At the last moment there was some extra new regarding Marc’s program for this year. Marc will be competing in a few BRL races this year, and the first one was held last weekend at the Nürnburgring.  Despite some engine problems, the overall outcome of the weekend was positive.

Due to other commitments, Marc couldn’t participate in Thursday’s free practise session. On Friday there a 25 minute qualifying session. As it was the very first run for the modified and upgraded BRL car, it was more a shakedown test then anything else. Marc ran for 4 laps in which he endured an ignition issue. Therefore the engine was mis-firing all the way through the RPM range. That meant that his qualifying session was cut short and that Marc had to start from the back of the grid in race one.

The races are now a different format as from this season. The BRL are part of the Dutch Supercar Challenge (DSC). Instead of the sprint races as they were known them before, now BRL runs two one hour races. In the races are currently different classes. “I try to explain in a simpel way how the classes are divided.” Marc says. “There is the GT class, which is for older type GT1, 2 cars and the very latest models of GT cars. For instance the Porsche GT3-R, which I drive in BEC this year, would fit into this category. After that there is the Super Sport 1 category which allows older models of GT cars as well as the BRL field.”

In race 1, the Goose made up about 15 spots in the first 4 laps. The car felt good and the problems that he experienced in qualifying were gone. Unfortunately on lap 5, the car came to a stop. The motor management failed and cut off the engine completely. Later the team found out that some ill functioning wiring loom had caused the ECU to burn.

Race two was much better. “Again starting from the back, I had a chance to feel what the car was like in the rain.” Marc clarifies. “And it was very positive. I ran all the way to the front end of the field. I mean that I was leading the BRL class, 3rd in Super Sport 1 (SS1) and I was in 8th place overall. There was the prove that in those circumstances the BRL cars are competitive in this form of racing.” With only a couple of laps remaining, the engine power got disturbed again. Marc therefore lost a couple of positions at that point. Because of a race accident between two other competitors, both of them are OK, the race was red flagged for safety reasons. This means that the final result is the standings of the last completed green lap. The final result for Marc being a second place in BRL, 7th in SS1 and 14th overall.

“Not a bad end of the weekend especially if I consider qualifying as a first roll out of the car and given the fact that I didn’t have a huge amount of track time.“, Marc concludes after the weekend.

This weekend was the first of seven race weekends for the BRL series. In the near future, Marc will be able to communicate how many of the remaining races he will compete in.

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