Belcar – Belcar Masters Zolder – Preview
The Final Round, Everything To Play For
© Joost Custers

This Sunday, October 23, sees the last race of the Mediagroup Van Dyck Belcar 2005 – the seventh round - after four different formats: two races over 1 hour, four weekends with the traditional 125-minute endurance race, a six-hour event and last but not least the Zolder 24 hours.

After Belcar joined Britcar at Brands in June, now it's Britcar's turn to cross the Channel, joining Belcar this weekend.

Reigning champions Kumpen / Longin scored few points, were absent for some races and had no straight wins: this is one of the remarkable facts of the past six races. On the other hand, the SRT Corvette has been showing its real potential throughout the season: Goossens / Hart have taken four wins.

With 125 minutes racing left, nothing is sure yet in the GT Championship and the battle will last until the last chequered flag, at the Belcar Masters. The main opponents are the Corvette of Goossens / Hart versus the GTB Porsche of Penders / Lamot. Never before has a GTB-car managed to start the last race leading the championship.

The SRT Corvette has no other option but winning, and even then a fourth overall, combined with a class victory, will be enough to ensure the title for Rudi Penders and Franz Lamot.

Altogether, this season has been a very good one, and the last race will be decisive for the outcome of all the division and class battles. In each class - GT, Touring, GTA, GTB, TA and TB – the final top three are undecided. All of this will be settled after 40 hours and 20 minutes of racing…

Mathematically, the Kuismanen Viper is still capable of playing a significant role, but it’s very unlikely to see the Vosse / Kuismanen Viper winning the series.

Further down the ranking, the PSI pair Palttala / Van Sande could still take third.

A minor detail: three out of four contenders know each other very well. Penders and Goossens became GTB champions in 2002 and Lamot drove with Marc Goossens in the Corvette last year.

In GTB, Penders / Lamot are champions already, but the battle for second is still open. The difference between the Qvick Ultima and the First Porsche Super Cup is now up to nine points but everything is still possible. Both teams are at least sure to finish third in GTB after the forfeit of de Gastines / De Bock and the bad luck of the Belgium Racing Ultima last time.

In the division for touring cars, a finish will make three in a row for the Beliën / Jakobs BMW squad (see below). They are already champions in TA and a third consecutive title in Touring is very near. In TB it’s far from being decided. After the accident for the GS Motorsport pair, Muytjens / Josten, both BMW teams - De Hoen / Essers and Broodcooren / De Coster - now lead by one point over the Belgian - German GS squad.

The driver challenge rewards the best Belcar driver of the year. The scoring in this competition is based upon the overall result, and the result in both division and class. But additional points can be gained for the pole (5), the first qualifying time in class (3) and the fastest lap in the race (1).

Goossens now leads the rankings by 29 points over his team mate Hart, 31,5 ahead of Penders, 37,5 up on Lamot and 60,5 ahead of Vosse. The only real threat still is Rudi Penders. Only if Goossens does not make it to the finish can Penders take the spoils.

In the Philip Verellen Junior Challenge, rewarding the best young driver in Belcar, Johan Van Loo of First Motorsport is already the winner. He beats Olivier Muytjens. The latter had a big off at Spa.

The Ladies Challenge sees the MINI pair Van de Velde / Ickx leading Kelly Jamers. Kelly did race at Spa but a possible victory in Zolder keeps everything open.

Ellen Lohr could play a decisive role in the Ladies Challenge, as she returns with the Audi TT. Another guest is Rudiger Noll with the Audi A4 Quattro. Last but not least, Bo McCormick returns to Belcar, after racing at Brands in June, with his Ferrari 360, while the Xero Corvette returns to Belcar - adding to the 40+ grid.

Addendum
Unfortunately, the counting of the points in Touring after the Racing Festival caused so many problems. As the GS Motorsport Muytjens / Josten pair was classified within 70% of the distance of the race winner, they took 15 points in Touring and nine in class TB.

This means that they are still second in Touring but 21 points behind the leaders. Beliën / Jakobs must now hope for a full, minimum 5 car, TA-grid in order to score full points.

In TB the lead of Jpsten and Muytjens is now eight points with only 20 still to gain. Even if Broodcoren / De Coster or Dehoen / Essers win, a fourth spot will guarantee the TB crown. The MINI, over 20 points down, is now mathematically out of competition for the title.

The Philip Verellen Challenge also remains open as Muytjens only stands nine points down from the leader Johan Van Loo. The latter has to finish to ensure his crown.

The difference between both PSI cars is not one but three points and the Wauters brothers still can take third in GTA.