Spa Francorchamps Proximus 05/08/2001   Thursday Pit Walk 1   © Janos Ximpffen Photographs by Bernard Lorquet www.spa-francorchamps.be link The event very much has the feel intermediate between a congenial club event and true international outing. This was exemplified by the comments of Wolfgang Haugg, a German, or is he a Belgian?--he lives a few meters from the actual border. He’s been an active participant with the Belgian Procar series in the past and is sorry that so many of the competitors from the Touring car days of this race couldn’t make the step up. On the other hand, he welcomes the extra attention that the race is receiving, surely something that will propel in years to come. Kurt Dujardyn, who although disappointed that the entry isn’t larger, is very optimistic about its position in the future, largely echoed this. Both Haugg (no. 94 Land Motorsport Porsche Carrera) and Dujardyn (no. 84 Ecurie Bruxelloise RSR) have driven at the Daytona 24. While both enjoyed the chance to race with their American colleagues, the Spa race has much greater magic. Outside of the F1 GP, it is the largest race in Belgium and here one doesn’t have to focus on staying low and out of the way of the Prototypes. Even for some of the FIA GT regulars this is a familiar place. Carsport Holland’s Sebastiaan Bleekemolen cut his teeth here with every conceivable category of closed wheel Renault series - Clio, Spider, and Megane. The Carsport team looks serious with their all-new Route 66 livery. The sponsor may only be here for this race, but they have leant an air of purpose to the otherwise low-key squad. The two car Larbre team also seems to be nonchalantly working towards the race, unlike the big three-car Belmondo group, which is the only one to adopt a quasi-F1 image, complete with a real security guard — actually a fairly polite and understanding bloke. Art Engineering’s decision to focus on one car seems to be more tactical and financial. The no. 54 (chassis 101) car has proven much quicker at the earlier rounds. Thierry Perrier of Perspective Racing was busy with a quite unusual task after the first practice session. The RACB’s crack marshalling team are periodically instructed to perform a practice run of the extraction of an injured driver. The cars are selected at random and M. Perrier was ordered to remain at the wheel of his Porsche while sitting in the pits. A clutch of doctors and paramedics descending upon him, doing the amazing task of removing his helmet while keeping his supposedly injured neck completely immobile, then pulling him out on a backboard and removing a smiling but immobile team owner. Vanina Ickx is looking forward to her Porsche drive. By the way, I stand corrected; Pascal is her uncle, not her grandfather. Jacques was her grandfather, the famed Belgian journalist and occasional rallyist. Anyway, the keeper of the family flame is chomping at the bit for a Ferrari ride in the future, having tested with the no. 70 JMB car here at the June preliminary session. One of the most truly international entries here is that of Gammon Megaspeed. China’s Alex Li proudly displays the Olympic rings in the lead up to 2008. His is the first sustained Asian entry to make a dent on the European scene. He plans to extend to next year’s Daytona 24. The very patriotic Li is working hard at seeing the red star fluttering over the podium. With a Belgian-American-Japanese crew of drivers, and a pit crew that looks even more varied, this team will generate both speed and emotion. Li has had experience as the head of the Hong Kong Porsche Club and has raced throughout Asia, most notably at the Zuhai rounds of the old BPR series. As noted in the earlier report, Cirtek has reverted to a largely Privilege BRDC series driver lineup for their familiar ex-Barbour car. The no. 80 AD Sport entry is actually one of the Freisinger cars, the team effectively supporting four cars here. The De Alemenara Marcos was a regular in last year’s Belcar series, but has re-emerged from mothballs for this event. Ecurie Bruxelloise (no. 84 RSR) is using this an exercise for the upcoming Zolder 24 Hours, which as a Belcar round is their main interest. One of the most unusual cars here is the no. 85 Porsche 911 Speedster. It is based on a factory supplied and unnumbered 964 chassis that was built by AD Sport with a body that loosely resembles a coupe version of the 911 Speedster spyder that was built in small quantities by Porsche. The Gillet Vertigo Streiff is an altogether new car and not like the old V de V that Belgian constructor entered at a handful of BPR / FIA GT races in the past. The Alfa powered has a much sleeker body, sort of a cross between a Marcos and a Viper. Very much dwarfed by nearly everyone is the little 2.0 4-cylinder Renault Spider poking around in Category 2. Together with the pair of 1.8 liter Lotus Elises, they seem to be huddling in terror whenever the Vipers or Prancing Horses thunder by. A second 90-minute free session is taking place under cooler and distinctly cloudy evening skies. The first two qualifying periods will then take place in ever darker conditions. Only about 20 of the teams have thus far bothered with setting a time. Rival teams occupy the top four spots. Vosse (Belmondo Viper) is about a half-second clear of van de Poele’s Ferrari. Another 0.3 seconds down is Tassin in the quicker of the Carsport Holland entries. Then comes the Larbre Viper of Marc Duez. Stephane Ortelli’s Freisinger car leads N-GT, over two seconds quicker than the Seikel Porsche. Alexander Frei’s Lamborghini leads Category 3 and Jose Close is quickest with the EBRT Lotus Elise in Category 2. After one hour of practice Thierry Tassin slips ahead of Vosse with a 2:22.196. The evening practice session was stopped when ten minutes early when the no. 60 Haberthur Porsche crashed heavily at Blanchimont. Driver is OK, the car looks to be a fixable mess. The guard rail has been completely re-shaped. The driver was Jacques Marquet, and he later passed on the news that the chassis is too badly damaged for it to run again this weekend. Photos by B. Lorquet from the Spa-Francorchamps website. Use this link to see a wide range of shots. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport