Belgian Electric On-road Nationals Rd7 – Report
The final round of the Belgian Electric On-road Nationals was held at the technical track of the MRCZ club in Zwevegem. Practice on Saturday started out with dry weather but in the afternoon it began to rain. The qualifiers on Sunday then were a mix of dry and small rainy moments and it was Olivier Bultynck who made the best out of the situation by grabbing the TQ spot in the Efra class. Mitchell Van Es came in second while a happy Thomas Stockman took the three spot on his hometrack. Nick Joosens and Nicolas Delisé rounded out the top 5 result.
In the opening A-main Olivier took a splendid start and he immediately opened a gap and it looked like he would be on rails on the low grip track. Mitchell did everything he could to follow Olivier, but Ollie was just to fast. Further down the field a clean fight for third was on between four contenders: Thomas Stockman, Nick Joosens, Nicolas Delisé and Rico Claeys. Up front Olivier took an easy win in front of Mitchell while Thomas won the battle for third place. The second final was almost a copy of the first one. Olivier was in the lead followed by Mitchell and Thomas. At the end of the final Ollie brought home the win more than half a lap in front of Mitchell and Thomas. With the overall win already taken Olivier opted to sit out the third A-main. Mitchell took the lead and as easy it was for Ollie in the first two finals, so easy was it for Mitchell in the third leg. Behind him it was Thomas and Nick who fought for the runner-up spot while Mitchell took the win. Ultimately Thomas held the upper hand on Nick. The overall results saw Olivier Bultynck (VBC Racing) taking the win from Mitchell Van Es (Yokomo) and Thomas Stockman (Yokomo).
In the overall championship Olivier took the title in front of Mitchell van Es and Nicolas Delisé.
In the Stock class it would be a fight for the championship between Dylan Senaeve and Athan De Witte although it was Kristof De Witte who was on pole for the finals in front of Athan and Dylan. The opening A-main held some drama on the first lap when Athan touched Kristof and the latter rolled. In great sportsmanship Athan waited for Kristof to recover while everyone was screaming to go on but Athan waited till Kristof had passed him. Meanwhile Dylan had a big lead and Athan was fighting hard and came back from fifth spot. Disaster then again stroke, this time in the final corner when Dylan made a mistake, putting his car on the roof. Athan passed him and took an unexpectedly win. A disappointed Dylan came in as second in leg one while Kristof took the third place in front of local Nathan Cortvriendt. In the second final Dylan Senaeve had again bad luck with a broken driveshaft and his race was over. Athan then passed Kristof who also had some troubles and stopped on lap four. Géry Ledocq and Christophe Charlier tried to follow Athan but the youngster was very fast and took his second win of the day and with it the championship. Géry was happy with second place, Christophe came in third. The third final then was an easy task for Kristof De Witte. Athan and Dylan did not start for several reasons and Géry could not follow the pace of Kristof who took the win while Géry came in as second. Dirk De Ceulaerde took the third place in this leg, coming from ninth on the grid. The overall results saw Athan De Witte (VBC Racing) taking the win from Kristof De Witte (ARC) and third Géry Ledocq (VBC Racing).
In the Stock class championship Athan De Witte grabbed the title from Dylan Senaeve and Géry Ledocq in second and third respectively.
The low grip track made it very difficult for the Formula class to find a good setup and Olivier Bultynck took TQ in front of team mate Nicolas Delisé and Steve Deblaere. Ollie and Nicolas then also pulled away from the start in the first final. Steve tried to follow but he made a few mistakes and had grabbed a happy third place while Ollie stayed in the lead and took the win in front of Nicolas. In the second lap of the second final Nicolas made a mistake and Ollie pulled away. Steve was now in second place but Nicolas was fighting back and he put some pressure on Steve. This allowed Ollie to take an easy win while Nicolas managed to overtake Steve for the second place. In the third final Ollie opted to not start and it was Nicolas in the lead but Steve had found a better pace. Steve made some changes on his setup and his Serpent car look much better. After a roll in lap 7 from Steve, Nicolas was gone and he took the win. Steve came in as second and Krist Bultynck completed the top 3. Overall round 7 saw Olivier Bultynck (VBC Racing) taking the win from Nicolas Delisé (VBC Racing) and Steve Deblaere (Serpent).
In the Formula class Championship Olivier Bultynck came out successful from runner-up Steve Deblaere and Michel Mahieu.
In the Rookie class local driver Jurgen Degryze was on TQ but in the opening final Patrick Room took the honours and the win in front of Jurgen with Michael Vanhoenacker in third place. The second final had Angelino Deneef coming out fastest on his local track. Patrick took second and Jurgen ended in third place. Jurgen then was fastest in the third final in front of Patrick and Angelino. Overall Patrick Room took the win from Jurgen Degryze in second and Angelino Deneef in third place.
In the championship Herman Van Gansen brought home the title from Femke Roelans and Mathias Van Laere.
Thanks to Krist Bultynck for the report.
