Belgian Racing hopeful of strong home showing

Ford's Belgian Racing squad head into their home round of Zolder hoping to perform strongly in front of a partisan Belgian crowd.

The team will also field two new drivers in the No. 9 Ford GT Matech, as Belgian Vanina Ickx makes a one-off appearance alongside GT1 debutant Mathias Beche. Beche has previous experience of the Ford GT, having finished second in the car in last year's prestigious Spa 1000km.

Milos Pavlovic and Martin Matzke will once again team up in the No. 10 Belgian Racing Ford GT, and the duo are determined to improve upon two 12th place showings in the opening round at Abu Dhabi. Pavlovic has raced at Zolder several times in single seaters, while Matzke contested the GT3 round at the Belgian circuit in 2009.

"I am very much looking forward to racing this weekend in Zolder," Vanina enthused. "The level in the GT1 World Championship is super high, with only professional teams and drivers competing in the series, which means it won't be easy for us this weekend.

"As we saw in Abu Dhabi a lot can happen in the race, so we'll need a little bit of luck to stay out of trouble this weekend. I hope that by working together with both the Belgian Racing and Marc VDS teams we'll be able to find the pace we need to have a strong race at Zolder."

Serbia's Milos Pavlovic was in a similarly determined mood, saying: "Abu Dhabi was my first experience in a GT1 car and, unfortunately, we had some technical issues that compromised our final result.

"The positive point was that the Ford GT has some potential, we just need a trouble free weekend to realise it and that's what I'm hoping for at Zolder. From what we saw in Abu Dhabi I think the characteristics of the Belgian Racing Ford GT will suit the circuit, so if we can avoid the technical problems we had last time out then the rest will come by itself this weekend in Zolder."

FOTO/INFO FIA GT1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Swiss Racing satisfied with Abu Dhabi opener

Lamborghini's Swiss Racing Team was satisfied to score points in the GT1 season opener in Abu Dhabi - especially given the team's extremely short preparation for the start of the season.

Swiss Racing opted to switch from Ford to the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670 for the start of the 2011 season, and while the decision impacted upon its pre-season preparations, it was also vindicated by a points scoring finish for Peter Kox and Karl Wendlinger in the main Championship Race.

The duo, racing in the No. 5 Murcielago, had started the race from 10th position - their finishing berth in the Qualifying Race - but made up several places during the hour-long Championship Race, with Kox eventually collecting the chequered flag in seventh position.

Peter Kox, who joined Swiss Racing this year and has a long history with Lamborghini, was positive about his team's performance on the Yas Marina circuit, saying: "The first weekend included a lot of ups and downs. The team has to learn a lot about the new cars, but the basis and engineering are very good. I am also very happy with my partner (Wendlinger); he has a lot of experience and you could not wish for a better colleague."

Kox's team-mate Karl Wendlinger was also pleased with his team's performance on the Yas Marina circuit: "It was a good start for the team - P7 is not sensational but I am pleased because the car was very fast. If we manage to start from the first three rows we have a very good chance this season."

The weekend proved less fruitful for the No. 6 Lamborghini, which was shared by Sweden's Max Nilsson and the Czech Republic's Jiri Janak, making his GT1 debut. The pair finished just outside the top ten in both races, but both found reasons to be positive from the weekend.

"Everything was new for me: the car, the team, even the track," Jiri Janak explained. "The FIA GT1 World Championship is very hard and you have to be perfect to be among the top pilots. I feel very comfortable with the team though, they did great work and it is fun to work with Max (Nilsson).

Max Nilsson said: "The weekend was very hard because we had no real opportunity to test the cars in advance. I had good speed (during the race) which I am very happy about, but I would want more testing time in order to get to know the cars better."

Info and Foto FIA GT1 Championship/Acreditated and Autorized Media Press.