FBA Belgian Touring Car Championship Rd2 – Report

Round 2 of the FBA Belgian Championship was held in Zarren at the RTI/Lovan club who hosted the race on a big indoor track. In the Touring Car Modified class it was last year’s winner Olivier Bultynck who took TQ in front of up and coming Mitchel Van Es. Nick Joosens grabbed the 3rd spot on the grid while a not-so-happy Nicolas Delisé ended the qualifiers on the 4th spot. The opening A-main saw Olivier having a splendid start and while the remainder of the field tried to follow him, a fight arose between Nick and Mitchel that ended in a coming together which allowed Nicolas to slip into 2nd place. Meanwhile Olivier was up and away and he took the win by almost 6 seconds. Further down the field Nicolas was under big pressure from Nick but managed to take 2nd place.

A-main number two had Mitchel Van Es putting some serious pressure on Olivier while Nick had Nicholas hot on his heals. Up front Olivier pushed a little harder and finally was able to open a gap on Mitchel to take the second win and with it the overall victory in round 2. Mitchel came in as a good 2nd while Nick rounded out the top 3 in this leg. For the third final Olivier tried some setup changes but these were not to his liking as with a difficult front end the car was hard to drive. Mitchel tried to take advantage of the struggling Olivier but both made contact, slowing down the freight train of Olivier, Mitchel and Nick while Nicholas was the laughing forth as he was able to overtake all three. In all the confusion Rico Claeys also slipped through to take the 2nd place. At the end of an entertaining final Nicholas took the win from Rico and Nick. Overall Olivier Bultynck (VBC Racing) took the win from Nicolas Delisé (VBC Racing) in second and Nick Joosens (Yokomo) in 3rd.

In the Superstock class it was Dylan Senaeve who put his car on the pole position in front of Athan De Witte and Géry Ledocq. Nathan Cortvriendt and Pasquinel Neys just missed the top 3 on the starting grid. In the finals the race was on between the two youngsters of Dylan and Athan. Dylan drove a clean race and kept Athan just behind. Athan did everything he could but Dylan was strong on his hometrack while Nathan Cortvriendt passed Géry Ledocq to take the 3rd place. The second final was almost a copy of the first one with Dylan being in the lead closely followed by Athan. The latter then made a mistake at the end of this final to secure Dylan the win. Athan came in 2nd and Géry took the 3rd place. The third final without Dylan was an easy one for Athan. Géry put on some pressure in the beginning but Athan was too fast. At the end Géry took second place and Pasquinel came in as 3rd. Overall Dylan Senaeve (Xray) grabbed the win from Athan De Witte (VBC Racing) and Géry Ledocq.

In the Formula class Olivier Bultynck took the TQ in front of Nicolas Delisé and Stephane Delisé. The opening A-final saw a close fight between Olivier and Nicolas. They scored lap by lap but at the end Olivier came out successful to take the win. Stephane managed to keep Krist Bultynck behind after a fair fight. Olivier also took the lead in the second final and just like in A1 he ended the race in the 1st place with a chasing Nicolas behind him. As he had already secured the day’s win Olivier opted to sit out the third A-final to make way for the remaining drivers. Up front Nicolas was too strong for the rest and he took an easy win with Kristof De Witte in 2nd place after a strong run while Krist Bultynck settled for 3rd place. Overall Olivier Bultynck (VBC Racing) took the win from 2nd placed Nicolas Delisé (VBC Racing) and Stephane Delisé (VBC Racing) for a VBC podium lock-out.

Thanks to Krist Bultynck for the report.