Kumpen snatches pole in masterly manner - A+ Racing fails by 7 tenthsAnthony Kumpen kept to his word. Yesterday the driver from Hasselt made it known in the media centre that he would only be satisfied with the pole position. This morning his team mate Vincent Radermecker drove the Anglo-American car up into second spot... however this didn't satisfy Kumpen. In the last ten minutes of the fourth and final qualifying session, the 30 year old driver from Limburg lapped in 1:33,017. This was just faster than Jeffrey van Hooydonk, driving the A+ Racing Dodge Viper Competition Coupé bearing start number 4.
The rebirth of Kumpen. Obviously the FIA GT-weekend in Bucharest did him good. He appeared at the Menzo 24 Hours of Zolder fully relaxed, a race which he has won no less than four times: "The car is now 100% ready for the race. This car handles far better than the newer generation, which we usually race with. If it was up to me I would finish off the season with this 'older' model."
In contrast to what had been initially expected, he teams didn't bring out their heavy artillery. Following a crash from Guido Werckx (A+ Racing - Dodge Viper Competition Coupé #7) the session was interrupted for a short while with the red flag. The clock continued to tick away and some 12 minutes before the end the protagonists were given one final opportunity. However... only Kumpen charged out on to the track to majestically clinch the commercially important pole position. The Mosler driver will be joined on pole by Jeffrey Van Hooydonk in the A+ Viper with start number 4.
In Division 2 there was a minor battle between the Marcos Mantis of Moritz Racing and the Porsches 996 GT3 Cup of Powercars Racing and Speedlover, with our Dutch friends finally getting the better. This results in the First Motorsport Porsche #150 being relegated from first to fourth place.
In Division 3 the lead remains in the hand of Jo Jamers' First Motorsport. MPM Racing by Verbist and Speedlover #264 complete the top-three here. And finally in D4, Vanbellingen-Vandermaesen-Redant-De Crem remain on top.
In the meanwhile various rumours are afoot that the Division 1 teams are not in agreement with the norm time set for the D3-cars. A petition is underway to all the teams. It appears as though there would be a request to increase the norm time to 1:45"... something which the Division 3 drivers and teams cannot immediately go along with. Markus Palttala, competing for MPM Racing by Verbist, reacted in a playful manner: "We could perhaps drive in reverse, or how about wearing a blindfold? That would make it a bit more exciting."
Top-ten overall:
1. #24 Gravity Racing International - Mosler MT900 - 1:33,017
2. #04 A+ Racing - Dodge Viper Competition Coupé +0,690
3. #01 GPR Pino Racing - Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S +0,827
4. #09 KRK Racing - Dodge Viper Competition Coupé +0,829
5. #72 Sport Garage - Ferrari F430 GT3 +0,857
6. #03 Francorchamps Motors - Ferrari F430 GT3 +1,002
7. #11 NGT Racing - Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S +1,154
8. #45 G&A Racing - Mosler MT900 R +1,697
9. #52 ProSpeed Competition - Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S +1,717
10. #10 JD by Astromega - Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 +2,020
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12. #250 First Motorsport - Porsche 997 GT3 Cup (pole D3)
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18. #123 Powercars Racing - Porsche 996 GT3 Cup (pole D2)
19. #321 KS Motorsport - Ginetta G50R (pole D4)  VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Thursday 28 August 2008 at 18:08. | 
