In 2011 season racing went strong for ALD Automotive driver Nico Verdonck. First of all he was chosen as one of the leading drivers for Vita4One team (former Vitaphone Racing Team) for a complete season in the Blancpain Endurance Series. Volvo hired Nico for BTCS 12h.Thanks to SRT, DKR & SRO he was invited to do 3 races of the FIA-GT1 Championships. M&M’s asked him for the 25h Fun Cup and finally, MI Motorsport asked Nico to strengthen the team for the “Francorchampagne” race in the Jaguar.
The brand new Ferrari F458 GT3 was not really top in the first race of the Blancpain Endurance series but in the 2nd race in Navarra the #1 Ferrari was unbeatable! Normally the 24h of Spa-Francorchamps should have been the race of the year for Nico. During qualifications everything went well! But due to technical problems (power steering pump, gear box and transmission) and an accident, the promising weekend was ruined.
During the BTCS 12h -under awful weather conditions- Nico took the victory together with his team mates Eric Van de Poele and Vincent Radermecker in the Volvo.
In the Corvette of the Selleslagh Racing team & DKR Nico did extremely well in the GT1: during one race WE he doubled the points of the team!
“Once again I did several ‘last minute races’ this season. The preparation was sometimes a little disturbed but anyway: the fact that they asked me to strengthen their team proves that they strongly believe in me. Every time I adapted myself very quickly to the car and the team and scored good results”.
Nico ended the season in a great way: Michael Bartels-team boss of Vita4One- invited his drivers to participate in the final Belcar race in Spa-Francorchamps (Belgian GT). Nico took over the wheel for the last stint and just the victory by the Porsche of Marc Goossens with… 0,057 sec (40 cm) difference. Incredible!
“After all 2011 was a great season with lots of ‘ups’ and also some ‘downs’: we missed a few victories with the Ferrari in the Blancpain races, but were very competitive most of the time. The races in the big Corvette were a fantastic experience, our win in the BTCS 12h with the Volvo of Neri Competition was very satisfying as well as the final BTCS race where I was in the lead with the Jaguar of MI Motorsport when close to the end the gear box failed…”
“I like to thank all my partners, especially ALD Automotive, Ginion, Helioscreen, Van Boom Car Group, Wilco and my mentors, together with the teams where I drove for Vita4One, SRT, DKR, Neri, MI who made all this possible”.
“We look out to 2012: we even hope to do better and will communicate shortly about 2012 program. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy & fast New Year in good health”.
Source : Nico Verdonck