Belgian Electric On-road Nationals Rd6 – Report
The HRT Houthalen track hosted round 6 of the Belgian Electric On-road Nationals recently with the event promising exciting races on this small and technical track. Saturday was sunny with a lot of grip. Everyone was looking for the right setup because the championship was absent for a couple of years from this track. In the Efra class newly-crowned champion Olivier Bultynck set the pace in the qualifying heats. Mitchel van Es put his car on the 2nd spot and youngster Athan De Witte was really fast to take the 3rd spot.
In the Stock class and because the championship isn’t decided yet, it promised to be super exciting. It was Patrick Prinsen who was the fastest in front of Vincent Van Gansen and Giovanni Moguez. The Formula class the title was already decided in favour of Olivier Bultynck but his new challenger Niels Meurs did not intend to let it pass like this. Ultimately Olivier took the pole in front of Liam Van de Wouwer and Niels Meurs who tried to find the best setup for his car. In the Rookie class, that more and more develops in to a fun class for veteran racers, it was Krist Bultynck with the pole position followed by Herman Van Gansen and Harry Coenen.
In the first and second Efra class A-main Olivier took easy wins with eight to nine seconds margin. Mitchel van Es came in 2nd, Rico Claeys 3rd and Athan De Witte 4th. Olivier then sat out the third final to not disturb the fight for the remaining podium spots. Athan De Witte took a very strong start and took the lead but unfortunate Mitchel hit him from behind and Athan lost several places. Due to this incident it became an unpredictable race. Steve Lambrechts started from 5th on the grid took the win in front of Rico Claeys and Mitchel van Es. The unfortunate Athan came back from last to 5th place. Overall the win went to Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix) from Mitchel van Es (Awesomatix) and Rico Claeys (Schumacher) 3rd.
Patrick Prinsen took a big advantage in the first Stock final when Vincent Van Gansen made a mistake and touched Giovanni Moguez. Giovanni was so unlucky and had to come back from last place. Patrick took the win in front of Vincent and Xavier Debroye. It was nice to see the battle between Vincent and Giovanni in the second final. Patrick was strong and took the win but within a second Giovanni secured a 2nd place in front of Vincent. Patrick also took the third final, to prove his mastery on this track. Early in the race Vincent made two big mistakes and Giovanni took the 2nd place in front of youngster Alexander Van Gansen. Patrick Prinsen (Awesomatix) became the overall winner in front of Giovanni Moguez (Xray) and Vincent Van Gansen (Xray).
The opening two Formula A-mains were smooth sailing for Olivier and both finals saw nice battles between Liam Van de Wouwer and Niels Meurs – with the better end for Niels. In the third final Olivier made a mistake and Liam Van de Wouwer took a strong start. Because of the long eight minute runs Olivier had the chance to come back but Liam was able to take the win. Overall Olivier Bultynck (Shepherd) took the win from Niels Meurs (Roche) 2nd and Liam Van de Wouwer (Xray) 3rd.
In the Rookie class Herman Van Gansen took the win after some entertaining finals in front of Krist Bultynck and Luc Wauters.
Source: Belgian Electric On-road Championship [onroad-electro.jimdo.com]
