Belgian Stef Vancampenhoudt finishes 7th in Pro/Am class in Total 24 Hours of Spa “It’s now two days since we finished the Total 24 Hours of Spa and it’s only now that I fully realize what an amazing race it was. Maybe a 7th position in class was not really what I was aiming for, but after all, it was a fantastic experience.” That was what Belgian racing driver Stef Vancampenhoudt told only 24 hours after finishing for the first time ever the Total 24 Hours of Spa. In his 7th attempt, driving the beautiful Rinaldi Ferrari 458 GT3, he made it for the first time to the finish, an achievement making him smiling right now.
“You know, I started back in 1996 with the touring cars, then raced for Porsche and Vertigo in de GT years and never made it to the end. I’m now 45 and I knew that I would have not so many occasions anymore to do this fantastic race, the biggest – and toughest – GT race in the world. But finishing here with the Ferrari makes me… feeling like I should do it again. Spa is such a wonderful track and this Total 24 Hours of Spa remains such a magnificent event, that I really want to do it again”, tells the Vancampenhoudt, who is living not far from Brussels.
Stef Vancampenhoudt shared the wheel of the beautiful Italian GT with Marco Seefried, Norbert Siedler and Rinat Salikhov in the Pro/Am Class, a highly competitive competition with almost 25 cars entered.
Stef Vancampenhoudt: “To be honest, the practice and qualifying sessions were not that easy, as we were really struggling to find the right set-up and balance for the Ferrari 458. But we have been working hard and the result was not bad at all. But then Spa turned into… typical Spa, with a disastrous weather on Saturday. It started raining in the morning with temperatures that made us thinking of wintertime. It was cold, it started raining heavily for hours and hours and the opening stages of the race were really difficult. Despite that, we managed to keep our position within the top 10 and it was looking not bad at all. But some racing incidents made us loose precious time and we had to fight back from the lower regions of the standings, to end up 7th in class. It was not the result we were aiming for, but we made it to the finish and a top 10 is still an honest result, especially in this very hard race.”
Stef Vancampenhoudt left Spa with a double feeling, but one thing is sure: he wants to come back.
“I have great partners that allowed me to do this and let’s be honest, why not trying it again next year? I know what we have to change to perform even better and I really would like to get another opportunity to race here. The people that came to visit me had a great time and got close to the action. Autosport can deliver real thrills for sponsors and partners. Anyway, I would like to thank everyone and especially the team, my sponsors and teammates. And see you in 2016!