Comments from the starting grid - 30 minutes to the start

François Bouillon - McDonald's Racing Team: "Things didn't go as planned on Wednesday and Thursday. The Porsche had poor road holding. We tried working on the set-up, but it became worse. It was soon apparent that the brand new shock absorbers weren't working properly. The car handle far better during the warm-up, as proven by the excellent time set by our youngster Niels Cox. If we can keep to this pace in the race, we should be in for a great time."

Marc Goossens - Delahaye Racing Team: "We're fully prepared, but Zolder remains Zolder . Anything can happen. We have a homogenous line-up, but we'll have to wait until the finish. Luckily it's less warm than the previous days. We'll be running our own race. Our drivers lap times are pretty constant, whereas with the other teams there can be less consistency. We're hoping to take advantage of this. It won't be easy seeing we have opposition from amongst others two old GT1-cars."

Olivier Muytjens - Moore International Racing: "The low fuel consumption of our BMW should be to our advantage. A top-ten should be feasible. We can run for two hours with a full tank, and that saves us loads of time. Our intention is to lap at a constant 1:40", that should keep us in the game."

Tim Verbergt - Speedlover: "I'm not that well. I'm suffering from headache. Hopefully it won't affect me too much later on. This race plays a key role in the championship. We want to minimise the loss of points in respect of KRK Racing, and if possible regain a few points. The Porsche is in perfect order, and we have our instructions. Constant laps of between 1:40 and1:45, and we should be in the top-five. We need to ensure that we don't damage to car and bring it to the finish in one piece."

Steve Vanbellingen - KS Motorsport: "The same strategy as back in 2005 should keep us up front again. Back then we also ran our own race and this time around it will be the same. There's no point in going flat out at the start and then having to throw in the towel after twelve hours."

Ward Sluys - Recy Racing Team: "A great pity that so few Touring cars found their way to the 24 Hours of Zolder. There are in fact many cars of various teams ready in the workshops, but apparently it was too late for many to enter a car. The economic downturn is being felt everywhere. Similar to other team we'll be running our own race and then see where we come out. On the mechanical side we have no complaints; the car appears to be a paragon of reliability."

Joost Vollebergh - JD Competition by KS: "We're the no-stress team! The warm-up was good, and the car was perfect also in the qualifying sessions... so were ready for the race!"

VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Saturday 22 August 2009 at 15:26.