It took some patience, but now we are back! The Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux will be back in action next Tuesday, with an official “Roll Out” at CM.com Circuit Zandvoort. One month before the first race of the season, which will be completed in the support act of the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa, the teams can get to work for the first time with the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, type 992. With its 510 hp and meticulous aerodynamics make this the most powerful Cup ever to have rolled out of the Porsche Motorsport workshops.
“We feel proud and very honored,” says a broadly smiling Olivier Aerts, Series Manager. “The Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux is one of the six championships where the new 911 GT3 can be raced this year. Only the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and the German, French, Asian and North American Cup are in the same case. We certainly have to thank Porsche Motorsport for that, as well as the drivers and teams who put their trust in us from the start. This first appointment of the season, the Roll Out in Zandvoort, immediately gets a historic and exclusive touch. ”
The least we can write is that the arrival of the new 911 GT3 Cup has generated an unprecedented enthusiasm for the Benelux Championship. No less than 21 drivers from ten different teams have already confirmed their participation in the six race weekends of the 2021 season. They represent an excellent mix of young talents aspiring to a place in the Porsche Motorsport pyramid and strong amateur drivers. Although defending champion Loek Hartog managed to use the Carrera Cup Benelux as a stepping stone towards an international career, two former champions are making their comeback this year: the Belgian Dylan Derdaele (Belgium Racing) and the Dutchman Xavier Maassen (TeamPGZ by Redant Racing), respectively the laureates of 2016 and 2017.
A duo that is certainly part of the group of favorites, but quite a few riders want to put themselves in the spotlight in the Pro category. Then we think in the first place of the returning Glenn van Paris (NGT), ex-single-seater racer Ghislain Cordeel (GP Elite) and the Dutchman Huub Van Eijndhoven (PGZ-JW Race), in 2020 the author of some remarkable achievements. But that is not everything! The champion of the Clubsport Division in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Benelux, Thierry Vermeulen (GP Elite), is moving towards the Carrera Cup Benelux this year. With Steven van Rhee (GP Elite) and Sebastian Freymuth (PG Motorsport) he forms a trio of young wolves that should definitely be kept an eye on. They all realize that the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux can be the start of a career at a higher level.
This season it will also be interesting to see the performances of Michael Cool (NGT), Nicolas Vandierendonck (Q1-EMG), Filip Teunkens (Q1-EMG), Floris Dullaart (GP Elite), Ziad Geris (GP Elite) and Nicolas Saelens (Belgium). ) in Pro-Am. Jan Lauryssen (Q1-EMG), Jeroen Kreeft (Parker Revs Racing) and the duo Ad Geerts-Luc Vanderfeesten (PGZ-Redant) will compete for the victory in the class reserved for the Am drivers. Fight on all levels is what is called. The six race meetings on the agenda will all be completed in a hyper-professional setting, with races supporting the FIA WEC, ADAC GT Masters and DTM.
“The 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup vintage will probably be the best ever,” confirms Olivier Aerts. “The list of participants looks great, with a nice mix of professional drivers, young talents and gentlemen drivers who can hold their own at the highest level. We are impatient to hear the engines of the new 911 GT3 Cup cars echo through the Zandvoort dunes for the first time! ”
Next Tuesday's Roll Out gives the teams the opportunity to fully master their new cars. Because the drivers of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will also be present, the participants in the Benelux Championship will immediately have good reference times at their disposal. A second day of testing will be held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit on April 16, and the Ardennes circuit is also the setting for the opening round of the season, from April 29 to May 1.
