An extensive review of the duel for victoryA few days after the outcome of the 33rd edition of the 24 Hours of Zolder the time has come to review the event. Seeing that this year the Zolder endurance race was once again to be included in the Belcar championship, it meant that some of the fixed values were back at the start. And yet many opted to swap their regular battle weapons for a Porsche. On top of that a number of crews chose to bundle together their strengths whereby the competitors' field did not come up to the desired size. However notwithstanding that for a major part of the race there was enough suspense on the track.
New this year was the presence of our northern neighbours with part of the Dutch Supercar Challenge (DSC) field. The field in fact included a number of former Belcar cars, which obviously still had fresh memories of the Zolder track at the back of their minds. During the Super Pole held on Thursday the Dutch immediately proved that they were a force to be reckoned with. The KRK Mercedes was the only one able to mingle in with the lap times of the DSC top-5. The pole finally went to the former GLPK Corvette C5-R GT1, ahead of the surprisingly fast (also former GLPK) DVB Viper with Ron Marchal at the wheel. But seeing that the major part of the DSC field would only be racing for 6 out of the 24 hours, the interests between the right and left hand side of the grid lay far apart from one another.
Saturday afternoon, on the dot of four o'clock and under a blazing sun the start of this Zolder classic was given. The Dutch did not let grass grow over it and with a lap time that was three seconds faster than the rest of the field, the competitors saw the two Corvettes, in formation, disappear out of sight. However the true battle for victory was to happen later on. The three Belgian top teams (KRK/WRT/ProSpeed) quite clearly had defined a strategy over the 24 hours and were registering lap times that were substantially slower. At the start of the race one could stay out on track with a full tank for roughly1,5 hours, and later in the race, under wet conditions, one could even draw this out to almost 2 hours!
When the DSC race was flagged off after 6 hours, it immediately became very much quieter on the track with still some 16 cars in the race. The powerful GT cars from our Dutch neighbours disappeared from the track; with as overall winner the former Phoenix Corvette of Mad & Daring ahead of the older model of Rudolph Racing. These two cars had in the meantime set the leading Belcar car back by more than 2 laps. In the DSC marquee celebrations carried on until the hours of the morning and for many this was their first taste of endurance racing.
At 10 pm KRK inherited the lead and had also built up a great advance of two and a half laps on the second placed WRT Audi. The real battle for the Zolder crown could now begin. The initially announced three-way battle came to an end when ProSpeed Competition experienced problems, boiling it down to a two-way fight between KRK and WRT. In fact four hours into the race the Porsche 996 RS experienced a broken driveshaft whereby the troops of Rudi Penders lost just over thirty minutes in the pits. The slower but more reliable numerous Porsches of the Belcar field had also in the meanwhile taken up positions within the top-10.
Just as the suspense appeared to be disappearing, the weather Gods decided to become involved. A rain shower which started off rather hesitantly produced extremely difficult conditions as all cars were shod with slicks, and the lap times dropped substantially. When the track really became wet the race took another turn. Bert Longin, in his Audi, slowly but surely started reducing the gap with the KRK Mercedes, and later Markus Palttala and Marc Goossens surprised everyone by often proving to be the fastest car on the track.
When around 4 am., (halfway mark) the gap between WRT and KRK had been reduced to one lap, the difference between the two cars stagnated. In the depth of the night the remaining spectators were offered a brilliant performance whereby both cars were consistently registering identical lap times (around the 1:50 mark) on a wet track. Behind these two, Prospeed had climbed back up through the rankings like a rocket. Throughout the night the #60 had managed to reduce its gap by no less than seven laps to find itself 19 laps down in the early morning, and ready to take advantage of any error committed by one of the two leaders. Behind the ProSpeed there was a gaggle of Porsche 997s completing the top-10, however the differences amongst them left but a limited suspense.
Just when the competitors had switched back to slicks, the heavens once again opened up above Circuit Zolder at 8 in the morning. This time around it was a heavier dose than during the previous night. Some drivers requested a Safety Car... but it did not appear. Someone who truly felt like a fish in water was the Belgian-Dutch driver Xavier Maassen. In no time at all he made up the gap with the KRK Mercedes after which he took over the lead from this Mercedes SLS GT3.
So after seventeen hours the roles had been inverted; with WRT, which had taken a relatively quiet start leading the field, ahead of KRK Racing, which had trouble in keeping the WRT Audi in its sights. The drying track ensured that KRK, in the meantime one lap down, with Koen Wauters at the wheel re-opened the attack. And with great success as he managed to bring the car back into the leaders lap. Just as it looked as though the battle for victory was back on, something went wrong. On exiting the Bianchi there was contact between the KRK Mercedes and the Skylimit Porsche. With a damaged front suspension Koen reached the pits where the team managed to repair the car in exactly 49 minutes and 15 seconds, but unfortunately victory had slipped though their fingers.
Koen Wauters: "I was driving like a bat out of hell and was coming up on the Porsche who had already been shown the blue flag twice. Everyone was aware that the battle for the lead was back open because most drivers spontaneously moved over when they saw us approaching, the marshals were highly alert. When approaching the Bianchi, the Porsche offered me a gap whereby I concluded that he had spotted me. Just as I moved into the middle of the bend the Porsche did the same and there was contact. I lightly nudged the car, and the Porsche spun. I went flat out on the accelerator hoping to avoid him but in his spin he still managed to hit me at the front right. Luckily I was able to struggle back to the pits where the team immediately went to work putting in a great job. Roughly one hour later Raf was back on the track. We gambled and lost."
Over and out regarding the duel for victory, and as from that moment WRT was sitting comfortably and able to complete the race in a controlled way ahead of the ProSpeed Porsche that finally finished 18 laps down. After its victory in the Total 24 Hours of Spa, the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT has therefore now also added the 24 Hours of Zolder to its record of achievements.
René Verbist, Technical Director with WRT looks back: "We gave our drivers clear cut guidelines. They were not to lap faster than 1'37 or 1'38 and they absolutely needed to spare the car. They did exactly what was expected of them and Xavier Maassen provided a fantastic job by reducing the gap with the KRK Mercedes by some three minutes in the rain, on Sunday morning. This brought us back into contention, and put pressure on our rival. In addition I can but ascertain that our Audi did not experience the slightest problem and that we drove a perfect race. Ok, it is not the same as Spa, but I did not believe that it was possible to clinch victory in the two Belgian 24 Hour events in the same year. I take my hat off to the entire team!"
KRK which led the WRT Audi during no less than 17 out of the 24 hours had to content itself with a third place overall. In the championship it is ProSpeed that had the best deal. Notwithstanding a mechanical problem early on in the race, both after six, twelve and at the finish they scored highly valuable points, and as such now have a solid buffer under their belts prior to taking on the last two races of the season. Marc Goossens and Maxime Soulet presently lead by a 17 points advantage over their nearest rivals, Bert Longin and Xavier Maassen.  VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Tuesday 6 September 2011 at 17:33. | 
