For the second time in three years, Zolder will hold the final round of the FIA-GT championship. The event should not lack excitement and interest as the GT1, GT2 and GT3 titles will be decided on the Belgian circuit. It will also be the last race of an era, before the arrival of the GT1 World Championship and GT2 European Championship in 2010. For this 131st FIA-GT round, 24 cars will be at the start.
K plus K Motorsport is back…
After several repeated absences, the Czech team returns to the series with their two Saleen S7-Rs. The “quick” car will be shared by the duo Wendlinger/Sharp, while the second will be driven by Adam Lacko with a still to be announce teammate. The usual protagonists will be present as usual, starting with the three Vitaphone Racing Maserati MC12s who will be trying to bring a third championship to driver Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini. But only four points off, Kumpen/Hezemans are hoping to put an end to the MC12 supremacy on a track they know very well and with a lighter car than their adversaries. Winners at Paul Ricard HTTT, the Sangari Team Brazil of Bernoldi/Steit are hoping to continue their momentum while Team Luc Alphand Aventures (Maassen/Biagi) are hoping to find the podium to cap off a year that has been somewhat chaotic. Not to forget the pair Longin/Ruffier (Corvette SRT) who have proven in the past several races that they are a force to be reckoned with. Also of note is the return of the Saleen Full Speed shared by Stéphane Lémeret and Luke Hines.
Only two GT1-Spec 2010 cars will be present in Belgium, with the Ford GT Marc VDS Racing Team of Leinders/Kuppens and the return of the Nissan GT-R of Krumm/Turner. No Ford Matech GT Racing at the start. Neither will the Lamborghini Mucielago LP670 R-SV which was supposed to debut at Zolder.
An additional Porsche for Trackspeed Racing…
While the championship battle will be the thing to watch in GT1, the same will be true for the lower class, with only three points separating Bruni/Vilander and Collard/Westbrook. Winners of the 24 Hours of Zolder, ProSpeed Competition hopes to take advantage of their experience here to end the Ferrari/AF Corse domination. Collard/Westbrook will be joined in the sister car by Marco Holzer and Darryl O’Young, while Trackspeed is entering a second Porsche for two yet to be named drivers but is likely to include Jorg Bermeister. In the other Trackspeed entry, Sascha Maassen will be joined by David Ashburn. Meanwhile, Martin Ragginger (Brixia Racing) would like to see his season end with a good result, despite a slower teammate. The Austrian could once again grab the pole.
No change on the AF Corse side: Toni Villander is close to a third consecutive title. With the return of Antonio Garcia to CRS Racing, the British team is hoping to grab a win in the final round and will do everything possible to finish in second place in the teams title, despite being ten points behind ProSpeed Competition.
The entry list is here. Endurance-Info will be there to bring you all the news…
Laurent Mercier and Rainier Ehrhardt