Throughout the 6th – 9th of September, the BeNeLux Supercar Challenge spiced the 24 hours of Zolder – weekend. The formation was as always, 1 free practice, 1 qualifying and 2 races. Both the Antwerpian Super’SPORK’copa’s were tamed by Adriaenssens J. / Nye D. (n° 323) and De Kimpe J. (n° 325).
The qualifying session on Thursday was very promising, seen that Jimmy Adriaenssens succeeded in breaking the lap record of Spork Racing by as much as 0,6 seconds. In reality a negligible number but within the top level of car racing a difference that can decide whether somebody starts from pole or last. During the Superprix at Zolder a few months ago, car 323 clocked 1.42.2, now 1.41.6. This proves Spork’s unstoppable urge to shine by constantly improving its cars. Spork is really keen on breaking the 1.40 barrier.
“Because I clocked the fastest laptime in qualifying, I got the honor to start the first race. I tried to choose the correct moment to go flat out in the rolling start and was able to mix with leading group. It was racing on the edge and one attack followed the other. I couldn’t immediately pass the BMW M3 GT4 of Stox – De Vries but nevertheless I kept trying. During the fifth or sixth lap, suddenly the car lost power. I clearly heard an uncontrolled burn in my exhaust and had to pull over. After having tried to reset the car without any result I was towed. While the team manager tried to start the car I heard the engine going into a loop and we almost immediately knew the problem. The ECU-fuse was broken and after having changed it, I headed of again. Eventually David and I succeeded in conquering a hth place amongst the Supercopa’s but if the fuse hadn’t blown we’d surely could have obtained a podium.” Jimmy ‘AJ’ Adriaenssens.
David Nye took the start of the second race and delivered a second place amongst the Supercopa’s during his stint! In general he climbed from 24th to 13th. Jimmy had to take the second part of the race and he was keen on getting the Spanish bull in the top ten. Due to the enormous heat (about 33°C in the shadows) each car had to cope with temperature issues. “I tried to stay calm and save the car. It was a matter of strategically preparing your attack on another competitor, otherwise you didn’t succeed in overtaking and running of. You really had to cool down the car for about 2 laps by revving less and then making a surprising attack so you could immediately create a gap. If not, and you had to take defending line, you’d probably end up battling and struggling to defend your place. If you could create a gap and avoid any defence, you could save the car, run smooth and fast lines and run away.” AJ. After 60 minutes of racing in the blistering heat, the Belgian – English duo saw the chequered flag and was very satisfied to have gained another podium. They became 2nd in Supercopa and 8th overall.
During the 21st – 23rd of September, the Antwerpian Spork Racing Team will head off to Circuit Park Zandvoort to enlarge their gap on the 3rd Supercopa in the championship. In Holland Spork will again compete with its red-white and green-white cars.
See enclosed PDF-file for the Dutch race review.