News Archive
Third in Dutch GT4 Championship
Zandvoort, October 11th 2009. Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven has ended the season in the Tango Dutch GT4 Championship with a podium finish and a third place in the drivers’ championship. “We can look back on a fantastic season”, says Paul van Splunteren. “We’ve won three races, had many podium finished and we were in the fight for the championship for the entire season. This team will definitely be back next year!”
At the start of the weekend Paul van Splunteren and Bas Schothorst still had a small chance of winning the championship, so both drivers came to Circuit Park Zandvoort with the highest motivation to get the maximum out of the last Dutch GT4 weekend.
During the first qualifying session Paul managed to secure the second position on the grid and an excellent start during the race gave him the lead during the opening laps. However a small error when changing gears meant that Ricardo van der Ende was able to overtake him. A few moments later Christiaan Frankenhout also managed to get by and Paul finished the race in third position. “I’m really disappointed with my mistake”, Paul says stepping down from the podium. “It is great to add another podium finish to the list, but it could have been even better.”
By finishing second it was Christiaan Frankenhout who secured the first ever title in the Dutch GT4. “Christiaan is also driving a Porsche 997 GT4, so I am really happy with this result”, says Paul who is also the owner of GT3.nl, the company that built and developed the Porsche for GT4 racing.
In the second qualifying session there was bad luck for Bas Schothorst. A broken sensor on the engine made the car low on horsepower and a 16th place on the grid for both the second and the third race of the weekend was the result. Nevertheless he finished in 8th position during the second race and during the feature race Bas and Paul did even better by finishing 6th.
This result meant that Van Splunteren secured his third place in the drivers’ championship, closely followed by Bas in fourth position.
Paul van Splunteren is very enthusiastic when evaluating the season; “our co-operation with Revs Motorsport was fantastic. Revs has been responsible for running our Porsche and also the championship winning car of Christiaan Frankenhout. We’ve been competitive from the very first race and the team has been very good in working with the various handicaps we accumulated throughout the season. The co-operation with Porsche and all of our sponsors has been great as well. I think everyone has worked very hard to make this an amazing championship and I’m already looking forward to next year!”
The Porsche 997 GT4 has been developed especially for National and European GT4 racing by GT3.nl, the motorsport department of Porsche Centrum Eindhoven. Interested drivers and teams can order a Porsche AG approved conversion kit from GT3.nl to convert a 997 GT3 road car to GT4 specifications. GT3.nl can also assist in the build of a ‘ready to race’ Porsche 997 GT4 or with the search for a suitable second hand 997 GT3 for conversion.
Results race 1:
1. Ricardo van der Ende, BMW M3 GT4, 14 laps in 25:57.160; 2. Christiaan Frankenhout, Porsche 997 GT4, at 4.362; 3. Paul van Splunteren, Porsche 997 GT4, at 5.031.
Results race 2:
1. Danny van Dongen, Corvette C6, 14 laps in 25:47.974; 2. Henry Zumbrink, Corvette C6, at 1.657; 3. Phil Bastiaans, Porsche 997 GT4, at 19.312; 8. Bas Schothorst, Porsche 997 GT4, at 30.534.
Results race 3:
1. Jan Joris Verheul, Aston Martin GT4, 26 laps in 50:02.980; 2. Ferdinand Kool, BMW Z4, at 5.682; 3. Simon Knap, BMW M3 GT4, at 16.732; 6. Bas Schothorst and Paul van Splunteren, Porsche 997 GT4, at 40.683.
Final Championship standings after 20 races:
1. Christiaan Frankenhout 121; 2. Ricardo van der Ende 99; 3. Paul van Splunteren 99; 4. Bas Schothorst 95.
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |