Second Consecutive Endurance Race At Ardennes Track
For the second time in less than a month, the world’s leading sportscar and endurance teams will meet in the Belgian Ardennes. After the FIA GT Championship ran its classic 24 Hours in July, it is now the turn of the Le Mans Series to tackle the 7-kilometre former public road circuit for yet another of those classic sportscar races: the Spa 1000 Kilometres.
The fourth round of the 2007 Le Mans Series will see some of the most exotic prototype machinery line up with the finest GTs. Among the twenty GT2 entries is the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of ProSpeed Competition, the Liège-based team continuing its international programme. As was the case at the 24 Hours, team boss, Rudi Penders, and regular co, Franz Lamot, will again be joined by Bart Couwberghs. Needless to say, the trio is out for some suitable revenge after their unfortunate exit at the 24 Hours.
“You can say that again,” Rudi Penders smiled. “What happened to us in the 24 Hours was bizarre to say the least, and it really hurt as we could have scored a pretty decent result in that race. No other 997 GT3 RSR was forced to retire, so that made it extra hard to accept. But that’s in the past and we are now gearing up towards the 1000 kilometres. It will be the first time the team and my co-drivers will share the track with those extremely fast LMP cars, so after the weekend we will all again have matured towards our goal of doing a full international series in 2008.”
“It will still be difficult, though,” Penders continued. “Unlike at the 24 Hours, we will not be able to benefit from any development tyres, so we’ll have to use regular customer tyres. But with the experience from Monza and Spa earlier, we feel that we have established a good base line for us to work from. And as a month ago we will be able to call upon Porsche’s expertise to help us out if needed.”
Apart from the tyre issue, little will have changed on the #80 Porsche, including the driver line-up. “Franz and I always race together,” Penders continued, “and in Bart we have a very fast co-driver. He set the qualifying time at the 24 Hours and his first stint then showed that he had the pace, climbing up the leaderboard as the race progressed. Obviously, all three of us still have unfinished business in Spa and we’re all ready to make amends. Although we are one of only three local teams entered, we will look for a competitive finish rather than some single-lap heroics. If we can have a race like the first 90 minutes of the 24 Hours we will be very pleased, though we all know the competition in GT2 in the Le Mans Series will be at least as tough as in the FIA GTs. And this time we will have to keep our eyes peeled for more than just the GT1s, but that will all be part of the learning process.”
ProSpeed Competition’s international results this year already include a third place overall and second in class at the Dubai 24 Hours, and another second in class at the Spa 24 Hours. Once the their Ardennes rendezvous behind them, ProSpeed Competition will have to prepare for yet another endurance race in Belgium, the Zolder 24 Hours in early September, the main race of the national Belcar GT3 Championship.
2007 PROSPEED COMPETITION INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE
January 12th-13th Dubai 24 Hours (UAE), non-championshipJune 24th Monza (I), FIA GT Round 4July 28th-29th Spa 24 Hours (B), FIA GT Round 6August 19th Spa 1000Kms (B), LMS Round 4October 6th Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta (USA), ALMS Round 11 (To be confirmed)October 21st Zolder (B), FIA GT Round 10 (To be confirmed)
