GT World Challenge Europe Sprint

EU-GT3: Zolder: Marc VDS event summary

PODIUM AND FRUSTRATION FOR MARC VDS IN ZOLDER Sunday night, the Marc VDS Racing left the Zolder track a bit frustrated. During the two final races of the European Championship GT3 Eric De Doncker and Mathias Beche had conquered a podium finish in ...

Published: Oct 12, 2010, 5:01 AM

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PODIUM AND FRUSTRATION FOR MARC VDS IN ZOLDER

Sunday night, the Marc VDS Racing left the Zolder track a bit frustrated. During the two final races of the European Championship GT3 Eric De Doncker and Mathias Beche had conquered a podium finish in the first race, but the other Ford GT3 of the team, driven by Maxime Martin and Gael Lesoudier, was heading for an emphatic win in race two, up until they were hit by a very clumsy driver...

The Belgian track of Zolder was the setting for the final race of the European Championship GT3. An excellent opportunity for the Marc VDS Racing Team to please the home crowd with the best results possible by entering two Fords GT prepared in the Charleroi workshop of the team.

The weekend started fabulously for the pairing De Doncker-Beche, with the young Swiss driver conquering the pole position for the first race. "It's the first pole for the team this year and that bring extra motivation", Eric De Doncker added.

The excellent work of Mathias Beche was the base of a well-deserved third spot at the end of the first race. The second round went a bit less fortunate. While De Doncker, who started 22nd, climbed to 16th, the car suffered from technical problems during the second half of the race. "I had a complete brake failure and could not avoid hitting another car", a gutted Mathias Beche explained. At the time of the retirement, the young Swiss had already climbed to 12th spot.

The other pairing suffered the same fate... twice. In the first race Gael Lesoudier had climbed to 12th just before the driver change, after which Maxime Martin saw his race ended by a broken rim... when lying fifth. But worse was to come... "Shortly after the start of the second race I took the lead and passed the car to Gael in that position", Maxime Martin explained. "After the driver change, he was heading for an easy win, up until the moment he was hit by one of the backmarkers, who tried to regain position by some suicidal overtaking manoeuvre! Retirement was unavoidable, at a moment when we were almost sure of a win..."

"It is bad that all the efforts of the team were ruined by one clumsy driver, but worse of all, he was not even penalized for his move", stated Bas Leinders, managing director of the Marc VDS Racing Team.

-source: marc vds

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