Nogaro, September 30: Mustang gets closer to GT4 title
The Thermosulit Mustang has edged a little closer to winning the GT4 championship, with Eric de Doncker now needing only three points from the remaining round.
Following on from the double rendezvous at Francorchamps, the GT4 Cup, the latest creation emanating from the SRO team, travelled on down to the French circuit at Nogaro for two 30-minute heats which were going to have a major influence regarding the attribution of the European title. And it was as provisional leader of the championship that Eric De Doncker took on the weekend, fully determined to defend this position, with a view to clinching the first competition in the history of this new GT4 series. As could be expected the Belgian driver excelled as from the qualifying sessions, clocking up a second best time and highly promising for the rest of the weekend …
However, the rest of the weekend wasn’t to be quite as obviously promising. Right from the warm up lap of the first of the two heats Eric came up against an unexpected problem... "The power steering showed serious signs of weakness ", the worried driver of the superb Mustang FR500C entered by the Thermosulit Motorsport 98 team commented. “And I can assure you that without power steering everything becomes very complicated. After a few laps it became almost impossible to steer the car into the bends, made all the worse by the fact that here quite a few are very tight … But OK, there was this leader’s position in the championship, and over and above all I wanted to clinch this title for Ford. I clenched my teeth, I battled like mad to get here physically speaking, and I finally took the chequered flag in 3rd place. The competitor ranked 2nd was racing ex-championship, which made the deal reasonable after all. But at what a price !"
A race against the clock then ensued for the team running the Mustang. The power steering servo pump having given up the ghost, De Doncker and all those around did everything in their power to
obtain another one…from Brussels! "I contacted a friend in Belgium, who went to the workshops and dismantled a pump from another Mustang. This Sunday morning he jumped on the first TGV train heading for Bordeaux, where some other acquaintances collected the part to finally bring it down to the circuit. We were able to refit everything within the time. An entirely exceptional performance all round …"
For Eric this was the moment to take on the second heat with the firm intention of thanking in his way all those who had collaborated in bringing this about. However it soon became apparent to the driver that the car’s handling was not ideal … "I just can’t understand it; there have been no alterations to the car’s set-up. I was suddenly experiencing the most incredible over-steer. Not the ideal conditions to go out to battle for the victory. Similar to the day before I just didn’t want to give in, and managed to gain a place on the podium. A positive conclusion to a difficult weekend, and not necessarily that amusing either… but terribly important all the same."
The following round, initially scheduled at Magny-Cours in a fortnight’s time during the FFSA Grand Touring competition, has not been confirmed, and therefore Eric De Doncker remains the leader of the European championship. And should the travel down to the Nièvre actually happen, the Thermosulit driver only requires 3 tiny points to clinch the laurels. "Whatever happens now I reckon we have experienced an exceptional season ", Eric commented, "allowing me to be up on the podium 6 times out of a total of 8 races. Not bad, is it? When acquiring this Ford Mustang FR500C, the objective was quite clearly to go for the title. Mission accomplished, even though we won’t jump to any hasty conclusions until the results have been officially confirmed …"
