The race

55 cars make a fine grid. Still 3 cars are missing: the Volvo S40 as the team did not schedule this race, the GLPK Porsche (budget) and the Mercedes CLK (reason unknown).

The start was as always exciting. Markus Palttala went straight to the lead after an astonishing passing on Kumpen. Lamot started carefully, losing several places. The first victim of the race is Fred Bouvy. The #8 Porsche had a major engine problem before the race and the team decided to change the engine. But this new engine also seems to struggle.

After half an hour the positions are somewhat clear. Palttala leads and Kumpen follows right behind. Kuismanen and Hezemans have a fair fight for third on a 20 seconds distance. Some 40 seconds behind we find a nice group with the RTM Porsche (Van de Haterd), the official BMW (Mollekens), the SRT Corvette (Lamot) and Jos Menten on the AD biturbo. The Cook Viper and Verbist in the RS Porsche complete the top-10.

Right at the half hour mark the safety car pulled out. The #59 Pino Porsche Cup went off at Blanchimont. PSI decided to take advantage of the SC period and Palttala refuels.

During the safety procedure the Cook Viper retired with an engine problem, as did the Silhouette Mondeo. The latter caught fire in the pit lane. Another victim was the Stealth retiring with another engine problem. After one hour Jos Menten (AD Porsche) drops out of the top-10 with a water leak. The battle in front went on and the positions changed according to pit stop strategies. PSI seems to keep Markus on the track as long as possible. After 100 minutes the SC comes out again. Palttala comes in and Kumpen takes the lead. SRT keeps Lamot out till halfway the race, so Goossens has about 125 minutes to make up a 1-lap gap. Schnitzer also finds a fine rhythm as Andy Priaulx slips into the top-3 just before halfway. The BMW is consuming less than the Vipers and Porsches, a fact to remember for the Spa 24 hours.

The ranking halfway:

The class battles are also good. In GTB, Thiers-Thiers and Lefort-Lambert are within 7 seconds. The difference between Steinberg-Stevens (G&A BMW) and Moury-Morlet (KS BMW) is less than a second!

Leo Van Sande does not have the time to enjoy his stint. He regains his box with another engine problem (water hose). PSI seems to struggle with reliability today… The #1 GLPK Viper has a stop & go on the same moment. The race is still wide open.

Spa until midnight

A stop & go penalty and a regular pit stop did not keep the GLPK Viper from leading the race. Right behind was Mike Hezemans, some 33 seconds ahead of the slighly stunning official BMW effort. Goossens was putting 2.26's getting on Longin's tail and ultimately passing into third. The Corvette was diving further into the 2.25's and taking second place from the Schnitzer BMW.

Around 22.45h it was more drama as the #62 BMW of Smets-Dekeerschmaeker went off heavily at the Raidillon, losing a second spot in TA. Another 10 minutes under safety car were used by the Schnitzer team for pitting.

It was indeed an eventful race. Only five minutes after the race was resumed the #56 Porsche Supercup crashed on the Kemmel straight. Another safety car pulled out for 15 minutes. Issues with the timing systems didn't help to keep up with positions.

Situation into the last race hour:

#1 GLPK Viper Kumpen-Longin 66 laps
#3 Corvette C5-R Goossens-Lamot +1 lap
#12 Hart Viper Hart-Hezemans
#24 Schnitzer BMW Lamy-Mollekens-Priaulx
#4 Viper Kuismanen-Hasenbichler +2 laps
#6 AD Porsche Biturbo Wauters +3 laps
#63 BMW M3 GTR Kenis-Severich +4 laps
#31 Thiers Porsche GT3-RS (GTB)
#36 Porsche GT3-RS Lambert-Lefort (GTB) +5 laps

The race resumed with only 40 minutes to go. Goossens was now 1.27s behind Kumpen. Could this still become a race? The very next lap the difference was 1.17s, then 1.12s, then 1.01s... With Goossens lapping in 2.22's, yes it could. Also Pedro Lamy in the Schnitzer BMW didn't give up yet, passing David Hart in the Viper and lapping in 2.24's.

In GTB #31 Thiers was leading with a 1 lap lead over #44 De Gastines, #34 Verhoeven, #36 Lambert and #33 Qvick. In the Silhouette class it was a total disaster when the BMW #54 of Van Bellinghen went for the gravel trap. It was the only Silhouette car still running at that time.

It looked like the GLPK Viper was safe with a 30s lead and only 15 minutes to go. Still Lamy managed to get past Kumpen into the same lap. With some 10 minutes to go Lambert passed by De Gastines into second for GTB. Kumpen avoided further risks and finished first, with only a 10 second lead on Goossens. Steve van Bellingen, winner in silhouette had a serious coming together with the Hart Viper on the finish line; winning with a destroyed car, so sad…

The C5-R finally got it's well deserved podium finish. Still it's victory that counts and it was GLPK taking a firm grip on the 2004 championship hopes.

Result after 4 hours:

#1 GLPK Viper Kumpen-Longin 84 laps
#3 Corvette C5-R Goossens-Lamot +10s
#24 Schnitzer BMW Lamy-Mollekens +2"09s
#12 Hart Viper Hart-Hezemans +2"30s
#4 Viper Kuismanen-Hasenbichler +2 laps
#6 AD Porsche Biturbo Wauters +3 laps
#31 Thiers Porsche GT3-RS (GTB) +5 laps
#63 BMW M3 GTR Kenis-Severich (TA)
#36 Porsche GT3-RS Lambert-Lefort (GTB) +6 laps
#44 Porsche 996 De Gastines

TB: Stevens-Steinberg G&A BMW 320 STW

© 2004 Joost Custers