Blancpain Endurance

VDS Racing Adventures Total 24 Hours of Spa Preview

With no less than sixty cars on the starting grid, the 2011 edition of the Total 24 Hours of Spa can surely be described as the world’s greatest race exclusively reserved for Grand Touring cars, and more specifically those in the GT3 class. An incredible feast of motorsport and endurance racing and one which quite obviously the VDS Racing Adventures team of Raphaël van der Straten could not ignore, and whose Ford Mustang FR500 features on the entry list.

Having clinched the laurels in the 12 Hours of Hungary, held on the Budapest circuit earlier in the season, the red blue and white striped Mustang this time around has every ambition of not only excelling in its category, the Gentlemen Trophy, but also of claiming a top 20 in the overall rankings. « This is most probably the car’s penultimate race, but we decided not to alter our approach in any way Raphaël van der Straten explained. Over and above all our team does not want to take on too serious an air, but will focus on one specific mission: to take the chequered flag. Last year we finished the 24 Hours of Spa in 19th place overall, or 5th place in our category, and for this incredible 2011 edition we hope to perform just as well in the overall rankings, and far better in the hierarchy of the Gentlemen Trophy. »

To achieve its goal the VDS Racing Adventures clan can count on a highly homogenous team, with next to Raphaël the indestructible José Close, who will be competing in his … 24th 24 Hours of Spa, and two young lions straight out of the single-seater world: Benjamin Bailly and Julien Schroyen. These Liège based drivers had competed in – and won– the 12 Hours of Hungary together with the owner-driver of the Mustang FR500 VDS Racing Adventures, which turned out to be a great trial run with a view to this twice-around-the-clock race in the Ardennes. « With the rest of the team we wanted to see to what extent Benjamin and Julien could really fit into our set-up, and I must admit that everyone was delighted, Raphaël continued. Not only are they fast, but they have respect for the material, and above all they very quickly understood and appreciated the atmosphere which exists within the team. I believe that these two drivers, whose record of achievements include one victory in FIA F2 for Benjamin and success in the 12 Hours of Spa BTCS for Julien, deserve to be given a chance. I’m delighted to have both of them at my side for these 24 Hours of Spa. However there’s no question of going out and playing with the lap times during the qualifying sessions by taking unnecessary risks. The important thing is to be at the start, build up the laps and racing hours in order to check in on Sunday on the dot of 16.00hrs … »

Similar to other teams, VDS Racing Adventures will need to manage the “tyres” aspect during this edition of the 24 Hours of Spa. Victim of its success after the transition to regulations exclusively the domain of GT3 and GT4 cars, this top event on the Belgian calendar has unfortunately to make do with a limited number of new tyres, the different manufacturers having been somewhat caught off guard … « The requirement to pass via the pit lane every 65 minutes does in fact suit us, Raphaël van der Straten explained. This will allow us to use worn tyres, which can still hold out for one hour. For the rest, this shortage of tyres will oblige us to fit both Dunlop as also Michelin rubber, and in order to have a stock of new tyres we had to go as far as the Netherlands, Germany and even Turkey. This mix might well be unusual, but we are already pretty pleased to have achieved this situation. »

In keeping with another tradition, the Total 24 Hours of Spa will kick off this coming Wednesday afternoon in the centre of Spa, for the traditional Parade of the cars and their drivers. And as a quick reminder, last year the Ford Mustang FR500 VDS Racing Adventures enjoyed a great success amongst the many admiring onlookers. The rendezvous is made …