PK Carsport with Kumpen-Longin-Beliën start the season by putting their Audi R8 LMS on the podium in Zolder!

Nothing but smiles when Frank Beliën, Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen mounted the podium after the New Race Festival, the first leg of the BRCC 2014 championship. With their second place after three hours of racing PK Carsport made the most of their Audi R8 LMS. “A great start of the championship!"

"We couldn’t have done any better than this", indicates Anthony Kumpen. "The Ferrari that finished ahead of us is more recent and therefore also more competitive than our 2011 Audi. On top of that, the car was driven by two guys who are into car racing at a professional level and often end at the top of race results and this not only in Belgium. So I have to say I’m really proud of our race and I think we adopted the right strategy. Frank took the start in the race and delivered a perfect stint. Afterwards, Bert and myself went all the way without making any mistake. Just like last year, we’re off to a good start in this championship, while it seems that some of our competitors were not quite ready yet... We were able to profit from their mistakes, which led to an excellent result, especially if we take into account that Vervisch-Verdonck, who won this race, will normally not participate the whole season."
Bert Longin, who took his youngest son Louis, exactly one year old, with him on the podium, experienced a remarkable weekend. "We unexpectedly ended up taking the second place and my son Stienes seized the victory in BGDC", says the man from Leuven proudly. "I’m equally delighted to see that the BRCC is heading in the right direction. The national championship is looking good with lots of beautiful cars at the start and a lot of spectators. The team promoting this event clearly did a good job. Congrats! But to be really honest, I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with our 7th time in the qualifications. The Balance of Performance is limiting the top speed of our Audi. We are short of power because of the ‘bride’ and our car is actually too heavy. Our fastest lap for instance was 1’32’’3, while I managed to do a lap in 1’30’’9 in 2011, the best proof that our R8 LMS could not demonstrate his full potential. Ok, we became second, but that was more thanks to the professionalism of PK Carsport, that came up with the perfect strategy. On top of that, Zolder is quite a tortuous track… I can already tell you now that in Dijon two weeks from now, we’ll suffer on that long, climbing straight line towards start/finish in Dijon. And I don’t even want to think yet on what we’ll be facing in Francorchamps! I really don’t think it’s normal that the cars in the Cup-category carry a higher top speed than our R8. I sincerely believe that the people in charge with the federation have to work on the Balance of Performance. Then all would be perfect!"
In his first race with PK Carsport and the magical duo Kumpen-Longin, Frank Beliën did an excellent job. Four years after his victory in the 24 Hours of Zolder, the driver from Bolderberg could mount the podium again in Limburg together with his famous team mates. "This really was an excellent weekend", he happily said at the end. "The whole team of PK Carsport did a wonderful job and has proven once again to be of a high standard. As for me, I felt quite comfortable in our Audi R8 LMS. In order to progress as rapidly as possible, I spent three hours with Bert, Anthony and our race engineer, analysing data and studying the on-board imagines. This clearly paid off, since I managed to improve my personal best from 1’36’’2 down to 1’34’’6. And this during the race! You know, despite my age of 52, I’m actually still a youngster when it comes to car racing. This weekend was only my 28th race ever, so I’ve still got a lot to learn! Anyway, this second place can be considered a nice reward and so I’m looking forward to Dijon. It will be a new track for me that I’ll have to discover, but I hope to meet the expectations once again..."
The ‘Trophée de Bourgogne’, from May 9 to 11 in Dijon, will indeed see the second race of the BRCC championship. This will be another opportunity for PK Carsport to seize a place on the podium again, on a track that became legendary when Arnoux-Villeneuve fought an epic duel here during the French GP in 1979.