Click here for part one of the year review.
The fourth race weekend of the year for the GT class and the Dutch Mosler Challenge was held at Spa Francorchamps. As usual at Spa all four classes of the Dutch Supercar Challenge were on track together so 50 cars lined up in the pit lane to qualify. As soon as the session was started the first drops of rain came down. Because everyone wanted to record a fast lap before the track was really wet both the pit lane and the race track were very hectic and near accidents happened all around. At the end of qualifying Marcos LM600 driver Cor Euser topped the charts, ahead of Nicky Pastorelli who shared a Omega V8Star with Danny Werkman. Martin Short and fellow Mosler MT900R driver Berry van Elk shared the second row. Andrew Beaumont of Topcats Racing was unable to do a quick lap on the track when it was still dry, so he had to start the race on Saturday from a disappointing P40.
When the cars made their way to the starting grid the sky looked threating like usual at Spa. But it was not the weather this time that gave the race its excitement.
Cor Euser defended his pole position successfully at the start. Nicky Pastorelli and Martin Short had a clean start as well, but Berry van Elk was unable to keep hold of his fourth place as the Viper driven by Philippe Ribbens overtook him in the first corner. Moments later Short was able to steer his Mosler past Pastorelli to gain second place. Not long after Short took the lead from Euser, just before the Dutchman had to park his Marcos in the pits with a battery failure.
About twenty minutes into the race Supersport II driver John van der Voort had a big crash. The safety car was brought on to give the marshals the opportunity to clear the track safely. After one lap behind the safety car the pit window opened and almost everyone came in for the mandatory pit stop. A tight squeeze, but no accidents happened in the pit lane. After the pit stops Danny Werkman, who had taken the wheel from Nicky Pastorelli, was leading the field ahead of Robert de Graaff in the Viper and Mosler driver Berry van Elk. Martin Short had lost a lot of places during the pit stops due to his success penalty seconds and found himself in seventh position. He quickly set out to regain the lead and not before long the English Mosler development driver was back on the podium after he passed Van Elk.
Meanwhile De Graaff in the Viper passed Werkman for the lead. Werkman lost another place to Short who was determined to take as much advantage as possible of Cor Euser's failure to score. Not long after Short outbroke the Viper at the chicane and Van Elk overtook Werkman for the final spot on the podium. The race was ended by a red flag after Meindert van Buuren ran into a back marker and lost control of his V8Star and parked it at a dangerous spot. Martin Short took victory ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens and Van Elk.
The start on Sunday saw Berry van Elk drop from third to eight. At the head of the field Martin Short, Robert de Graaff and Nicky Pastorelli did have a good start and they quickly created a gap. After sticking together for a few laps Pastorelli took full advantage of an opportunity to pass De Graaff. He was not able to engage in a fight with Short as the safety car was deployed after a shunt between a BMW and a Porsche. Martin Short took a gamble and slowed down so he could be the first of the front runners to make his pit stop within the pit window. "I thought it would be clever to slow down and wait for the pit window to open." Short explained after the race. "Unfortunately the safety car went in a lap earlier then I expected and I was to far behind to fight for the win today." Philippe Ribbens, who was now behind the wheel of the Viper lead by a couple of seconds after the pit stops. Peter Versluis in his new Ferrari GT2 challenged Danny Werkman for second and after numerous attempts Werkman finally had to give in. Not long after the race director started handing out penalties to teams who did not spent the mandatory time in the pit lane. Both leader Ribbens and Versluis had to do a drive through. This gave the lead of the race to Werkman, who by now had to fight off the strong driving Berry van Elk.
With just over one lap to go the talented young Mosler driver was able to overtake the V8Star at top speed. His team was very nervous because the race weekend before Van Elk had spun out of the race while leading, but this time he kept it together to win his first race in the GT division of the Dutch Supercar Challenge. Werkman - Pastorelli came in second, ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens and Versluis. The Topcats Racing Mosler took eight place and Martin Short had to settle for a disappointing tenth with only the fastest laptime of the race to cheer him up.
The second half of the season started at Zolder in Flemish Belgium. At this former Formula 1 track Dutch Supercar Challenge promoter V-Max Racing Management staged a round of the new Superleague Formula, with the DSC as the main sideshow.
Martin Short did not compete this weekend as he had to race his Mosler elsewhere. This left Berry van Elk as the sole entry of the Mosler marque in the DSC. He started off well in free practice by recording the fastest laptime. Peter Versluis shared his Ferrari with David Hart this weekend. They showed their pace with a second place on the sheets, ahead of Cor Euser. The Marcos regular was keen to reduce his points deficit with Martin Short, but his LM600 was left in the workshop for repairs and improvements. Instead Euser entered a Marcos Mantis.
During qualifying Euser proved he does not need the fastest car to be competitive and put his Marcos on pole, only a fraction of a second ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens. Van Elk and Versluis - Hart qualified within a second of the man on pole.
When the lights turned green for the race on Saturday David Hart was quick of the mark and passed Berry van Elk. Cor Euser was able to create a gap of a few seconds over Robert de Graaff in the Viper during the first few laps. But when everybody's tyres were up to temperature the top four regrouped and had some intense fights. During the pit stops Van Elk did not stay in long enough because he was not sure where the pit timing started. A costly mistake as later in the race he was given a drive through penalty. Meanwhile Hart had taken the lead ahead of Euser and Ribbens, who was now in the Viper cockpit. At the end Ribbens had to settle for third as his car developed a braking problem. Alex van 't Hoff came in fourth, well ahead of Van Elk.
Cor Euser had the best start on Sunday as he passed Peter Versuis who was the Ferrari 430 GT2 driver of the day. Van Elk lost his usual position at the start to Ric Wood in a DTM Astra, but only for a couple of laps. The Mosler MT900R driver picked up the pace and headed to the front runners who by now were some seconds clear of the field. Alex van 't Hoff in a Corvette Z06 GT3 proved difficult to overtake, but at his fourth attempt Van Elk managed to pass him. Freed of opponents in the way Van Elk was the fastest man on track. Just when the pit window opened guest driver Thiers spun his car hard into the wall. The driver was able to walk away unharmed, but the track was littered with bodywork.
To ensure a safe cleanup the safety car was deployed, but since a lot of teams made their pit stop it was hard for the race director to determine the leader of the race. After the majority of the stops Versluis came out on top, but there were four back markers between him and the safety car. The back markers were waved through but Versluis followed them past the safety car and to the back of the field. This mistake gave him a lead of almost a full lap over number two Euser. When the safety car left the track again, Versluis was given a stop-and-go penalty of thirty seconds to take away the advantage over his opponents.
At the restart Robert de Graaff passed both Van Elk and Van 't Hoff with ease. This time Van Elk had less difficulty getting passed the Corvette of Van 't Hoff and followed De Graaff on his way to the leader Cor Euser. Just before the end of the race the Mosler driver passed the Viper and recorded the best laptime of the race. Euser was to far ahead and won, Van Elk came in second ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens and Alex van 't Hoff. The punished pole sitter Versluis ended fifth.
The fourth race weekend of the year for the GT class and the Dutch Mosler Challenge was held at Spa Francorchamps. As usual at Spa all four classes of the Dutch Supercar Challenge were on track together so 50 cars lined up in the pit lane to qualify. As soon as the session was started the first drops of rain came down. Because everyone wanted to record a fast lap before the track was really wet both the pit lane and the race track were very hectic and near accidents happened all around. At the end of qualifying Marcos LM600 driver Cor Euser topped the charts, ahead of Nicky Pastorelli who shared a Omega V8Star with Danny Werkman. Martin Short and fellow Mosler MT900R driver Berry van Elk shared the second row. Andrew Beaumont of Topcats Racing was unable to do a quick lap on the track when it was still dry, so he had to start the race on Saturday from a disappointing P40.
When the cars made their way to the starting grid the sky looked threating like usual at Spa. But it was not the weather this time that gave the race its excitement.
Cor Euser defended his pole position successfully at the start. Nicky Pastorelli and Martin Short had a clean start as well, but Berry van Elk was unable to keep hold of his fourth place as the Viper driven by Philippe Ribbens overtook him in the first corner. Moments later Short was able to steer his Mosler past Pastorelli to gain second place. Not long after Short took the lead from Euser, just before the Dutchman had to park his Marcos in the pits with a battery failure.
About twenty minutes into the race Supersport II driver John van der Voort had a big crash. The safety car was brought on to give the marshals the opportunity to clear the track safely. After one lap behind the safety car the pit window opened and almost everyone came in for the mandatory pit stop. A tight squeeze, but no accidents happened in the pit lane. After the pit stops Danny Werkman, who had taken the wheel from Nicky Pastorelli, was leading the field ahead of Robert de Graaff in the Viper and Mosler driver Berry van Elk. Martin Short had lost a lot of places during the pit stops due to his success penalty seconds and found himself in seventh position. He quickly set out to regain the lead and not before long the English Mosler development driver was back on the podium after he passed Van Elk.
Meanwhile De Graaff in the Viper passed Werkman for the lead. Werkman lost another place to Short who was determined to take as much advantage as possible of Cor Euser's failure to score. Not long after Short outbroke the Viper at the chicane and Van Elk overtook Werkman for the final spot on the podium. The race was ended by a red flag after Meindert van Buuren ran into a back marker and lost control of his V8Star and parked it at a dangerous spot. Martin Short took victory ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens and Van Elk.
The start on Sunday saw Berry van Elk drop from third to eight. At the head of the field Martin Short, Robert de Graaff and Nicky Pastorelli did have a good start and they quickly created a gap. After sticking together for a few laps Pastorelli took full advantage of an opportunity to pass De Graaff. He was not able to engage in a fight with Short as the safety car was deployed after a shunt between a BMW and a Porsche. Martin Short took a gamble and slowed down so he could be the first of the front runners to make his pit stop within the pit window. "I thought it would be clever to slow down and wait for the pit window to open." Short explained after the race. "Unfortunately the safety car went in a lap earlier then I expected and I was to far behind to fight for the win today." Philippe Ribbens, who was now behind the wheel of the Viper lead by a couple of seconds after the pit stops. Peter Versluis in his new Ferrari GT2 challenged Danny Werkman for second and after numerous attempts Werkman finally had to give in. Not long after the race director started handing out penalties to teams who did not spent the mandatory time in the pit lane. Both leader Ribbens and Versluis had to do a drive through. This gave the lead of the race to Werkman, who by now had to fight off the strong driving Berry van Elk.
With just over one lap to go the talented young Mosler driver was able to overtake the V8Star at top speed. His team was very nervous because the race weekend before Van Elk had spun out of the race while leading, but this time he kept it together to win his first race in the GT division of the Dutch Supercar Challenge. Werkman - Pastorelli came in second, ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens and Versluis. The Topcats Racing Mosler took eight place and Martin Short had to settle for a disappointing tenth with only the fastest laptime of the race to cheer him up.
The second half of the season started at Zolder in Flemish Belgium. At this former Formula 1 track Dutch Supercar Challenge promoter V-Max Racing Management staged a round of the new Superleague Formula, with the DSC as the main sideshow.
Martin Short did not compete this weekend as he had to race his Mosler elsewhere. This left Berry van Elk as the sole entry of the Mosler marque in the DSC. He started off well in free practice by recording the fastest laptime. Peter Versluis shared his Ferrari with David Hart this weekend. They showed their pace with a second place on the sheets, ahead of Cor Euser. The Marcos regular was keen to reduce his points deficit with Martin Short, but his LM600 was left in the workshop for repairs and improvements. Instead Euser entered a Marcos Mantis.
During qualifying Euser proved he does not need the fastest car to be competitive and put his Marcos on pole, only a fraction of a second ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens. Van Elk and Versluis - Hart qualified within a second of the man on pole.
When the lights turned green for the race on Saturday David Hart was quick of the mark and passed Berry van Elk. Cor Euser was able to create a gap of a few seconds over Robert de Graaff in the Viper during the first few laps. But when everybody's tyres were up to temperature the top four regrouped and had some intense fights. During the pit stops Van Elk did not stay in long enough because he was not sure where the pit timing started. A costly mistake as later in the race he was given a drive through penalty. Meanwhile Hart had taken the lead ahead of Euser and Ribbens, who was now in the Viper cockpit. At the end Ribbens had to settle for third as his car developed a braking problem. Alex van 't Hoff came in fourth, well ahead of Van Elk.
Cor Euser had the best start on Sunday as he passed Peter Versuis who was the Ferrari 430 GT2 driver of the day. Van Elk lost his usual position at the start to Ric Wood in a DTM Astra, but only for a couple of laps. The Mosler MT900R driver picked up the pace and headed to the front runners who by now were some seconds clear of the field. Alex van 't Hoff in a Corvette Z06 GT3 proved difficult to overtake, but at his fourth attempt Van Elk managed to pass him. Freed of opponents in the way Van Elk was the fastest man on track. Just when the pit window opened guest driver Thiers spun his car hard into the wall. The driver was able to walk away unharmed, but the track was littered with bodywork.
To ensure a safe cleanup the safety car was deployed, but since a lot of teams made their pit stop it was hard for the race director to determine the leader of the race. After the majority of the stops Versluis came out on top, but there were four back markers between him and the safety car. The back markers were waved through but Versluis followed them past the safety car and to the back of the field. This mistake gave him a lead of almost a full lap over number two Euser. When the safety car left the track again, Versluis was given a stop-and-go penalty of thirty seconds to take away the advantage over his opponents.
At the restart Robert de Graaff passed both Van Elk and Van 't Hoff with ease. This time Van Elk had less difficulty getting passed the Corvette of Van 't Hoff and followed De Graaff on his way to the leader Cor Euser. Just before the end of the race the Mosler driver passed the Viper and recorded the best laptime of the race. Euser was to far ahead and won, Van Elk came in second ahead of De Graaff - Ribbens and Alex van 't Hoff. The punished pole sitter Versluis ended fifth.
