Round 2
PENDERS AND LAMOT SCORE DOMINANT FIRST 2006 WIN
Faultless Race In Perfect Car Brings Much Needed Points
Reigning Belcar Class 2 Champions, Rudi Penders and Franz Lamot showed exactly why it is they are still a force to be reckoned for the Class 2 title in the 2006 Belcar Championship after scoring a dominant win in Sunday’s second round of the seven-round series.
“We drove a prefect race with a perfect car,” Rudi Penders summed up today’s proceedings. “We made some changes over the past few weeks and they proved to do the trick. The net result was a car that stayed very consistent in its behaviour throughout the race, with a first 2006 victory to boot. It will still be a tall order to go for the championship, but all it takes is for our competitors to have the bad luck we had in the first round and it is all wide open again.”
Co-driver, Franz Lamot took a blinding start in fourth position overall behind the three Class 1 leaders. “I had a brilliant start, if I may say so myself,” Lamot said. “But then there were yellows all over the place and backmarkers who weren’t exactly helpful to let me pass, so after a while all the hard work came to naught and I got passed by the BMW in traffic.”
Penders took over just before mid-race and started in hot pursuit of the class-leaders. Lapping consistently quicker than the leaders it would only be matter of time before the ProSpeed Porsche would go for the kill, something Penders did with less than half an hour to go. “When the BMW came in for a late splash-and-dash I just cruised to the finish. For a while I thought of trying to get the car ahead of me as well, but since it would only have made the difference between finishing fifth or fourth overall, I thought the better of it. Had it been for a third place overall, it would have been a different story.”
The team’s second car was crewed by Pascal Nelissen Grade and old Touring Cup sparring partner, Marc Van Hoof. Regular co-driver, Christian Kelders had injured his foot in a testing accident, which also totalled their regular car. Nelissen Grade and Van Hoof’s mount for this race was the team’s spare car, a 996 GT3 Cup. “Although we finished a lot further back that we would have with our regular car, I can honestly say we did the best job possible considering the circumstances,” Nelissen Grade said. “I don’t think I have ever driven faster in a standard Cup.”
To top off the weekend, ProSpeed Competition’s entry in the Belcar Endurance Cup finished second overall in atrocious weather conditions on Saturday. Starting from pole position, Patrick Poncelet and Jos Van Roij managed to keep their car on the track despite thunderstorms and showers of hail and scored their first podium finish of the season.
The next round of the 2006 Belcar Championship exceptionally tales place on a Thursday, June 29th.
MVD BELCAR ROUND 2 – ZOLDER – RESULTS
1. Longin/Kumpen Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 82 laps2. Hart/Bleekemolen Chevrolet Corvette C5-R + 21s2413. Goossens/Van Dongen Marcos 600LM + 2 laps4. Maes/Verbist Porsche 911 bi-turbo + 4 laps5. Penders/Lamot Porsche 996 GTR RS + 4 laps (1st Class 2)6. Severich/Josten BMW M3 V8 GTR + 5 laps (2nd Class 2)7. Van Rossems/Bouvy Porsche 996 GT3 RS + 5 laps (3rd Class 2)22. Nelissen Grade/Van Hoof Porsche 996 GT3 Cup + 10 laps (11th Class 2)
2006 PROSPEED COMPETITION SCHEDULE & RESULTS
April 9th MVD Belcar Round 1: Spa#21 Penders/Lamot DNF (gearbox)#22 Nelissen Grade/Kelders 17th O/A, 6th Class 2Winner O/A Longin/Kumpen Chevrolet Corvette C5-RWinner Cl. 2 Severich/Josten BMW M3 GTR V8May 21st MVD Belcar Round 2: Zolder#21 Penders/Lamot 5th O/A, 1st Class 2#22 Nelissen Grade/Van Hoof 22nd O/A, 11th Class 2Winner O/A Longin/Kumpen Chevrolet Corvette C5-RWinner Cl. 2 Penders/Lamot Porsche 911 GTR RSR
June 29th MVD Belcar Round 3: ZolderJuly 23rd MVD Belcar Round 4: Eurospeedway LausitzJuly 29th-30th FIA GT Round 4: Spa 24 HoursAugust 26th-27th MVD Belcar Round 5: Zolder 24 HoursOctober 8th MVD Belcar Round 6: SpaOctober 22nd MVD Belcar Round 7: Zolder
