At 3 o’clock on Sunday morning, after 12 hours of racing, Nicolas De Crem crossed the finish line with the Audi Silhouette as winner of the Spa 12 hours. The weather conditions made it a tough race for all competitors.

Julien Schroyen as well as Nicolas De Crem, Marc’s team mates for the 12 Hours of Spa, drove in a recent past for Marc Goossens Motorsport, the team of Marc that was competing in Formula Renault 1.6 for several years. They are also the regular drivers for Street Machine Racing in BTCS (Belgian Touring Car Series). The numerous fans of Marc fully supported the trio.

On Saturday afternoon Marc started the race from 3rd position. It was raining in the first few hours and the lap times were almost 30 seconds slower than on a dry track. “The Goose” drove a very long first stint. After 3 hours, just after the first granting of championship points, he handed over the steering wheel to Julien Schroyen! The black/red Coca Cola Zero Audi was 2nd after the leading Renault of Vanina Ickx. Many competitors were thrown back in the classification due to different problems, but the Audi Silhouette kept on turning his laps on a regular rhythm.

After a while it stopped raining, but the track wasn’t getting dry so fast due to the cold weather. The Renault Megane had a technical problem, whereby the Audi took 1st position. The Mazda Silhouette, which was also a frontrunner, had to retire with an engine problem when the night came down.

Just before Marc’s last stint (at about 22h30) it started to rain again. The rain tyres were ready, but it stopped and slicks could be taken out of the box.

A bit more than 2 hours before end of the 12h race, Nicolas was forced to come into the pits for reparations on a rear wheel after a collision. The Renaul Megane of Delahaye Racing had to be repaired as well after a similar problem.

Schroyen and De Crem made a big step forward in the championship with this victory.

One of the best known opponents of Marc was Jacques Villeneuve. Villeneuve drove a Seat in category T3. On the start grid he came to greet Marc, but his race was filled with mechanical problems.

Results:

Pictures : Jacques Letihon

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