Not much activity in second qualifying session - Both Vipers still in the lead

The second qualifying session didn't really measure up. In the tropical heat it was very difficult for the drivers to improve on yesterday evening's lap times. Only Frederic Bouvy was able to reduce his lap times of yesterday, but the Ferrari-driver could not come anywhere near those of the First Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S or the Renault Mégane Trophy of Delahaye Racing Team. It appears that Bouvy forgot to switch off the traction control yesterday, which resulted in the Ferrari F430 GT3 lacking power during acceleration. Up front the Vipers lead the way, even though the AD Sport model is now slower following the replacement of their sequential gearbox with a normal H-box during the night.

"Due to wear and tear a sequential gearbox might not be the right choice for this race. Based on speed we can't win, but if we remain constant it should work out. We can't keep up with the Kuismanen Viper. Their Viper is far more evolved than ours ", Kenneth Heyer commented. The 28 year old German is competing in his second 24 Hours of Zolder. "2007 wasn't good. It was also with a Viper, but in GT3-configuration... not the perfect weapon to go into battle with on this murderous track."

Scuderia Monza is still hard at work on the Dodge Viper Competition Coupé. Yesterday Guy van Mol experienced some bad luck when he drove over debris left by the Porsche 996 GT3 RSR of ProSpeed Competition. "The damage is quite serious. A broken radiator and the splitter was hit also. We're still working on the car ", Hans Thiers told us. In the meanwhile ProSpeed have fully repaired their car and is ready for the start. Penders and cohorts took part in the second qualifying session.

VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Thursday 20 August 2009 at 14:08.