Outgoing winner Ward Sluys: "Constant driving is the key to success!" Ward Sluys knows the ropes. Last year the man behind WS Lettering Design returned home with the winner's trophy, the NGT Racing drivers with their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S having outfoxed their rivals. "The key to our victory was in fact competing with caution. Keeping to a steady pace without hurting the car. Exactly the same strategy which will be our recipe for this year's event. On top of that the BMW 120d is an extremely economical car, allowing us to limit the number of pitstops. In pure top speed we can't compete with the GTs and silhouettes, but throughout the race we will definitely be registering a solid progression ", Sluys quietly revealed.
Sluys is swapping the winning Porsche for a BMW. A strange choice, in our opinion? "Not really ", the likeable Sluys smiled."I've always had a fondness for touring cars. I reached my objective last year by winning the 24 Hours of Zolder, although it was in a GT car. The pressure is now off. To be honest I had no intention of competing in this event. JJ Motorsport, the team I compete with in the DSMEC, were planning to take part in this endurance race, but that idea fell through. Following that I was contacted by Recy, but I turned it down. I felt I had nothing more to prove. Is it really still worth the investment? When I was approached once again with the same question, I thought about it seriously. In the event that the strategy turns out to be the right one a pretty good result should come our way with the BMW. I agreed but on condition that Dries Heyman would also join in. Dries immediately agreed, and tomorrow we're off to Circuit Zolder for the practice sessions."
For the second successive year Ward Sluys is cutting short his holiday: "This appeared to be a winning formula last year. Just image, winning with a touring car; that would be absolutely great! More realistically a top-five should be achievable, but a 24 hours race always holds lots of surprises in store. It is important to get through the night without problems, and there are some treacherous hours as day breaks. We'll drive our own race and see where we end up. See you in Zolder!"
 VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Wednesday 19 August 2009 at 13:42. | 
