BELGIAN GT: Spa Funcup 12th-13th July 2008

The Belgian GT made its first visit of the season to the legendary GP circuit of Spa-Francorchamps for the fourth round of the championship. And there was major drama for the Moslers at an early stage. In the second qualifying session, Anthony Kumpen experienced a major throttle problem that saw his Mosler leave the circuit at over 200kph and smash into the barriers. Fortunately, Anthony walked away without serious injury although the Mosler was, unsurprisingly, heavily damaged.Gravity International boss Loris de Sordi payed tribute to the solidity of the Mosler's carbon hull which certainly seemed to soak up the impact. Martin Short, head of Mosler UK, told Mosler Lover that he'd never seen such a catastrophic throttle failure before. "I believe (Gravity) will advise us as to what happened so we can see if this can affect other Moslers or was an isolated incident. We are delighted though that the Mosler stood up so well to such a violent accident, and the driver is in good health".

The G&A Mosler of Guino Kenis and Michael De Keersmaecker qualified firmly mid-grid. As Kumpen had qualified on pole for race one, everyone was bumped up one place which still put a Mosler at the top of the tree, the #25 with Radermecker and Marchal at the helm.



Race one saw Moslers flirting with the lead throughout. Radermecker got a poor start from pole and lost several places before reeling the field back and regaining the lead with seven laps gone. A Ferrari/Viper tangle then saw the safety car deployed and the pack close up again. Ron Marchal inherited the lead after the mandatory pitstop but then slipped down the order.




Meanwhile, Guino Kenis had been stalking the leaders after his co-driver had pushed them up to sixth during his stint. Eventually the lead was his, so almost a year after G&A's last Belgian win, they looked set to repeat that honour. But there was a Viper who felt differently...







A+ Racing's Van Hooydonk was on a charge and took the G&A Mosler for the lead. It looked like another heartbreak day for the marque; qualified on pole only to see that car trashed, an inherited pole only to see the lead slip away, the 'outsider' car fly through the field only to lose out towards the end.

But it wouldn't be the Belgian GT without one last twist. Hooydonk began to pay for his rapidity, The Viper's tyres started to go off and slowed his progress. And what's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a Mosler? Right on both counts; Kenis was clawing his way back towards the sliding Viper and retook the lead, taking the chequered flag by less than a second.



Kenis called it 'knife-edge racing' as the Mosler took maximum advantage of its superior straight line speed and yet still held off the Viper in the tighter corners. Meanwhile, Marchal hung on to the leaders but just missed out on a podium place, finishing fourth.




Saturday morning saw ominous clouds gathering with two Moslers slotted in the first two rows.



An uneventful race then turned hectic at Radillon which saw two cars contact, a third then span across the racing line and two more crashed into that spinner at high speed. Out came the safety car - for a long session that lasted into the pitstop window.







Kenis was running third at that stage but didn't pit whilst the safety car was out. That cost G&A dear; the time lost put them out of contention and then the gearbox let go towards the end of the race. Guido Kenis, however, seemed happy to take a win and a pole away from the weekend.

Meanwhile, there was a strangely familiar scenario developing up at the sharp end - a fat yellow Dodge was being harred by a Mosler. Vincent Radermecker pushed hard and took the lead as the race rolled into its latter stages. And that was the cue for the heavens to open. The weather could have freaked out less hardy drivers, but Radermecker nursed the Mosler through the tempestuous conditions to take the chequered flag. “This was probably the most trying last lap in my life”, Radermecker admitted, “ I just didn’t dare go any faster for fear of aquaplaning."
Mixed blessings for the Mosler, then; two poles, two wins, but probably the end of Gravity's championship chances. Next round is the full-on endurance spectacle of the series - the 24 hour race at Zolder at the end of August.

Photos: #24 damage, Mosler UK, all others (c) Jacques Letihon and http://www.belgiangt.com/