GT World Challenge Europe Sprint
Zolder: SRT race report
SRT FLOORED BY BAD LUCK IN HOME RACE ZOLDER. This weekend the last European round of the FIA GT championship was held at Zolder, prior to heading off for San Luis, Argentina on 22nd and 23rd November. For SRT this was the ideal opportunity to race ...
Published: Oct 21, 2008, 8:53 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
SRT FLOORED BY BAD LUCK IN HOME RACE
ZOLDER. This weekend the last European round of the FIA GT championship was held at Zolder, prior to heading off for San Luis, Argentina on 22nd and 23rd November. For SRT this was the ideal opportunity to race and clinch a good result in front of a home crowd.
During the free practice sessions the Corvette of Bouchut and Maassen was constantly up amongst the top players and they finished the qualifying session in fifth place. Xavier Maassen drove a strong race, up until a piece of hard rubber damaged the drive belt of the oil pump and his race came to an abrupt end.
Saturday morning and midday are traditionally reserved for the free practice sessions during the FIA GT-weekends. Once more the Belgian SRT team provided excellent work with the Corvette C6.R in so far that during the second session Xavier Maassen was up on the front row.
"I have very rarely heard drivers comment after the practice sessions that the car was running perfectly, but in fact this was now the case.", Patrick Selleslagh laughed afterwards. "We've obviously found the correct set-up and we'll keep it as it is."
During the short qualifying session Xavier Maassen registered the seventh best time, however two drivers who had finished ahead of him had ignored a yellow flag situation, and were therefore penalised.
"And you then shove up two places", Xavier Maassen remarked. "In addition we opted for harder rubber as compared to the other teams, because we were convinced that this would be beneficial to us in the second part of the race. And with that hard rubber you can't actually match the rhythm of the softer compounds during qualifying."
The actual race stared off under a glorious autumn sun and in front of some 20,000 spectators. This quite clearly inspired Xavier Maassen to make a good start.
Patrick Selleslagh: "Our Dutchman was well away and drove a good race. He was permanently keeping guard up front, defended his position fervently and held off some highly reputable rivals. But unfortunately Lady Luck is not on our side in Belgium. In Spa we've experienced trouble twice, and we didn't make the finish in Zolder. Here a piece of hard rubber, lying out on the track, affixed itself to the drive belt of the oil pump and this resulted in the belt coming off its pulleys. The outcome was a pretty obvious one; it was over and out for us. For the team this is a hard nut to crack, all the more so that we were right up there once again and able to fight for a podium place. Not once this year have we retired due to a technical problem with the car. This must surely prove my team's strength. Too often in the past the culprits were race incidents, but this time it was pure bad luck. It should not have happened..."
The SRT team are now readying themselves for the journey to Argentina, San Luis, for the final round of the season. Drivers for this competition will be made known shortly.
-credit: srt
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article David Brabham Night of Champions report
Next article Okayama: BMW preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Xavier Maassen
Christiaan Frankenhout puts the Hofor Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG on pole for 12H Zandvoort
Endurance
Endurance
12 Hours of Zandvoort
Christiaan Frankenhout puts the Hofor Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG on pole for 12H Zandvoort
Audi vs. BMW in the opening hours of the Total 24 Hours of Spa
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Spa-Francorchamps
Audi vs. BMW in the opening hours of the Total 24 Hours of Spa
Late additions strengthen already impressive entry list
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Spa-Francorchamps
Late additions strengthen already impressive entry list
Latest news
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
59 min
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe