For the second time this year the TT circuit near Assen in The Netherlands hosted a race weekend involving the Dutch Supercar Challenge. The Rizla Racing weekend sports a nice variety of racing vehicles on track, including bikes, superkarts and cars of different sorts. Because of the free admission the stands are usually packed with over 50.000 spectators, making it the best visited weekend of the year for the Dutch Supercar Challenge.
With a second place and a win at the last event Berry van Elk hoped to prolong his hot streak at Assen, a track where he has covered himself in gravel more often than glory the past few years. However things looked great on Friday morning as his Mosler topped the timing sheets at the end of free practice, almost a second faster than Ardi van der Hoek in a K1 Roadster. Defending champion Cor Euser was third while championship leader Alex van 't Hoff was having a difficult time with his setup.
Qualifying took place Friday afternoon, and again Van Elk was at the top of the charts. But in the last minutes Euser decided to come in for a set of fresh rubber in an all out effort to get pole. In his last lap the Marcos driver, this year celebrating his 30th year in motor sports, managed to lap the track just quick enough to ensure pole position for the next day. "I was unable to do a perfect or even near perfect lap unfortunately", Van Elk said just after the session. "During my fastest lap I was held up by traffic and the next lap I locked my front right tyre, creating a big flat spot. My spare tyres were an old set from my winning race at Zolder. They were past their prime. In a traffic free lap I would have beaten Cor for sure, but that is racing."
Alex van 't Hoff put in a good effort to get his Mosler in the top five, within two seconds of the man on pole. "I am satisfied with the result. Every weekend we learn more about this car and get a bit quicker, but the competitors always manage to find some speed too," according to the man in the orange Mosler.
On Saturday the sky was grey and threatening but during the race the track remained dry. Pole man Euser started his race with troubles as a piece of his Marcos LM600 dragged into his left rear tyre, causing him two punctures in the first few laps. Meanwhile René Snel in his Porsche 911 Biturbo GT2 had the best start, driving from sixth to second, passing both Mosler drivers. When Euser had to pit for a tyre change Snel inherited the lead, a few seconds ahead of Van Elk. After a couple of laps Van Elk's tyres had warmed up sufficiently and he challenged Snel for the lead, but because of his incredible top speed Snel was able to defend successfully. Van Elk decided to let Peter Versluis in his Ferrari F430 GT2 pass to let him attack the Porsche, while he himself could safe his tyres while waiting for an opportunity to pass them both. After five laps Van Elk decided to change his plans and retook second from the Ferrari driver.
After the mandatory pit stops Ferrrari F430 driver Rick Abresch was in the lead because of a lack of success penalty seconds. Berry van Elk was close behind and not long after he passed Abresch with ease. Being the quickest man on track Van Elk built up a lead of over fifteen seconds while behind him the two Ferrari GT2's battled for second. It looked like a perfect afternoon for the young Dutch Mosler driver until ten minutes before the checkered flag he made a mistake under braking and spun into the gravel at the Geert Timmer chicane, the same spot where last year he crashed at 130 mph. Although no serious damage was done this time he could not get his car started and out of the gravel again, and by the time the marshals had reached him his battery had died making it impossible to drive on. Berry van Elk: "It was a simple, stupid mistake that cost me victory today. Under braking I downshifted a bit to early, causing my rear tyres to lock up. Normally that is not a big deal, but now I had one wheel on the kerb stones so I lost control and the win. The positive note is I was quickest on track, resulting in the fastest laptime of the race, so hopefully I can manage to overtake a lot of cars tomorrow, starting from the back."
Versluis and Abresch took maximum advantage and finished first and second. Dick Kvetnansky and Ardi van der Hoek finished third in the K1 but were later handed a time penalty, giving the final spot on the podium to René Snel. Alex van 't Hoff finished the first race of the weekend in fourth, giving him a very good starting position on the second row for the race on Sunday.
On the pre grid for the 45 minutes race on Sunday teams looked at the grey clouds, hoping to make the right tyre choice. As the track was dry and no rain was coming down everyone naturally went for slicks. In the first corner of the race K1 driver Kvetnansky and Dave Basu in his Ferrari showed that there still were some slippery wet patches as they both spun without any contact. At the head of the pack Versluis and Abresch stayed in position while Van 't Hoff steered his Mosler MT900R past René Snel. Van 't Hoff could not enjoy his third position for long as Snel passed him the next time around. Meanwhile Euser had a great time overtaking fifteen cars to make his way to the front runners. Berry van Elk took it easy the first few laps to avoid any damage overtaking the slower cars ahead. Euser clearly was quicker than Van 't Hoff, and without much of a fight the Marcos driver was able to steer into third position. Rick Abresch proved to be a bigger hurdle, but after a few laps Euser took the smarter line through the first section, overtaking the Ferrari. Unfortunately for him a broken wheel baring on the Marcos ended his race not long after. With the battles ahead of him, René Snel had the possibility to get in a good rhythm and he overtook both Van 't Hoff and Abresch just ahead of the opening of the pit window. His success penalty seconds threw Snel back behind Abresch and Van 't Hoff again, but a few laps into the second half of the race Van 't Hoff had to succumb to the Porsche GT2 again. A drive through penalty for a too short pit stop placed the Mosler driver just ahead of Van Elk, who showed a great pace lapping consistently faster than the leaders.
Unfortunately a spin earlier in the race had cost him about half a minute. Van Elk passed his fellow Mosler driver a couple of laps before the finish, but he recognised another mistake cost him at least a podium today. "If I had not spun I would have been at least right on the leader's gearbox the final laps. Such a shame I made two mistakes this weekend, costing me a lot of points for the championship," Berry van Elk stated.
The top three was the same as the day before with Versluis ahead of team mate Abresch and Snel coming in third, ahead of the two Moslers.
The next races are at the Zolder Truck GP, a non championship event on September 11th and 12th at Zolder, Belgium.
With a second place and a win at the last event Berry van Elk hoped to prolong his hot streak at Assen, a track where he has covered himself in gravel more often than glory the past few years. However things looked great on Friday morning as his Mosler topped the timing sheets at the end of free practice, almost a second faster than Ardi van der Hoek in a K1 Roadster. Defending champion Cor Euser was third while championship leader Alex van 't Hoff was having a difficult time with his setup.
Qualifying took place Friday afternoon, and again Van Elk was at the top of the charts. But in the last minutes Euser decided to come in for a set of fresh rubber in an all out effort to get pole. In his last lap the Marcos driver, this year celebrating his 30th year in motor sports, managed to lap the track just quick enough to ensure pole position for the next day. "I was unable to do a perfect or even near perfect lap unfortunately", Van Elk said just after the session. "During my fastest lap I was held up by traffic and the next lap I locked my front right tyre, creating a big flat spot. My spare tyres were an old set from my winning race at Zolder. They were past their prime. In a traffic free lap I would have beaten Cor for sure, but that is racing."
Alex van 't Hoff put in a good effort to get his Mosler in the top five, within two seconds of the man on pole. "I am satisfied with the result. Every weekend we learn more about this car and get a bit quicker, but the competitors always manage to find some speed too," according to the man in the orange Mosler.
On Saturday the sky was grey and threatening but during the race the track remained dry. Pole man Euser started his race with troubles as a piece of his Marcos LM600 dragged into his left rear tyre, causing him two punctures in the first few laps. Meanwhile René Snel in his Porsche 911 Biturbo GT2 had the best start, driving from sixth to second, passing both Mosler drivers. When Euser had to pit for a tyre change Snel inherited the lead, a few seconds ahead of Van Elk. After a couple of laps Van Elk's tyres had warmed up sufficiently and he challenged Snel for the lead, but because of his incredible top speed Snel was able to defend successfully. Van Elk decided to let Peter Versluis in his Ferrari F430 GT2 pass to let him attack the Porsche, while he himself could safe his tyres while waiting for an opportunity to pass them both. After five laps Van Elk decided to change his plans and retook second from the Ferrari driver.
After the mandatory pit stops Ferrrari F430 driver Rick Abresch was in the lead because of a lack of success penalty seconds. Berry van Elk was close behind and not long after he passed Abresch with ease. Being the quickest man on track Van Elk built up a lead of over fifteen seconds while behind him the two Ferrari GT2's battled for second. It looked like a perfect afternoon for the young Dutch Mosler driver until ten minutes before the checkered flag he made a mistake under braking and spun into the gravel at the Geert Timmer chicane, the same spot where last year he crashed at 130 mph. Although no serious damage was done this time he could not get his car started and out of the gravel again, and by the time the marshals had reached him his battery had died making it impossible to drive on. Berry van Elk: "It was a simple, stupid mistake that cost me victory today. Under braking I downshifted a bit to early, causing my rear tyres to lock up. Normally that is not a big deal, but now I had one wheel on the kerb stones so I lost control and the win. The positive note is I was quickest on track, resulting in the fastest laptime of the race, so hopefully I can manage to overtake a lot of cars tomorrow, starting from the back."
Versluis and Abresch took maximum advantage and finished first and second. Dick Kvetnansky and Ardi van der Hoek finished third in the K1 but were later handed a time penalty, giving the final spot on the podium to René Snel. Alex van 't Hoff finished the first race of the weekend in fourth, giving him a very good starting position on the second row for the race on Sunday.
On the pre grid for the 45 minutes race on Sunday teams looked at the grey clouds, hoping to make the right tyre choice. As the track was dry and no rain was coming down everyone naturally went for slicks. In the first corner of the race K1 driver Kvetnansky and Dave Basu in his Ferrari showed that there still were some slippery wet patches as they both spun without any contact. At the head of the pack Versluis and Abresch stayed in position while Van 't Hoff steered his Mosler MT900R past René Snel. Van 't Hoff could not enjoy his third position for long as Snel passed him the next time around. Meanwhile Euser had a great time overtaking fifteen cars to make his way to the front runners. Berry van Elk took it easy the first few laps to avoid any damage overtaking the slower cars ahead. Euser clearly was quicker than Van 't Hoff, and without much of a fight the Marcos driver was able to steer into third position. Rick Abresch proved to be a bigger hurdle, but after a few laps Euser took the smarter line through the first section, overtaking the Ferrari. Unfortunately for him a broken wheel baring on the Marcos ended his race not long after. With the battles ahead of him, René Snel had the possibility to get in a good rhythm and he overtook both Van 't Hoff and Abresch just ahead of the opening of the pit window. His success penalty seconds threw Snel back behind Abresch and Van 't Hoff again, but a few laps into the second half of the race Van 't Hoff had to succumb to the Porsche GT2 again. A drive through penalty for a too short pit stop placed the Mosler driver just ahead of Van Elk, who showed a great pace lapping consistently faster than the leaders.
Unfortunately a spin earlier in the race had cost him about half a minute. Van Elk passed his fellow Mosler driver a couple of laps before the finish, but he recognised another mistake cost him at least a podium today. "If I had not spun I would have been at least right on the leader's gearbox the final laps. Such a shame I made two mistakes this weekend, costing me a lot of points for the championship," Berry van Elk stated.
The top three was the same as the day before with Versluis ahead of team mate Abresch and Snel coming in third, ahead of the two Moslers.
The next races are at the Zolder Truck GP, a non championship event on September 11th and 12th at Zolder, Belgium.
