 Spa-Francorchamps suffered from the heat this WE. Temperatures of 60° C inside the cars caused a tough time for the drivers: physical condition was decisive. No problem for Nico Verdonck! The BTCS Championship was organized together with the VW Fun Cup 25h.
During Qualifying on Friday Nico and his team mate Dick Freebird showed their form by reaching P3 for both races. They had to let their team mates from DB Motorsport go in front due to their prototype sequential gearbox, causing a gain of 1.5 sec per lap.
Thanks to the excellent preparation of the team, Nico and Dick did very well in race 1 Dick brought the car in on P3 and Nico was immediately up to speed: in 20 min he overtook the VW Sirocco of championship rivals Latinne-Smits and even passed team mates Den Boer-Rijnbeek. It was already their third victory this season and of course they increased their lead.
Race 2 started with an enormous crash: the safety car stayed on the track for 20' and quickly after the "pit stop window" opened, Nico came in and handed the wheel to Dick on P2. The pit stop didn't work out well and Dick came in behind the Sirocco. "We have to analyze our pit stop for next race: progress is possible, especially due to extra ballast next time every second counts!" concludes Nico. But after a great pursuit Dick realized to overtake the cars in front and secured the victory. Team mates Den Boer-Rijnbeek ended 2nd: great job by DB Motorsport!
In his 3rd race of the WE - the 25h in the M&M's VW Fun Cup car - Nico showed his talent again. Part of the "dream team" with Maxime Martin, Maxime Soulet and Pascal Mathieu he showed his superiority. Even after a few problems with the car they ended the race 3 rounds in front of drivers such as Fred Bouvy, Markus Palttala, ...
Nico: "What a magnificent WE: 3 victories in 2 days! Can’t do any better... I'm now preparing next WE in Algarve-Portugal where I will drive my 2nd race in the Le Mans series with Hope Pole Vision. I hope to go as fast as in Spa and to obtain an excellent result".
In the meantime Nico is still working with his contacts and partners to compete for the most beautiful endurance race in the world: the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps on July 31st and August 1st.
Watch Nico Verdonck in Pitlane (VT4) 15/7 around 11.30pm, rebroadcasted 18/7 at 4pm. |
