ProSpeed – 997 GT3-RSRs Too
October 8 and October 22 will see the last two events of the 2006 Belcar series (Spa and then Zolder), and ProSpeed Competition will be present at both events, with both of its 996 GT3-RS/RSRs – as Rudi Penders and Franz Lamot chase Georg Severich’s Class 2 leading BMW.

1. G Severich / M Josten / T Mutsch (BMW) 65 pts
2. R Penders / F Lamot (Porsche) 57 pts.

But the team is already working towards 2007, and has worked out its strategy for the revised regulations.

“It’s good to know that the organisers have faced reality and listened to the competitors, and that they didn’t turn a blind eye to the facts,” says Rudi Penders. “The big Class 1 cars sure are spectacular but with less than a handful of them available it made no sense to keep that class alive, not from an economic point of view, nor from a racing point of view.

“Under the new 2007 rules, cars complying with or comparable to the FIA GT2 class rules will become the main attraction, with GT3-style cars making up the second division. This should make for some seriously spectacular races, and while both Franz and I are looking forward to the challenge at the track, so is the team to the challenge behind the scenes and at the workshop.

“ProSpeed Competition will be gunning for the overall title next year rather than just the class title, and to be able to have the best cards in our hands we will field the new 997 RSR in next year’s series.”

Regarding the last two events of 2006, Penders promises to “take no prisoners”.

“We had banked on the Zolder 24 Hours to reduce our deficit on the leading BMW, something we were about to achieve according to plan until about mid-race when our plan started to unravel. Some driveshaft problems cost us more time than we could spare and running out of fuel on the last lap and thus losing one more place didn’t help us either. On top of that, our competitors had a faultless race, scoring maximum points at the end, although we scored maximum points after six and 12 hours, clearly demonstrating we were the fastest Class 2 car on the track. So for the last two races there will only one strategy which we will apply: attack!”

Pascal Nelissen Grade and Christian Kelders will be back in their RS (right) this weekend, after an unfortunate Zolder 24 Hours in a GT3 Cup car: they retired temn minutes into the race after an accident.

“Obviously, for us the main target will be to finish first and to charge second,” Nelissen Grade said. “We surely can’t keep on being this unlucky. We will be back in our regular RS, so with the extra power and suspension upgrade available and a textbook race like we had during the FIA weekend, we should have a good race.”

And then there’s the Dubai 24 Hours: “We have entered two cars in the Dubai 24 Hours, marking ProSpeed Competition’s first international foray,” added Rudi Penders. “Depending on how successful we will be in the desert we will add international races and venues to our calendar. In any case, 2007 will be a pivotal year for the team, which will hopefully go from strength to strength.”