20.00 – 23.00 (first championship points and Viper drama)

The #6 AD Sport driven by Erik Bruynoghe became stuck in the gravel bed and had to return top its pit, with suspension damage. This is the 2nd frontrunner to hit problems after the #2 Kuismanen Viper. The latter (right) is now 39th after 3 and a half hours. The SRT Corvette still led but had an anticipated change of the front pads at its last pit stop. The gap to the #5 PSI Porsche was suddenly down to 40”. A pleasant surprise in this opening part of the race was the #59 TT Porsche Supercup. “We had a broken windscreen during the warm-up and had to start from the pitlane. We’re now after 3 hours in the top-15, which is great with a 1999 spec Supercup. But reliability and a poor fuel consumption could be a huge advantage in this race,” explains Pascal Nelissen Grade, lawyer and co-owner of the car.

Patric Derdaele joins the pressroom right before his stint. The owner of the #34 Ultima explains the good position of his car.

“Empsen started and did a good job running in 6th position after his stint. We have only 400 bhp and the consumption is very low, we normally do 2 hour and 1/4 with one tank. Right now we’re 9th overall and 3rd in GTB, which is very promising.”

Standings at 21.00:
http://timing.24u.be/2005/t04.htm

The first retirement is the #46 BPO Porsche.

Drama during the 5th hour! The #2 Kuismanen Viper is on fire in the refuelling zone as the car comes in, we’ve seen this last year too.

But for another reason, this will not be the year of the Viper: at 21.15, Bert Longin crashes at the Sacramentsheuvel and the car is heavily damaged. Game over and out for GLPK, as Bert Longin walks in… Bert is too disappointed to explain the incident but Jorge Seghers helps us out: “A backmarker hit the Viper out, that’s it, stupid race incident…”

Meanwhile, PSI takes over. The two Porsches led the race, as David Hart in the SRT Chevy comes in - unscheduled. Normally, the Dutch driver should have done a double stint but Guy Verheyen takes over the #7 Corvette. In 4th we find another Porsche, with Ruben Maes’ RS Biturbo. Rudi Penders (above) still leads GTB, but both Ultima chase the Porsche in the order #34 then #33.

But the performance of the race is without doubt the 5th overall of the KS BMW Silhouette of Steve van Bellingen! He's having some fun with Patric Derdaele, right.

So far the race is exciting and unpredictable. Much will depend on the strategy of the teams. Fuel and certainly the way they put it in, could be very decisive for the outcome of the race.

At 22.00, an hour before grabbing the points, the order is:
http://timing.24u.be/2005/t05.htm

The Qvick Ultima came to a halt with a broken gearbox, “a new one will be fitted”, says Erik himself.

Palttala was easing away at the front, from Guy Verheyen in the Corvette. Meanwhile the #24 Porsche Boxster retired and the #6 AD Sport Porsche again stands somewhere on the track. Other cars hit trouble as well: the #97 MINI (differential), the #95 Moore BMW (cooling), the #93 BR BMW (suspension), the #47 Saker (everything), the #43 Mazda (off).

The Qvick Ultima was also a retirement.

Result at 23.00 (championship points - #4, below, in second place, two laps behind the Corvette, one ahead of #5 - with the Eurotech Marcos a fabulous fifth):
http://timing.24u.be/2005/t06.htm

#36 is heading towards the top 20.

Next report, mid-morning on Sunday.