2012 Dutch Supercar Challenge Season

[JorritVD]

I think it was getting time to start a 2012 DSC season topic.

First of all. It's still not 100% sure what the name will be this season. Will it become Dutch Supercar Challenge or the more international name 'Supercar Challenge'(or something else).

The Calender:
3-4-5 april: Pre-season test-days, Circuit Zolder *

22-04: FIA GT1, Circuit Zolder
06-05: ADAC Masters, Circuit Park Zandvoort
27-05: GT Open, Nürburgring
24-06: Euroraces, Spa Francorchamps
08-07: Zolder Superleague, Circuit Zolder
05-08: Gamma Racing Day, TT-circuit Assen
26-08: DTM, Circuit Park Zandvoort (1)
02-09: Superleague Formula, TT-circuit Assen (2)
14-10: Racing Festival, Spa Francorchamps
28-10: Finaleraces, TT-circuit Assen

Invitation events (not counting for championhip)
5 to 9 september: 24h of Zolder, Circuit Zolder
21 to 23 september: AvD 100 Meilen rennen, Monza

* Not sure yet
(1) GT- en Supersport I-divisie only
(2) Supersport II-, Sport I- en Sport II-divisie only

Divisions:
GT: 2,7 kg/pk
Supersport 1: 3,7 kg/pk
Supersport 2: 4,5 kg/pk
Sport 1: 5,2 kg/pk
Sport 2: ?? kg/pk (new division for 2012, for cars like Clio Cup)

Possible entries
GT-Division:
1x Dodge Viper CC (Speedtec Motorsport)
3x Corvette C6.R (M&D Racing: Abresch, Basu, van 't Hoff)
2x Corvette C5-R (Carworld Motorsport, Roger Grouwels)
1x F458 Italia (Peter Versluis)
2x F430 GT2 (Jan Versluis + someone is renting the 2nd car from VeKa)
1-2x Mosler MT900R (Carworld Motorsport, ?)
1x Porsche 997 GT2-Turbo (Lammertink Racing)
1x Marcos LM600 (Cor Euser)
1x Audi R8 LMS (Brinkmann Motorsport)
1x BMW Z4 GT3 (DB Motorsport)
2-3x Praga R4S (Race4Slovakia, BleuBerry Racing)

Supersport 1:
1-2x Ford Mustang FR500C (V-Sports)
1-2x BMW M3 Silhouette (JR Motorsport)
1-2x Aston Martin Vantage (DDG Motorsport)
1-2x BMW M3 E46 GTR (Team Webb)
1x BMW M3 E92 3.2 (Meijers Motorsport)
1-4x Ford Mondeo MW V6 (BRL-V6)
1-2x Marcos Mantis
1-5x Porsche 997 GT3-Cup (Carworld Motorsport, FE Racing, Topper Team, In2Racing)
1x Solution F TC10 3,5 V6 (Divitec Racing)

[FIRE]

Berry van Elk switching from Mosler to the Praga?

The Ford Mustangs are the former cars which raced in Dutch GT4?

[Fonzy]

Let's hope that the Versluis rumour is true... so you can add a GT-R to your list.

[adam46]

No UK visit this year

[Alexander86]

Berry is indeed switching from Mosler to Praga for 2012, since his MT900R burned to the ground during testing for the first event last year. In 2011 he did some races in the Praga R4S, with a third place at Spa as his best result of the season. Unfortunately the Praga and especially its engine were still very much in the development phase, so the reliability was far from perfect.

Van Elk is looking strong for this season, if Praga has overcome the engine reliability issues of last year. His improved R4S is expected to leave the factory at the end of this month, in time for some adjustments by his team and to get its blue, white and orange livery applied.

[JorritVD]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Berry van Elk switching from Mosler to the Praga?

yes

Originally Posted by FIRE

The Ford Mustangs are the former cars which raced in Dutch GT4?

I believe they are ex-gt3 cars who competed in the Fia GT3

[Speed-King]

Nope, article on the DSC-website has pictures of the GT3 but says FR500C and that's the GT4-spec car.

Also, if I remember correctly, the car would be for Supersport 2, not for Supersport 1 and hence not in the big "GT"-race but with the smaller touring cars.

[Alexander86]

The Mustangs will be entered in SS1. At the moment they are looking at improving the aerodynamics and engine, but removing GT(4) performance restrictions alone is a big step in the right direction.

In 2009 a BMW M3 GT4 made a guest appearance at Zandvoort and won in the GT class. It didn't quite have the pace, but because all front runners experienced technical problems or spun off it still won the Saturday race.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by adam46

No UK visit this year

That is a shame, I thoroughly enjoy seeing these guys in action, great grids, good racing and fantastic variety. Still, its a Dutch championship, so can't expect them to come over to the UK all the time!

[FIRE]

New name for the series is "Supercar Challenge powered by Dunlop".

[GT3 RSR]

How long are the races, specifically those shown for Spa?

[adam46]

Probably the standard 1 Hour.

[Bob Riebe]

Does this replace the Nordic Supercars or is that series still limping along?

[Alexander86]

As far as I'm aware there is no connection to the Nordic Supercar series.

[JorritVD]

Yesterday evening the 'Supercar Challenge powered by Dunlop' had a presentation at Circuit Zolder. The reason for this is that there will be no national belgium championships this year (BelCar / BTCS) and therefore a lot of teams are interested in the SCpbD.

First belgium drivers that can confirm their plans are:
Franz Lamot and pro driver Bert Longin. They will drive a Ferrari F430 from the VeKa-Racing team.

Interestingly is that I spoke with Peter Versluis last year at TT-Circuit Assen, and he told me that he gonna drive the 458 himself, his brother one of the 430, and that the second 430 was already rented by someone. Change of plans, maybe another 458 for the team than?

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by JorritVD

The reason for this is that there will be no national belgium championships this year (BelCar / BTCS) and therefore a lot of teams are interested in the SCpbD.

That´s still up in the air, but it could be like that in the end...

Originally Posted by JorritVD

Interestingly is that I spoke with Peter Versluis last year at TT-Circuit Assen, and he told me that he gonna drive the 458 himself, his brother one of the 430, and that the second 430 was already rented by someone. Change of plans, maybe another 458 for the team than?

Maybe the brothers will be sharing their new 458?

[Alexander86]

Maybe the brothers will be sharing their new 458?

VeKa Racing has two 430´s, so Peter will drive his F458 GT2, his brother a F430 and the Belgian pair the other VeKa F430.

I´ve seen a provisional entry list and it looks like it´s going to be a good year!

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

That´s still up in the air, but it could be like that in the end...

Sorry to take this OT but no Belcar possibly this year? Whats the go with that? Thats the first I've heard of it.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by rich07

Sorry to take this OT but no Belcar possibly this year? Whats the go with that? Thats the first I've heard of it.

Promoter racking up tons of debt with building cars for the VW Funcup and looking for additional money. Then somehow a huge falling out between the promoter and the Royal Autoclub of Belgium and now they are looking for a new promoter to step in at the 11th hour.

Meanwhile teams and drivers are defecting en mass (rumor has Anthony Kumpen in a C5-R!) to the Supercar Challenge , which this year will have its races evenly split between Belgium and the Netherlands.

I supposse the days of a separate Belgian professional championship are over for now and Supercar Challenge has pretty much become what Belcar was ten years ago ( minus the cool 125 minutes format). Back then, the Dutch scene was pretty much in shambles and a lot of Dutch people raced in Belgium, so things have pretty much come full circle.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by rich07

Sorry to take this OT but no Belcar possibly this year? Whats the go with that? Thats the first I've heard of it.

Belcar and BTCS (tourism series) were to be transformed into Belgian Endurance and Sprint series but series organizer Speedworld has run into very serious financial issues (it has major debts), afiak it has not yet filed for bankruptcy (just a matter of time) but RACB (Belgian ASN) has already terminated the contract with Speedworld and has still not yet decided who or what will replace it, probably as result of the ongoing lawsuits.

So Belgian teams and drivers cannot sign agreements with each other or with sponsors. Supposedly a lot of the Belgians are looking into joining the Supercar Challenge which is run as a Benelux series this year. Bert Longin and Franz Lamot (former Prospeed pilot) have already announced their plans to run a Ferrari 430 with the VEKA squad of Peter Versluis.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Promoter racking up tons of debt with building cars for the VW Funcup and looking for additional money. Then somehow a huge falling out between the promoter and the Royal Autoclub of Belgium and now they are looking for a new promoter to step in at the 11th hour.

Meanwhile teams and drivers are defecting en mass (rumor has Anthony Kumpen in a C5-R!) to the Supercar Challenge , which this year will have its races evenly split between Belgium and the Netherlands.

I supposse the days of a separate Belgian professional championship are over for now and Supercar Challenge has pretty much become what Belcar was ten years ago ( minus the cool 125 minutes format). Back then, the Dutch scene was pretty much in shambles and a lot of Dutch people raced in Belgium, so things have pretty much come full circle.

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Belcar and BTCS (tourism series) were to be transformed into Belgian Endurance and Sprint series but series organizer Speedworld has run into very serious financial issues (it has major debts), afiak it has not yet filed for bankruptcy (just a matter of time) but RACB (Belgian ASN) has already terminated the contract with Speedworld and has still not yet decided who or what will replace it, probably as result of the ongoing lawsuits.

So Belgian teams and drivers cannot sign agreements with each other or with sponsors. Supposedly a lot of the Belgians are looking into joining the Supercar Challenge which is run as a Benelux series this year. Bert Longin and Franz Lamot (former Prospeed pilot) have already announced their plans to run a Ferrari 430 with the VEKA squad of Peter Versluis.

Thanks to both of you for explaining the situation. Its quite a shame it has come to this. I like Belcar early in the turn of the century because of the variety of machinery that it had and the fact that it raced on two awesome tracks, Spa and Zolder so if it ceases to run this year it'll be quite disappointing.

On the other hand its good to see the competitors coming to DSC and elsewhere, so at least they'll be competing somewhere. Your quite right Speed King about DSC becoming more like Belcar, love the wide variety of cars racing and the fact more well known drivers are joining the series.

[Alexander86]

Because of this Belgian mayhem the Supercar Challenge is looking at record breaking grids as a lot of Belgian teams are looking for a stable series to compete in. For the first time the number of entrants will be limited by safety regulations (max number of cars on track depending on track length).

The names of the divisions/classes have changed for 2012:
GT --> SuperGT (2.8kg/bhp instead of 2.7)
SuperSport I --> GT
SuperSport II --> SuperSport
Sport --> Sport I
New is Sport II, an entrance level class for cars like the Renault Clio, Lotus Exige 240 and the like.

There is a new logo to go with the new name:

Just 5 more weeks!

[JorritVD]

Headlines:
- Skylimit events (Belcar) will enter Porsches in the Belgium rounds.
- Spork Racing Team (BTCS) will field three SEAT Leon SuperCopa
- Mazda BeNeLux / Van Herck (BTCS) will enter an Mazda 3
- PS Autosport (Dutch GT4) will enter two BMW M3 GT4
- Van Der Kooi Lotus will enter a minimum of 5 Lotus cars (and maybe another 3 cars)
- Team RaceArt wil at least come with a Corvette C5-R, a Mosler MT900R, and a Porsche.
- Fiona James (Britcar) will enter an Lamborghini Gallardo GT3.
- Spirit Racing will again enter 2 Renault Clio.
- DB Motorsport will enter an BMW Z4 GT3 for Jan Storm.
- Marcel Norbart will again race his Leon Supercopa, but with some updates.
- Brass Racing (Belcar) will enter a Dodge Viper GT3.
- Jacky van der Ende continues with a BRL, this time the car will have a V8 instead of an V6.
- Scuderia Monza (Belcar) will enter an Ferrari F430 GT3.
- AT Motorsport will again enter 2 BRL Light.
- Vankets Motorsport (BTCS) will enter an Leon Supercopa.
- Longin/Lamot (Belcar) will compete in a F430 GT2 from Veka.

[adam46]

This is, IMO, the best GT series going in Europe, if not the world.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by adam46

This is, IMO, the best GT series going in Europe, if not the world.

Some really silly rules though... the pitstop penalties for good results drive me nuts.