Back to Spa again for another round of the Dutch Supercar Challenge. The usual suspects were up at the front in qualifying; Cor Euser stuck the Marcos Mantis onto pole, with the Moslers of Martin Short and Berry van Elk in third and fourth. One notable non-starter was Andrew Beaumont in the Topcats Mosler.


Race one saw Euser make a strong start, yet Short was relentless in tracking the Marcos around the famous Ardennes circuit. Having dispatched Pastorelli for second place, Short passed Euser as the latter's battery began to fail. When van der Voort's Beemer crashed out, the safety car was deployed and the field took a mad dash into the pits under yellow flags.


With his now-customary success penalty, Short re-entered the race back in seventh place but began a relentless climb back through the field. Passing the ETEC Viper at the bus stop chicane put Mosler Europe into the lead; the race was red-flagged with five minutes to go with Short at the front. Another convincing win, bolstered by a solid drive by Berry van Elk who brought the V Max Mosler home in third.


Race two saw an uncharacteristic tactical error by Short. With an early safety car out to clear wreckage, he hoped to pit whilst the field crawled around. But the safety car came in too early for him; when he emerged from the pits the pack were back to full speed and not even a flying Mosler could catch them.


van Elk was well placed in fourth place as the race progressed. Then, a real turnaround; the two leading cars were called in to take drive-through penalties. Now, Berry had a scent of victory. Passing Werkmann's Opel V8 Star into Les Combes on the penultimate lap, the young Mosler driver pushed on to take the chequered flag - his maiden win in the Dutch Supercar Challenge. Martin Short came home in tenth, with Andrew Beaumont and Pat Gormley impressing in eighth.





The Moslers have an enviable track record around Spa and today proved to be no exception. Congratulations to Berry van Elk for what we hope will be the first of many Mosler wins.



Photos (c) www.supercarchallenge.nl where video highlights are available too

Sadly, the MeXT Mosler didn't race in the 500kn; it was still undergoing repairs from its huge shunt at Zolder back in April.

As the British GT headed over the border to Scotland, Gregor Fiskin joined championship leader Dan Brown in the Momo Mosler for the Knockhill rounds.

It was the Preci-Spark Ascari that led the field away from the lights in race one. Dan Brown battled hard but couldn't squeeze the Mosler past the Jonesmobile before the pitstops. When the Ascari came in for its handover, Brown got the hammer down and enjoyed three laps at the front before making his pitstop as late as possible. Gregor Fiskin brought the Mosler out just as Godfrey Jones charged the Ascari down the main straight and into the lead.

A safety car period proved pivotal. Afterwards, the Ascari made good pace with clear air in front whilst Fiskin was mugged by the VRS Ferrari and then shuffled back to fifth in traffic by the time he took the flag.

Race two was even more disappointing. Fiskin stuffed the Mosler into the kitty litter at Carlube and was stranded for four laps, ruining any chance of a good finish. Despite breaking the pitlane speed limit twice - once whilst carrying out a drive-through penalty for the first speeding incident - the Ascari managed to finish fourth and take enough points to wrestle the championship lead away from Dan Brown.

Round three of the Dutch Supercar Challenge took place around the dunes of Zandvoort in North Holland.

Martin Short, fresh from export duties in Malaysia, hotfooted it from Schiphol to the circuit in time for qualifying. His old adversary, Cor Euser, took the Marcos onto pole by a tenth of a second from Short's Mosler. Berry van Elk qualified in sixth.



Engine problems seemed to bedevil Short's season, though; his crew were hard at work on the car after qualifying in order to make the grid for race one. But whatever magic dust they sprinkle around does the trick - Short got the drop on Euser (not for the first time this season) and took the lead on lap one. The Marcos looked consistently quicker, though, and Euser sprang back into the lead on lap six.



Safety cars and pitstops then shook up the race rhythm. Berry van Elk had been running well before losing it on a hard curb and beaching his Mosler. I speak little Dutch, so I guess at the end of this clip he's saying something like 'gosh, that's unfortunate, I was driving really rather well up until I made that silly mistake".




With the safety car out and the pitstop window about to open, chaos ensued. Drivers were slowing up to enter and exit the pits at the most opportune moment as the safety car snaked the field around. Short found himself in the lead after a second safety car outing, even though he'd had 55 seconds success penalty added to his stop. The lead was short lived, though; having stopped just before the pitlane entrance when waiting for it to open, he was given a drive-through penalty. Short did his best to make up time with a clear track ahead of him before taking the drive-through and emerging in third behind Euser and the leading Porsche 997.




Short closed down Euser but couldn't pass, crossing the line behind in third as the Porsche of van de Laar and Bleekemolen took the win. Later, Euser would be stung with a thirty-second penalty for a slow getaway from the pitlane so Short was elevated into second.

Race two saw less incident but a fantastic surge from Berry van Elk. Starting at the back of the grid after his off in race one, Berry had the whole field ahead of him to carve through. Euser and Short fought all race through, the Marcos taking the win. Short suffered a fuel pump failure that led the Mosler and Marcos to bump briefly; Short kept on running but lost valuable time whilst starting the reserve pump. With sixty seconds of success penalty on his pitstop as well, the Mosler Europe car still fought on and came home in a creditable fourth place.



Star Mosler performer of the day, however, has to be Berry van Elk. From the rear of the grid, he scythed through the field and took a well-deserved podium position by finishing third.



Martin Short leads Cor Euser in the championship by 14 points as the season continues in Spa at the end of June.

Photos (c)Roel Louwers and Jacqueline Pelsmacker at www.supercarchallenge.nl

As always, highlights of the race can be seen on the Dutch Supercar Challenge website

The Momo Mosler continued to impress around the Rock.

The invitational Barwell Motorsport Ginetta G50Z set the pace in race one. Dan Brown kept the Mosler in contention and took the lead as the Ginetta pitted, but any chance of victory evaporated when Dan span at the hairpin. Gregor Fiskin brought the car home in fifth (fourth in GT3) with the Ginetta taking the win with the Rosso Verde Ferrari finishing second to win the GT3 class.

Race two saw Gregor keep tabs with the lead group despite qualifying ninth, aided by the field bunching under the safety car after the MTECH Ferrari turned to flame.

With five laps to go, the Preci-Spark Ascari led the field round by a gnat's chaff from the Mosler and the impressive invitational Ginetta. The G50Z put a move on the Mosler and then out-breaked the Ascari three laps later to take the lead. More drama followed, as Brown took the Ascari on the final lap to claim the GT3 honours behind the Ginetta.

That victory put Dan Brown to the top of the driver's championship and Gregor into sixth.