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2011
MONZA

WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP 2006 ROUND FOUR - ZOLDER

THE ZOLDER RACE...AND WHAT A GREAT RIDERS TRACK IT IS!

The 4th round of the World Endurance championship and it's time for another new track, this time the classic Zolder raceway, about 70km from Brussels in Belgium. The circuit is more renowned for holding European Championship races and this was the very first visit for the Endurance World Championship.

In the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium, the Omloop Terlamen is situated close to the village of Zolder. Built in the early sixties and opened in 1965, the track undulates through pine-covered sand hills. The region is dotted with lakes and the vast Albert Canal passes close by to the track. The first major international event was the Limbourg Grand Prix for Formula 2 cars in 1966. The event was won by an Australian ‘chap’ called Jack Brabham!

Rumours were flying before the race about the return of Belgian legend Stephane Mertens, former World Endurance Champion and multiple race winner in both Endurance and World Superbikes. Another rumour was that Le Mans winners National Motos Honda would also be attending, but that one turned out to be false. Mertens was there with the German N0.71 Van Zon Honda team, alongside Werner Daemon and Michael Shulten.

The Zolder track isn't all that easy to find as it's not that well sign-posted. You could even drive past the main entrance without noticing it...we did!...then we followed the signs pointing to the media centre - and ended up back on the main road.
One of the strange features of the track is the paddock area, as it's sandwiched between the front and back straights and is only about 5 meters wide, with the back straight almost up against the rear fence - exciting but a tad dangerous!

I had planned from the previous round at Albacete to get some DVD footage from the local Belgian teams about their workshops an home bases...but only two of four came up with the goods - and both discs they gave me were in formats that we just couldn't read - so, sorry guys!...but I DID say DVD format!

Qualifying followed form, with everybody chasing the Castrol Suzuki No.1 which again was over a second faster than the rest. There were initial worries about the track surface which was relatively new, grip levels disappearing at even the slightest hint of rain but for qualifying and the race, they needn't have worried. Both the Saturday and the Sunday were blazing hot and the tyre manufacturers were well on top of things, Dunlop and Pirelli teams all happy with their tyres.

With Castrol Suzuki fastest, the wildcard Van Zon Honda team 1.28sec behind them, it was the amazing Marko Rohtlaan who adapted the fastest to the new track and his time from first qualifying was enough to secure 3rd on the grid for the Diablo 666 Kawasaki team. The resurgent Moto38 Yamaha was in 4th, Yamaha Austria No.7 5th and the Bolliger Kawasaki in 6th.

Yamaha Austria was once again being beaten with the Bad Luck stick this season - at Zolder, rider Gwen Giabbani was thought to have recovered from being beaten up by his bike at Albacete until a vicious but short-lived tank-slapper in practice tore something in his elbow again and he would sit out the race. On top of this, Yamaha Austria had blown two engines and were down to their last bike, hoping it would last the race. The Belgian team of Classic Motos Suzuki No.19 wouldn't even start the race - trying to solve fuelling problems, they thought they had it sorted after a late night test of the bike on the Saturday - but, even after taking the last fuel sensor available (from a road bike), their race machine was still too sick to race. With many problems suffered by other teams, all the evidence pointed to contaminated fuel - the teams that had bought their fuel outside the circuit instead of bringing their own were the ones to suffer.

Another problem that surfaced during practice was that the last pit positions and very close to the first corner, which meant that riders couldn't take the chance to look at their pit boards, being already committed to the turn. This was partially solved by allowing some teams to relocate their track-side timing booths further up the pit-lane.

So, the race. The start would be reversed from all the other tracks, with the bikes lined up on the Grandstand side of the track, the riders standing alongside the pit-lane on the extremely narrow start-finish straight - but it was a clean start at mid-day and for once it was the Castrol Suzuki that immediately took the lead, the Bolliger Kawasaki in 2nd, Diablo666 3rd and Phase One No.3 4th - and before we go any further, the Castrol Suzuki No.1 was never headed in the race and won from start to finish - but, of course, there was plenty of other dramas.

Yamaha Austria also didn't get a great start, away in 6th but 4th by lap 6 and the wildcard Van Zon Honda got away in 8th place, fighting through to 3rd by lap 3 and sneaking 2nd on Lap 6, just 2 seconds behind the Castrol Suzuki. Jean-Claude Claperon's Moto38 Yamaha got a great start and looked like they'd be a real threat in the race but, unfortunately, they suffered gearbox problems and were out in the first hour. The Swedes, Fagersjo-El No.12 again showed that this season they have really come of age by getting up in the top ten immediately and chipping away to keep moving up the field. Damian Cudlin started the Phase One No.3 Yamaha challenge but a crash demoted the team to 16th and they faced another fight up the field.
"I'd just caught and passed Vankeymeulen and was trying to break him off my tail when we came up to a slower pack of lapped riders."  Cudlin said. "I was keen to get through them as fast as I could but made a wrong call and slammed into one of them at the 2nd chicane. Next thing I knew I was flying through the air. I got slapped down pretty hard in my fall and was stiff and sore, but felt strong enough to go on. Problem was that I took a bit of a knock to the head and Russell, my team boss, didn't want to put me back out there. He was only looking out for me, but I wasn't too happy at the time. I just wanted to get back through the field." 
Cudlin was left in the pits for the next 3hours to watch team mates Warwick Nowland and Christer Minnin claw back vital seconds. The pair had climbed to 7th before a gear change mechanism failure cost the team another 3 minutes in the pits.

By the second hour we had lost one of the wildcards, the No.61 Normand'urance Moto Champion Suzuki in a crash which destroyed the bike, Moto38 were out and Yamaha Austria No.7 had moved ahead of the Van Zon Honda into 2nd, Bolliger Kawasaki were 4th and the Belgian Acropolis Zone Rouge No.99 Yamaha (the Superbike entry - they had another, the Superproduction No.199) had gone from 9th up to 5th. Rider Niggi Schmassmann had to push in the Innodrom No.15 Suzuki with an electrical problem but it was spotted almost as soon as he got off the bike and he was back in the race with only a little time lost. It was also good to see Heinz Platacis back racing after taking a couple of years off to make some money!

Halfway through the race and there was another blown engine, this time it was the RVC Endurance Aprilia's turn but it wasn't going to be a triumphant return for Stephane Mertens - just after he came in after his first relay on the Van Zon Honda, Michael Schulten crashed the bike - I think it was on his second lap of his relay. They got back in the race but eventually retired having completed only 113 laps...about halfway...and that was the last-ever World Championship outing for Belgian superstar Stephane Mertens. It was Castrol Suzuki leading, Yamaha Austria in 2nd, Bolliger 3rd - and the Zone Rouge Yamaha No.99 had moved into 4th. Diablo 666 Kawasaki were comfortable in 5th, holding off the Fagesrjo-el No.12 in 6th - and the Phase One No.3 Yamaha had fought up to 7th.

Just over two hours to go and Diablo 666 Kawasaki had now moved into the top three, in front of the Bolliger No.8 which had some minor gearshift problems - but the challenge from the Zone Rouge No.99 was over after their clutch failed. That meant that the Fagersjo Suzuki was now up to 5th and Phase One now in 6th place. The young Diablo Kawasaki team were going great guns...then disaster struck. Young Alex Cudlin had crashed - but with a deflated and bent front wheel he rode the bike back to the pits but the damage to the machine was just too severe to continue. Alex was almost in tears - he had no major injuries but his new leathers were well torn up. It was decided that the time taken to repair the bike was just too long and they would have to withdraw from the race. Alex said  “I hit a false neutral and then it re-engaged and the bike high sided me off at turn 3, a really fast right hander. What can I say, I am gutted for the team".

One hour to go and the Castrol Suzuki factory No.1 had a 2 lap lead over Yamaha Austria and Bolliger Kawasaki were now 3rd, 3 laps adrift of the Austrians. The Fagersjo Suzuki was 4th, one lap back and Phase One No.3 were now 5th, with Australia's Warwick Nowland the fastest man on track...and that's the way it finished. In the final two hours, the Phase One junior team, Shell Endurance Academy No.6 had moved into the top 10 and finished 8th, the Zone Rouge team had got their Superproduction Yamaha into 9th  and the Belgian Primo Racing Suzuki No.11 had demoted rivals Dirk Van Mol Racing and taken 10th.

Castrol Suzuki's Vincent Philippe: "It's a good result for the Championship. The next round at Suzuka will be difficult but this result means we can take some risks there; we can go fast, so it will be good."

MANDY KAINZ - YAMAHA AUSTRIA

"At the first practice session we lost Gwen Giabbani. Our qualifying star was injured while struggling to control his tank- slapping bike and was not able to make the race. Also 2 engines were dead after temperatures of more than 35 degrees. After all these problems we managed just a 5th place in qualifying. The warm up was a indicator for the race with full tanks and race tires. We were 3rd , but both riders were absolutely unhappy with the bike.

So, after the warm-up, we did what nobody should ever do. We changed chassis setup, tires, injection mapping....everything!.

The race started quite different from all our expectations. Our setup fitted perfectly and both riders managed much faster lap times than in timed practice. After 1 Hour we were 2nd and kept this position till the finish. So we were 2 Laps behind the dominating Castrol Suzuki and comfortable, 4 laps in front of 3rd placed Bolliger. The only disappointment was the fuel consumption. We had to make 7 pit-stops. Most of the other teams only needed 5 fuel stops - nevertheless, YART was the fastest team in the pits with only 4.30 minutes standing time in pits...but with 7 pit-stops!!!!...AARGH!"

RESULTS

POINTS

Pitlane at Zolder - Moto38 riders Gregory Fastré, Julien Enjolras, Denis Bouan

PRE-ZOLDER NEWS