After two great races at the Nürburging, the Supercar Challenge teams headed to Belgium for two races at the infamous Spa circuit in the ardennes where Henry Zumbrink would dominate the weekend for the Reede Racing Volvo squad.
Race 1
Henry Zumbrink, from pole position, managed to win the first race by a tiny margin over the #117 Martino Rosso Racing Ferrari in the SGT class.
After making a great start, Zumbrink found himself under immediate pressure from Arjan van der Zwaan in the new RaceArt Viper and Bob Herber’s Martino Rosso Ferrari 458. Meanwhile, title contender, Kelvin Snoek, in the Day-V-Tec Volvo didn’t take the start due to a broke oil pump, which damaged the engine in qualifying.
Van der Zwaan managed to take the lead on lap three, but rising oil temperature forced the Racetech Viper to give up the lead, and retire – the team didn’t want to risk damaging the car further. This gave Zumbrink some breathing room, as he drove away from Bob Herber in the Ferrari, Niek Hommerson in his Ferrari 458 GT3, Barry Maessen’s Vicora V8 and Paul Bailey in the Horsepower Racing Aston Martin Vantage.
An incident involving Martin Webb’s BMW E46GTR and Fiona James’ Lamborghini Gallardo brought out the safety car just as the put window opened – resulting in frantic scenes in the pit lane as the leaders dived in.
Niek Hommerson’s teammate Louis Machiels, in the sister #177 Martino Rosso Ferrari, made big gains in the pits and was able to keep up with Zumbrink at the restart. This battle between the Ferrari and Volvo lasted until the end of the race, buy Machiels couldn’t get by Zumbrink.
“The final stage was exciting because my tires started to wear out,” said Zumbrink after the race. “At one point I was faster and at another point the Ferrari was much quicker than me so it balanced out. It was a fun race!”
Behind Zumbrink and the duo of Hommerson and Machiels, the other Martino Rosso Ferrari of Bob Herber and Martin Lanting would take third position third position.
In the GT class it looked like the GT3 Racing Viper of Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott would take the victory, after starting on pole and leading much of the race. But in the end Patrick Van Glabeke and Frédérique Jonkheere in the Curbstone Ferrari 458 would prevail and win the race by only five seconds over the British duo.
GTB was won by the #306 Day-V-Tec Corvette of Ferdinand Kool and Max Koebolt, while Cor Euser Racing won the SSD class in their Evora and Febo Racing’s #503 Clio won S2D.
Race 2
Henry Zumbrink won race two also for Reede Racing, but this time was able to drive into the distance without much resistance.
Kelvin Snoeks and Day-V-Tec had better fortunes in race two, taking the start and finishing second in SGT. Though he was driving a BMW Z4 GT3, as the Volvo was deemed irreparable for the remainder of the weekend after the first race.
Once again Bob Herber sat behind Zumbrink at the start, unable to make a move for the lead in the Martino Rosso Ferrari. Paul Bailey in the Horsepower Racing Aston, after retiring from race one despite a good all-round performance, was also in the mix and would manage to nab a podium for the British squad.
Snoeks, after a masterful drive from fifth on the grid, was able to take second spot off Bailey, after just seven laps of the infamous Belgian circuit. But all the squabbling allowed Zumbrink to extend his lead to 30 seconds, a gap which would remain for the rest of the race.
After the stops, Martin Lanting took over from Herber, and emerged second overall, but Lanting couldn’t hold on and in the final two laps would slip down to fourth position, letting the BMW and Aston through at La Source.
“My start was good and I could immediately get a lead of a few seconds. After the pit stops it was still more difficult, because my tires were difficult,” said Henry Zumbrink. “I heard on the radio that I had a big lead, but I still keep on driving. If you’re going to drive slower it’s risky, I wanted to avoid any mistakes. We needed these wins after the Nürburgring!”
NSC Motorsports took the lead of the GT class at the start, breezing by the GT3 Racing Viper, but in the end it would be Curbstone Racing that would take the class victory once again, after a great drive by Patrick Van Glabeke and Frédérique Jonkheere.
Aaron Scott and Craig Wilkins did manage second place for GT3 Racing, but they were over a minute behind the Curbstone duo who’s pace throughout was just too good for the rest of the class.
Day-V-Tec took the win in the GTB class once again, while European Staffing Racing won SSD by a huge margin in their BMW and Thems Racing came home first in the S2D class with their Porsche Cayman.
The weekend of June 29th will see the series stay in Belgium but this time the teams will be racing at Zolder as the halfway mark of the season nears.
Stephen Kilbey, Pics: Dutch Supercar Challenge
