Last weekend the Supercar Challenge travelled to the legendary British ex F1 Brands Hatch GP circuit for two races of both one hour. The Spork Racing Team joined the championship again with its white-red Seat Leon Supercopa. Without any knowledge or data of the track it would become a difficult but rather interesting job for the team to put down a competitive car. Drivers Jimmy Adriaenssens and Wim Meulders knew how to dot the ‘i’s regarding the setup of the car and the weekend proved to be promising.
“During the free practice I noticed that the track presented itself as quite a challenge. Not really the corners or braking zones, but mainly the acceleration points had my attention. Due to lots of bumpy exits in certain corners, it was rather difficult to get the power down with the front wheel driven Seat. The car often spins, resulting in time loss. In certain corners it really was a matter of trying to adjust your line and apex to get the power down through the bumpy exit.” Jimmy Adriaenssens. Wim Meulders “The qualifying went smoothly until I felt a certain unbalance in the front axle of the car. I waved the car a bit in a straight and everything seemed normal until I had a tire puncture in the braking zone of Paddock Hill Bend. The car couldn’t be stopped and I went into the gravel sideways. I felt the side of the car digging deep and lifting the car twice. Luckily I kept the car on its four wheels, preventing much damage. That was a rather tricky moment, I can assure you!”
Because of Jimmy’s experience with the Supercopa, he took the start of both races. “I enjoyed the bustle in the first laps. I launched myself rather well but through the tidy first corners it was hard to gain places. After a few laps the field neutralized itself and mainly in the second race I could exploit myself. During my entire stint I joined Ronald Van Loon’s BMW M3 WTCC but I couldn’t get aside of him. The battle was typical, the Seat gained ground in braking zones and fast corners but had to give in in the straights and slow corners. It was a spectacular cat-and-mouse game in which we pushed each other to the limit! Very very enjoyable racing!”
Also Wim exploited himself in the Spanish car. “Throughout the whole weekend I had to gain confidence in the car, seen 99% of my career exists in racing rear wheel driven cars, but I have to admit that the car behaved perfectly. Very reliable, stable and if you wish you can throw the car into the corner without having the slightest feeling of losing control. Great fun! I did the last stint twice and Paddock Hill Bend excluded I found my way through all corners. The incident in qualifying kind of got in my head at first, but when the weekend evolved, the confidence grew and also Paddock Hill Bend became familiar. It was a successful weekend!”
The duo Adriaenssens-Meulders ranked P11 and P12 in both races in the very competitive Supersport division.
See enclosed PDF-files for the downloadable (Dutch) race reviews.
Press release (ENG) – SCC Brands Hatch GP Review: Adriaenssens-Meulders on speed in Brands Hatch.pdf
Persbericht (NL) – SCC Brands Hatch GP Review: Adriaenssens-Meulders op snelheid in Brands Hatch.pdf
More press:
SupercarChallenge.nl – Adriaenssens-Meulders op snelheid in Brands Hatch