Latest news from Zolder...The Euphony 24 Hours of Zolder will be covered LIVE on august 27 & 28 by belgian television station KANAAL2. Saturday 16h45 to 17h55 and Sunday 12h00 to 13h00 and 16h15 to 17h12 will see over 3 hours of live coverage, commented by Peter Baert. "Live coverage will be assisted by Gert Vermersch and Erik Klerckx (and camera crew), reporting live from the pit lane. Around the track 11 cameras will be manned all 24 hours. Also some on-board cameras will be used. It will be a large scale TV-production supported by over 60 people", explains Peter Baert. Moreover French-speaking Club RTL will be covering 1 hour live at the start and 1 hour at the finish.
There's still a lot of mystery surrounding the official subscription table with some teams not willing or not able to disclose their driver line-up. Still, very likely we will see a grid with over 50 cars. Some more rumours are making their way. GLPK announced the Longin/Kumpen/Hillebrand effort will officially be joined by Marc Duez. The GLPK team will need logistics to perfection, given the fact Bert and Anthony will also be competing at Oschersleben (Germany) in the 7th round of the FIA GT championship. GLPK has successfully delivered similar hat tricks at previous events.
The SRT line-up is now also officially complete with Goossens/Hart/Heylen/Verheyen, as well as Kuismanen Competition seeing Dutchman Duncan Huisman joining the regular Kuismanen/Vosse duo. Some more big names are added to the list with Cor Euser and Jeroen Bleekemolen on the superfast Eurotech Marcos. The PSI line-up is far from complete – negotiations going on with Kurt Mollekens and Yves Lambert. We'll see Van Sande/Palttala running their regular Biturbo Porsche, while Menten/Bouvy prefer the atmospheric GT3-RSR already run successfully by PSI for the Spa 24 Hours. Still their engine choice has not been decided yet. A 3.6L would allow them to compete in the GTB class, while a 3.8L engine would be needed to defend their current third place in GTA. Their choice for a non-turbocharged engine is a strategic one, as it will lower the fuel consumption.
Lower fuel consumption will be important during the Euphony 24 Hours of Zolder, as the teams will not be allowed to use quick-fuelling systems in the pitlane. Hence they will be refuelling at the regular fuel pumps at the pitlane entrance. This has been the case for safety reasons in the last few years. A quick calculation shows some 70.000L of fuel will be consumed during the race. A similar system, yet more sophisticated, is being used at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Refuelling at the fuel pump will be much more time consuming, penalising teams with the most greedy cars and forcing them into alternative strategies. Quite some engines have been tuned down, to save on fuel while also improving reliability.
At TT Racing there's no word about who will be joining the regular duo Mattheus/Redant on the Audi TT. We can disclose it's a man and a woman with international presence. A noteworthy family affair is Guido Dumarey's GPR-Porsche GT3 effort, joined by his sons Maxime and Guillaume. 16-year old Maxime Dumarey (born 23/9/1988) is officially the youngest competitor ever at the Zolder 24 Hours, beating 4 months older Alexandre De Bock. The Dumarey family is aiming for a top-10 overall and a win in the Guest class.
Off the track some spectacular side show activities are scheduled. Theme café 'Wheels' will be living it's second 24 Hours race, hosted by our highly sympathetic 'motorsports encyclopedia' Andy Jaenen. Wednesday to Sunday there's non-stop barbecue. After qualifications on Thursday evening there's a 'signatures' session at wheels with all pilots present. During the race Wheels will have television screens with live images and rankings.
Good news from unlucky driver Philippe Dentant after suffering a squeezed back nerve at Spa's 1000Km. The Sint-Niklaas based pilot has received successful surgery and and paralysis is slowly pulling away. Philippe is still facing a long rehabilitation process keeping him away from competition for at least two more years. Still Dentant is hoping to return at the track. We will support him with our thoughts, while he's clearly also receiving tremendous support from former team mate Frank Vancraeynest.
No good news from Germany. Georg Severich is looking urgently for a replacement driver as Robin Haschke is busy studying for his (re)examinations. Also looking for drivers is Johan Vanvaerenbergh's totally refurbished Gillet Vertigo, recently reappearing in the Mediagroup Van Dyck Belcar with a podium spot at Brands Hatch. The team believes the car is now highly competitive and reliable.
(CZ/bsn)  VZW 24u.be - Jan-Frans Lemmens on Tuesday 16 August 2005 at 19:17. | 
