The BlueBerry V-Max Racing Mosler was the only MT900R competing in the Dutch Supercar Challenge at the Zolder Superleague weekend, but it defended the Mosler pride in style.
Since Rollcentres Martin Short had to do some business on the other side of the world, he was not able to compete in one of this years most prestigious events. This motivated the other regular Mosler team in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, headed by Dutch driver Berry van Elk, even more to let the Mosler flag fly high.
In great spirit because of the victory at Spa the race before, Van Elk topped the time sheets in the first practice session of the weekend. As the only driver to archive a lap time under the 1:36 mark, he knew this could be another successful weekend. He was followed by the Mad & Daring Ferrari 430 GT2 and Cor Euser in a Marcos Mantis.
Unfortunately, Berry van Elk was not able to repeat this result in qualifying, as he had a hard time creating a flawless and traffic free lap. "Even though I made a big mistake in my fastest lap, I still managed to record the third fastest time. Pole position was well within reach, but things just did not work out this time.", the Mosler driver commented. The experienced Cor Euser steered his Marcos to the fasted time, with the Racing4Holland/ETEC Viper driven by the De Graaff / Ribbens duo archiving the second quickest lap. David Hart drove the beautiful Ferrari 430 GT2 to a good fourth place on the starting grid.
As often, Van Elk did not have the best of starts in the Saturday race. But after a few laps his tires were warmed up and he was able to pick up the pace. Quickly he closed the gap to David Hart's Ferrari in third place. The top four pack now was within just over a second, creating a very exciting race. Since Berry van Elk won the race before at Spa, he had more success penalty seconds added up to his mandatory pit stop time compared to his fellow competitors. As a result of a misunderstanding, the sole Mosler driver mistimed the length of his pit stop and was given a drive though penalty. This ruined his chances to get to the podium. Van Elk: "It was not clear to me at which line the pit stop timing had to be started. I picked the wrong one, resulting in a too short time in the pit lane. A big shame, because the pace was great, I drove the second quickest lap time during the race".
Although there was no chance on getting to the top of the field, Berry van Elk still managed to pick up some important points by finishing fifth. David Hart won the Saturday race by a large margin in front of Cor Euser. Robert de Graaff and Philipe Ribbens completed the podium, with Alex van 't Hoff came in a respectable fourth in his Corvette Z06 GT3.
The results of the race on Saturday formed the starting grid on Sunday afternoon for the second race of the weekend for the fastest two divisions of the Dutch Supercar Challenge. On a almost dry track the cars lined up for another thrilling race. Cor Euser was quick of the mark when the lights turned green, passing Peter Versluis who had taken control of the Ferrari 430 GT2. Van 't Hoff had a nice battle with the ETEC boys in the first laps, and the BlueBerry Mosler of Van Elk was overtaken by Ric Wood in his DTM spec Astra. Wood was not able to enjoy this for long, because the Mosler moved back into fifth position not long after.
The head of the field had taken quite a large advantage over Van Elk during these first few laps. While doing everything to get back to the front runners as quickly as possible, the Corvette Z06 GT3 of Alex van 't Hoff proved to be a worthy opponent. After three unfruitful attempts, Van Elk finally passed the Corvette in lap eight.
After Thiers crashed his Viper GT3 hard into the tires at the Bianchi corner, the safety car was called onto the track. Because the pit window opened around the same time, it was hard to tell who the leader of the race was. After the majority of the mandatory pit stops had taken place, it became clear Versluis was leading the race in his Ferrari, but he had some back markers between himself and the safety car. The back markers were signaled to pass, but Versluis made the mistake to join them. This made him gain almost a full lap on the rest of the field. The stewards gave him a stop and go penalty of 30 seconds for overtaking the safety car without permission.
At the restart, the ETEC Viper was very quick, overtaking Van Elk in his Mosler before passing Van 't Hoff in his Corvette. Van Elk quickly followed suit and was behind the Viper again. Now Berry van Elk was really giving it all, closing the gap to De Graaff in his Viper and recording the fastest lap of the race in the process. In the last lap, the ETEC Viper had a problem with the fuel pick up, and the Mosler MT900R passed him into second place, just four seconds behind Euser in his Marcos. Alex van 't Hoff missed the podium for the second time during the weekend archiving another fourth place, in front of Peter Versluis.
Since Rollcentres Martin Short had to do some business on the other side of the world, he was not able to compete in one of this years most prestigious events. This motivated the other regular Mosler team in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, headed by Dutch driver Berry van Elk, even more to let the Mosler flag fly high.
In great spirit because of the victory at Spa the race before, Van Elk topped the time sheets in the first practice session of the weekend. As the only driver to archive a lap time under the 1:36 mark, he knew this could be another successful weekend. He was followed by the Mad & Daring Ferrari 430 GT2 and Cor Euser in a Marcos Mantis.
Unfortunately, Berry van Elk was not able to repeat this result in qualifying, as he had a hard time creating a flawless and traffic free lap. "Even though I made a big mistake in my fastest lap, I still managed to record the third fastest time. Pole position was well within reach, but things just did not work out this time.", the Mosler driver commented. The experienced Cor Euser steered his Marcos to the fasted time, with the Racing4Holland/ETEC Viper driven by the De Graaff / Ribbens duo archiving the second quickest lap. David Hart drove the beautiful Ferrari 430 GT2 to a good fourth place on the starting grid.
As often, Van Elk did not have the best of starts in the Saturday race. But after a few laps his tires were warmed up and he was able to pick up the pace. Quickly he closed the gap to David Hart's Ferrari in third place. The top four pack now was within just over a second, creating a very exciting race. Since Berry van Elk won the race before at Spa, he had more success penalty seconds added up to his mandatory pit stop time compared to his fellow competitors. As a result of a misunderstanding, the sole Mosler driver mistimed the length of his pit stop and was given a drive though penalty. This ruined his chances to get to the podium. Van Elk: "It was not clear to me at which line the pit stop timing had to be started. I picked the wrong one, resulting in a too short time in the pit lane. A big shame, because the pace was great, I drove the second quickest lap time during the race".
Although there was no chance on getting to the top of the field, Berry van Elk still managed to pick up some important points by finishing fifth. David Hart won the Saturday race by a large margin in front of Cor Euser. Robert de Graaff and Philipe Ribbens completed the podium, with Alex van 't Hoff came in a respectable fourth in his Corvette Z06 GT3.
The results of the race on Saturday formed the starting grid on Sunday afternoon for the second race of the weekend for the fastest two divisions of the Dutch Supercar Challenge. On a almost dry track the cars lined up for another thrilling race. Cor Euser was quick of the mark when the lights turned green, passing Peter Versluis who had taken control of the Ferrari 430 GT2. Van 't Hoff had a nice battle with the ETEC boys in the first laps, and the BlueBerry Mosler of Van Elk was overtaken by Ric Wood in his DTM spec Astra. Wood was not able to enjoy this for long, because the Mosler moved back into fifth position not long after.
The head of the field had taken quite a large advantage over Van Elk during these first few laps. While doing everything to get back to the front runners as quickly as possible, the Corvette Z06 GT3 of Alex van 't Hoff proved to be a worthy opponent. After three unfruitful attempts, Van Elk finally passed the Corvette in lap eight.
After Thiers crashed his Viper GT3 hard into the tires at the Bianchi corner, the safety car was called onto the track. Because the pit window opened around the same time, it was hard to tell who the leader of the race was. After the majority of the mandatory pit stops had taken place, it became clear Versluis was leading the race in his Ferrari, but he had some back markers between himself and the safety car. The back markers were signaled to pass, but Versluis made the mistake to join them. This made him gain almost a full lap on the rest of the field. The stewards gave him a stop and go penalty of 30 seconds for overtaking the safety car without permission.
At the restart, the ETEC Viper was very quick, overtaking Van Elk in his Mosler before passing Van 't Hoff in his Corvette. Van Elk quickly followed suit and was behind the Viper again. Now Berry van Elk was really giving it all, closing the gap to De Graaff in his Viper and recording the fastest lap of the race in the process. In the last lap, the ETEC Viper had a problem with the fuel pick up, and the Mosler MT900R passed him into second place, just four seconds behind Euser in his Marcos. Alex van 't Hoff missed the podium for the second time during the weekend archiving another fourth place, in front of Peter Versluis.
