During the weekend of September 28th-29th, the Supercar Challenge drove its one to last race meeting on Belgian soil. Jimmy Adriaenssens signed up at the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps with his white and red Seat Super’SPORK’copa, #423. Motivated as always, he was very much looking forward to the sessions and was keen on scoring good points in his homeland.
Jimmy Adriaenssens “Around 12.45h the light turned green for qualifying, shod on new rubber, I joined the track to attempt achieving pole position like the previous race in Spa. My first fast lap immediately put my car on pole. Starting the second lap, an obviously exhausted part in my driveshaft left front, gave up. I had to return to the pits on only one driveshaft without having set a good laptime for the second race. The mechanics immediately started the repair and on only a few inches from a 300°C brake disc they changed the driveshaft. Unfortunately they only had about ten minutes to get the car running again, and seen six bolts of the driveshaft were very difficult to reach, the car was ready when qualifying ended. The mechanics worked extremely fast but the qualifying session was just too short.” Eventually we had pole position for the first race and starting from P5 in the second.
The first race was a feast for the eyes. The white and red Spanish bull got off the line quickly and immediately ran top 3 in the general touring car classification. “I, indeed, got off the line quickly and could improve one or two positions in the first lap. Running as second touring car, I felt the other Supersport cars breathing down my neck. Only Bas Schouten (BMW 1 serie M) and Ferry Monster (Seat Supercopa) got past, but didn’t quite get away. I followed them closely throughout the whole first stint. During the mandatory pitstop I could profit Bas’ penalty seconds and rejoined the track in second position right behind Robin Monster. I tried a few attacks to get closer and aside but seen both of our Supercopa’s are quite similar at Spa, I couldn’t get past. When I asked the team about the status of P3, P4 and so on behind me, the team informed me that they all were a second or more slower, so me and Robin could smoothly take off. A great privilege of course and so I finished second in Supersport and also second in Seat Supercopa!”
Starting from P5 amongst the Seats and around tenth in Supersport, Adriaenssens was looking forward to the second race. Already in the first lap he reserved himself a spot in the top 5. Ranked fourth in Supersport and second Seat Supercopa, he passed start-finish after the first lap. At least six cars, dropped back one place in the rankings in the first lap. “What a great feeling to overtake that much cars in the first lap. Even Porsches GT3 had to accept looking to the trunk of my front wheel driven touring car. In fourth position I entered the pitlane for the mandatory pitstop, and while we were at it, some slick tyres…” Seen the wet starting conditions, most of the cars were shod on rain tyres but after having driven half an hour, the track had dried up. Without even having lost only one second in the mandatory seventy pitstop seconds, the Supercopa rejoined the Belgian track in fourth position. “Suddenly the team passed me the message that the leading Seat had to make an additional pitstop for a flat tyre. An incident of which I had to make my profit. It was a very intense end of the second race, because the other Seat exited the pits not far behind me. I pushed my luck and won the race with a six second advance on the other Seat with an additional third place in Supersport! Each team member congratulated me over the radio, but one thing is for sure: I couldn’t have done it without them. So hereby a big round of applause for this great team: THANK YOU!!!!”
With these results the Spork Racing Team was the fastest Belgian team in the whole Supercar Challenge in race 1. In the second race, they were the fastest Belgian team in Supersport. A memorable weekend it was… The Spork Racing Team is keen on giving this weekend a successful sequel in Assen, three weeks from now. The Final Races at TT Assen will be the last race meeting of the Supercar Challenge 2013.
See enclosed PDF-files for the downloadable (Dutch) race reviews.
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SupercarChallenge.nl – Adriaenssens beleeft topweekend op eigen bodem