The 12-hour mark The 12-hour mark didn't see many changes in this edition of the Zolder 24 hours. Altough Tom Cloet went off briefly in the SRT-Corvette; the top-3 was unchanged from the 6-hour result. GLPK, SRT and Eurotech were one, two and three, while in class-2 and 3 Prospeed and the #50 First Motorsport took the spoils. But with relative small margins between the frontrunners in each class the race is far from over.
And this statement was proven right after 05.30 this morning, when the green mean machine of GLPK was pushed into the box. "We have gearbox problem and will try to fix it. If the gap isn't too big, we'll attack till the end afterwards", explained Paul Kumpen, father of Anthony.
This meant that SRT took the lead, with Eurotech right behind the Corvette. The LM600 of Goossens/Euser/Van Dongen goes surprisingly well. With GLPK about 20 laps behind SRT and Eurotech, it's now full attack for Kumpen & co.
In class-2, the actual leader, Prospeed, hits trouble too. "The driveshaft causes the delay, we don't know yet how many time will be lost", says Penders. It was only a few laps but the GS BMW M3 GTR took the lead and fourth overall. Behind PSI seems to be on their way back to the top. After gearbox troubles earlier in the race, the RSR is climbing up the ranks. CEO and KS Motorsport, with both BMW's, are the other potential podium candidates and even the Mosler seems to make its way back to the top-10.
Class-3 is just unpredictable. NGT, First, Speedlover and GS Motorsport, all on Porsche, are in an epic fight and all take the lead depending on who and when pitstops are made.
Meanwhile Le Mans race Frank Hahn still leads in the guest class after earlier gearbox problems on his Speedlover Porsche.
During the night, we got only three extra retirements. Both the Van Herck Mazde RX7 (all kinds) an the #16 McDonald's Porsche (gearbox) were in deep trouble and had lost much time yesterday night. The last car to retire was the Accent Racing Supercup with Saelens and Duval.
Exceptionally, Joost Custers (www.dailysportscar.com) authorizes the use of his article for the www.24u.be website.  VZW 24u.be - De redactie on Sunday 27 August 2006 at 08:24. | 
