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Spa Francorchamps

Proximus

05/08/2001

The 24 Hours

Part 11

© Janos Racefinish

Hour 23-24

It turns out that the problem with the Dutch Viper was merely a broken alternator belt. Had Bleekemolen been able to coast into the pits it would have taken three minutes to replace and they’d still be in the chase for at least a podium spot. It’s another of those “ifs”.

One of the more obtuse awards long associated with the Spa 24 Hours is the Coupe du Roi (King’s Cup). It is presented to multi-car teams with that term being used loosely to allow ad hoc arrangements of teams solely for eligibility for this award. Scoring is cumulative and recorded each hour. The actual points system is far beyond the ability of the author of TATS to fathom. Besides placements in the race order, I think it factors in driver’s weights, astrological signs, and phone numbers.

For the record, here are the Coupe du Roi standings as of the 18th hour;
Ice Pol / Ecurie Bruxelloise, 502 pts
Freisinger / Renstal Excelsior, 453 pts
Land Motorsport / Perspective Racing, 451 pts
Lotus (both of them), 370
Lamborghini (all 3 of them), 334
Eric van de Vyver / “Segolen”, 308

Back to the race: the Silver Racing Viper is making a late change of brake pads. As they are five laps clear of the fourth placed no. 12 Belmondo car it should not jeopardize their march to the podium. However, it largely puts pad to catching the tail of the Larbre train some three laps ahead.

The Gammon Megaspeed Porsche is developing an overheating problem with the two exhausts turning distinctly different colors. The team is hoping to merely soldier on to the finish. With 45 minutes remaining, it looks like we’ll have one last retirement, and a sad one. The DD Racing Porsche of Franchitti / Polaski / Kodsi / Warth has stopped on course with the driver poking around in the engine compartment. [It did eventually get going]

Heading into the last hour, all the positions are essentially set. Let’s review their performance:

1, 1-GT, #7, Larbre Viper; Bouchut / Belloc / Duez. The team’s performance during practice and qualifying left lots of question. But the race performance brought to mind the old adage that grid position in a 24 hour race means little.

2, 2-GT, #17, Larbre Viper; Goueslard / Dumez / Bourdais. The latter driver largely carried this effort. The team deserves credit for bringing home the brand new toy.

3, 3-GT, #26, Silver Racing Viper; Dierick / Dupont / de Doncker. This is the best of several all-Belgian stories in the field. With only one race behind them, a steady run to a podium finish was the last and best thing they could expect. The crew are completely in awe of how far they’ve come, looking more like happy drugged-out zombies than a race team. Dierick will bring the car home.

4, 4-GT, #12 Belmondo Viper. Clerico / Vosse / Helary. The luck of the French team is perhaps the one true disappointment in the field. That one of the two cars finished well is simply not enough for a championship contender.

5, 1-N-GT, #77 RWS Porsche, Riccitelli / Quester / Garcia / Simon. The usually reliable category had a spate of problems running through many of the cars. Rudi Walch’s experience carried through in shepherding the crew through their own particular turmoils.

6, 2-N-GT, #57 Freisinger Porsche, Ortelli / Chiesa / Sauvage. The highlight of the night was the nip and tuck battle between the two top N-GT cars and 2nd place here is quite honorable.

7, 3-N-GT, #55 Perspective Porsche; Neugarten / Thiers / Perrier. They were out of the running for the top early on but then settled into a rhythm (albeit interrupted by excursions) that made for a good second half of the race.

8, 5-GT, #10 Belmondo Viper; Gosselin / Belmondo / Kumpen. The Belmondo cars were troubled, more troubled, and most troubled. This one rests in the middle.

9, 6-GT, #21 GL PK Viper; Daems / Severich / Longin. A good Saturday and night was followed up by wheel problems that ruined a possible fight for the podium. A last minute stumble followed by a strong push moved them up a notch in the closing minutes.

10, 1- Cat. 2, #78, PSI Porsche 996; de Groodt / Tollenaire / Palttala. The best of the irregulars enjoyed a quite trouble-free run. They had wished to remain in the more competitive N-GT department, but will accept the podium even without true competition.

11, 4-N-GT, #59 Freisinger Porsche; Haezebrouck / Seiler / Depoix. All the attention was always on the other Freisinger entries and in fact most of the other 996s. This one ran out of the limelight and reasonably well.

12, 5-N-GT, #54 Art Engineering Porsche; Peter / Collini / Malcharek / Babini. [As this is being written the car is experiencing engine woes and may yet retire]. The team’s strategy to focus on one rather two cars yielded little in the way of results.

13, 6-N-GT, #82 DD Racing; Franchitti / Polaski / Kodsi / Warth. This was a good effort for a one-off affair with Franchitti’s name (and fast driving) attracting much attention. As of this writing it is unknown whether it will finish but it has made it back to the pits where the fuel system and suspension are being worked on.

14, 1-Cat. 3, #94 Land Motorsport Porsche 996; Corthals / Scharmach / Steckx / Haugg. This was a last-minute patched together team that succeeded despite a less than serious attempt. The ABS equipped Cup car had an accident during the night and is cautiously circulating in a creditable finishing spot.

15, 7-N-GT, #66 Gammon Megaspeed 996; Horion / Jeannette / Kawagoe / Li. This new team was largely an unknown quantity beforehand. They should bursts of brilliance and some problems enroute to a worthy character building finish which netted an extra spot in closing moments.

16, 1-Cat. 2, #87 Ice Pol Racing Porsche 911 GT2; Delobe / Duquesnoy / Boucher / Cornelis. The Belcar regulars were somewhere between having fun and a bit out of their league. They ran quite trouble free to the class win. Their real prize would be the Coupe de Roi for which they are teamed with the no. 84 car.

17, 2-Cat. 3, #95 Lamborghini; Lorent / Frei / Dewinter / Velay. No one would have bet on any of the Lamborghinis finishing but three of them did. This one ran as close to clockwork as these cars get.

18, 2-Cat. 2, #84 Ecurie Bruxelloise, Porsche RSR; Dujardyn / A. Herremann / J-P Herremann. The team came here strictly to have fun and didn’t expect to be around long. They will certainly party long into the night with their second place trophy. Well done.

19, 3-Cat. 2, #80, Renstal Trommelke Porsche GT3R; Wauters / Scheurs / Vanierschot / van Roey. This was another set of Belcar regulars enjoying a pleasant and successful lark.

20, 3-Cat. 3, #96 Ecurie Toison d’Or, Lamborghini; Witmeur . Libert, de Saedeler / van Schevensteen. The team has experience and gentlemanly sportsmanlike interests in equal measure. It showed in a worthwhile performance.

21, 4-Cat. 3, #92 “Segolen” 993 Supercup; “Segolen” / Olivier / Letellier / Schmit. Another “happy to just to be here” group, they managed to put together a successful two-car team at the last moment.

22, 5-Cat. 3, #98, Renstal Excelsior, Lotus; de Sterck/ Marin / Meeussen / Delvaux. No one expected to see the two little Elises by nightfall, let alone at the end of the race and let alone this very stock based car. They amazed everyone including themselves.

23 (NC), 6-Cat. 3, #91 EBRT Lotus; van de Wauwer / Pecoraro / Close. Incredibly, only one car retired in the class considered the most fragile. This is especially remarkable given the fast pace of most of the race. All credit goes to all in Category 3, especially the little Lotus contingent.

24 (NC), 7-Cat. 3, #97 Eric van de Vyver Porsche Supercup; van de Vyver / van Laer / Tremblay / Maljean. The car was little noticed but ran a clean and solid race, but problems meant that they did not complete enough laps for classification.

The grandstands are completely full under a bluing and shining sky. The Larbre cars are beginning to group for their glorious finish. With lights ablaze and a gloved hand waving out the window, Marc Duez reintroduces the wonders of GT racing to the long-lived Belgian endurance classic. The race has had some milestone measures to it that will be discussed in the coming months. Some attributes will not be repeated while others will be built upon. It is likely that the 2001 edition of the Spa 24 H will launch a renewed period in its history.

Important addenda and correction to last posting:
The math is such that Larbre cannot yet be confirmed as champions since Belmondo, Lister, and Carsport Holland still have a theoretical chance to win. However, it is completely certain that at least either Belloc or Bouchut will be drivers' champion. The team policy is such that they will not be split up thus barring incapacity, they will be co-champs.