Rob Knook in the blue Stealth B6.
Nice battles could be seen behind them. Robert Wallenborn and Chaouki Chikhani (both Porsche) had a dice for many laps – Robert could push his car over the finish line only 0.4 seconds before Chaouki. The Ultima of Gottfried Grasser and Fabio Mena could not follow the pace and finished a disappointing sixth.
The dominating driver in Class EGT2 was Kurt Thiim, who drives the second V8STAR for Swiss Racing. The Dane with the inevitable smile on his face was far ahead of his EGT2 competitors during qualification. He led the first race from the start and finished a lap ahead of the rest. Dutchman Charles Brugman and the Swedish duo Bernard Lohr/Anders Levin (both Porsche GT3 RS) finished second and third.
Kurt Thiim also won the second race on Sunday morning, a good compensation for his two non-finishes at the Nürburgring in April. He was not only a lap ahead of the EGT2 competitors but he also kept several EGT1 cars behind him.
In Class EGT1 the second race was controlled by the Oreca Viper of Erik Behrens and Magnus Wallinder. They started from pole and kept a safe distance to the Marcos LM 600 of Yelmer and Herman Buurman. Third podium place was for a very surprised but happy Robert Wallenborn (Porsche GT2) before Chaouki Chikhani who was penalised for a late pit stop.
A shock went through the crowds when Rob Knook made a breaking error on a humid track and crashed his Stealth heavily into the barriers. Charles Brugman spun off breaking hard for Rob damaging his car in such a way that he had to give up. Pierre von Mentlen was unlucky again and spun off the track when breaking into a corner. His comments about the weekend where positive after all: „It is a beautiful track with many corners for which you need a big heart. It made a lot of fun to race here with the rhino’s GT Series“.
