This weekend the Belgian ProSpeed Competition team was in Italy to compete in the season’s second race of the European Le Mans Series. The Italian Imola circuit was the venue, a mythical circuit in more ways than one. This highly rated European endurance championship is part and parcel of the Belgian team’s international programme, entering a Porsche 911 GT3-R in the GTC class for the Paul Van Splunteren (NDL), Gilles Vannelet (FRA) and Maxime Soulet (BEL) trio. Unfortunately neither the drivers’ speed nor the team’s strategy could be converted into a result, not in the least thanks to three flat tyres. As from today ProSpeed Competition is starting to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The European Le Mans Series 2014 represents full starting grids with extremely fast prototypes and great GT cars, not forgetting major public interest and a high level of competition. It might well be a witticism, but pure speed is one thing in motorsport, however without teamwork, a perfectly set-up car and a trouble-free race a great result is unachievable. This was the case one again in Imola, because notwithstanding the fact that the drivers had the speed, the Porsche 911 GT3-R was extremely reliable and the technical team offered up perfect work, this could not be converted into a strong result. The Porsche 911 did not reach the chequered flag and this as the result of an entirely external cause.

Rudi Penders (Team Principal ProSpeed Competition)

“Three flat tyres is too much for anyone to swallow. But this is also part and parcel of motorsport whether we want it or not. The race started off well for us with Gilles (Vannelet) climbing up into sixth place in the first half of his stint. Similar to Silverstone everything was running smoothly in the initial phase. With Gilles’ pace we had great hopes for the rest of the race. Just before the halfway mark he encountered a flat tyre, resulting in us dropping back a fair amount of places. But we fought back, both with Paul (Van Splunteren) and Maxime (Soulet), however a third flat tyre – each driver experienced one – forcing us to retire. On three occasions the tyre was literally shredded. This is the second consecutive time that we had our eyes on a result, because here also a top 4, or a top 5 was within the reach. It goes without saying that for a team this is difficult to swallow, but we have the resilience to go for it during the next upcoming round.”

Paul Van Splunteren (Driver – Porsche 911 GT3-R #75 – GTC Class)

“There’s not much I can add to Rudi’s comments. A Porsche’s rear tyres do undergo some pretty heavy wear or on the other hand could it be that at a given moment we experienced some tyre damage on one of the curb stones? All the same we will be working closely with our tyre partner to work out what the exact cause was. On the other hand 35 guests invited by our NEC commercial partner enjoyed a great weekend here, and who without exception all indicated that they had thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. Once again it goes to prove that motorsport can be a perfect platform for creating a marketing relationship.”