The Spa Euro Races on June 23rd and 24th were typified by many extremes, on the one hand the (Super)GT’s got mixed with the Supersport-cars, on the other hand was the weather very enjoyable on Saturday with sometimes even a beautifull sun, followed by a stormy Sunday. The Spork Racing Team didn’t seem to mind the awful weatherconditions on Sunday and showed its excellent shape by entering three Seat Leon Supercopa’s.
Jimmy Adriaenssens “Just like in round three and four of the Supersport on the Nürburgring I would be competing in two cars. As always I would be driving in my very own Supercopa n° 323, assisted by David Nye, but this time also in Supercopa n° 324 with Wim De Graef. Unfortunately I could only find a free lap in Supercopa 324 and not in mine, which made me run the fastest lap of the Spork Racing Team with Supercopa 324 and resulted in a third starting position in the Supercopa-division.” SPC 323 followed on only 0,7s and both 323 as 324 were positioned next to each other on the grid. SPC 325, driven by the duo De Kimpe – Van Paemel also clocked sharp laptimes but couldn’t find the last tenths of a second and started one row behind the other Spork-duo’s.
David Nye: “First we opted to have Jimmy starting the first race in our car, afterwards he would switch to SPC 324. Eventually it would perhaps be a better idea to let him start in the car of Wim De Graef and me in our proper 323, so we could connect and drive forward through the platoon. Afterwards it seemed to be easier said as done, because we would have never predicted that the GT’s, starting behind us, would slow us down. I saw Jimmy quickly coming of the line and already in the first straight a GT came passed me a slowed me down through the La-Source corner, in Eau Rouge exactly the same happened and I lost Jimmy out of my sight. I’ve been doing the best I could during my stint but both Jimmy and I were equal competitors so we didn’t meet anymore.” After a fast but often hindered stint, David Nye came in just when the Safety Car left the track for the mandatory pitstop. From then on the race had been decided. Jimmy ‘AJ’ Adriaenssens re-entered the track in sixth position but, however he clocked one qualifying laptime after the other, he couldn’t improve his position anymore. Adriaenssens-Nye finished sixth in the Supercopa-division.
In extremely wet conditions, the second race was started. Several drivers didn’t even start the race and pitted immediately after the warm-up lap due to the minimal visibility caused by the spray of other cars. “When we were running the warm-up laps behind the safety car, I was certain that each driver was thinking whether it was a good idea to race in these rainy conditions whether not. The visibility was that bad, you sometimes couldn’t even see the rain-lights of the car in front of you beyond 10 m . If you dared to enjoy the slipstream of the car in front of you, you couldn’t even distinguish grass from asphalt aside your car. It constantly was a matter of using your personal experience of Spa-Francorchamps, projecting it on your ever grey windscreen and to rely on your instincts. Eventually I can say it worked out quite well for me because after only two laps I conquered the third position, having started sixth. During my stint I climbed from 35th position to 20th overall, I really swam through a platoon of Lamborghini’s, Dodge Vipers, Porsche GT3,… It just keeps surprising drivers how fast a Supercopa can be in the wet! It is a rare but very satisfying scene, overtaking all those GT’s!” a clearly satisfied Jimmy Adriaenssens.
Eventually David Nye defended the third place and treated himself, AJ and the Spork Racing Team with another podium (3rd in Supercopa). Everybody is looking forward to the next meeting: Superprix at Zolder 4th – 6th of July, where the Spork Racing Team will run two Seat Leon Supercopa’s.
See enclosed PDF-file for the Dutch race review.
