The first heat of the Belgian GT Mediagroep Van Dyck during the weekend of the 1000 Km of Spa resulted in a world premiere. Belgian drivers Jeff Hemroulle and Tim Verbergt gave the Audi R8 LMS its first ever victory.
For a long while it appeared as though Jeffrey Van Hooydonk in the KRK Viper would be clinching a first win. His team-mate and pole holder Koen Wauters took a brilliant start and built up a substantial gap during his stint. Behind him his brother and team-mate at KRK, Kris Wauters. KRK appeared to be well on the way to an excellent victory up until Van Hooydonk was called in for a 10’ stop & go. During the mandatory pitstop at the halfway point the Dodge had left 2’ too soon. The Audi was able to take full advantage of this and scored its first victory. Earlier Tim Verbergt had first needed break away from Bert Longin in the First Porsche prior to handing over the drive in third place to Hemroulle. The later then overtook Vanthoor in the Viper and near the end he was able to hold off an unleashed Van Hooydonk to score a first win.
‘I really had to fight hard because our Audi is carrying no less than 100 kilo ballast and is heavier than the Viper’, a happy Hemroulle told us. ‘Obviously everything suffers from that, not only the top speed. Also amongst others the brakes, tyres and the car’s balance are no longer in optimum condition after 60 minutes.’
Behind Van Hooydonk and Koen Wauters, obviously disappointed, third place went to the Porsche of Longin-Verbist, ahead of the Lamborghini JD by KS of the Van der Zwaan brothers and the second KRK Viper of Wauters-Vanthoor.
Following a less than succesful pitstop the Ford GT of Pertti Kuismanen and Duncan Huisman couldn’t do better than a sixth place, ahead of the Porsche of the Finnish pair Vanhanen-Nurminen.
The 2008 champions, Fred Bouvy and Damien Coens, had a difficult first race of the weekend. Their Ferrari 430 experiencing transmission problems only managed 9th place in the Belgian GT, however they did do a better job than the Aston Martin DBRS9 of Vosse and Renard who threw in the towel having suffered two flat tyres.
In the British GT the Mosler MT900 of Martin Short Gregor Fisken were the winners.
Result:
1. Hemroulle-Verbergt (Audi R8 LMS), 24 laps in 1h01.23.376
2. Koen Wauters-Van Hooydonk (Dodge Viper) op 4.546
3. Verbist-Longin (Porsche 997 GT3) + 17.822
4. A. Van der Zwaan – R. Van der Zwaan (NL/Lamborghini Gallardo) + 53.792
5. Vanthoor- Kris Wauters (Dodge Viper) + 1.01.788
6. D. Huisman – Kuismanen (P-B-Fin/Ford GT) + 1.17.118
7. Vanhanen-Nurminen (Fin/Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) + 2.30.718
8. Marchal-Lumbeek (NL-Bel/Lamborghini Gallardo) + 2.35.256
9. Bouvy-Coens (Ferrari 430 GT3) + 3r
10. Vosse-Renard (Aston Martin DBRS9) + 6l
Championship:
Teams:
1. Audi Phoenix 18
2. Ferrari Delahaye and Dodge KRK N°4 16
4. Porsche First Motorsport 15
5. Ford Kuismanen 14
6. Lamborghini JD by KS N°10 12
Drivers:
1. Hemroulle-Verbergt 43
2. Bouvy-Coens 42
3. Verbist-Longin 40
4. Kuismanen-Huisman (Fin-NL) 40
5. Van Hooydonk-Wauters Koen 36
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