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Kronos Events puts the National Circuit on track (press release)

After a long and difficult winter for national circuit motor sport, the RACB and Kronos Events are happy to be able to announce to the many permit holders, teams and to the press that a good solution has been found for the organisation and promotion of three championships and a Belgian Cup on the circuit track in 2012. “I am proud and relieved to be able to officially announce that the RACB has come together  with  Kronos Events to put the national championships on the circuit track starting this season”, confides Geoffroy Theunis, Managing Director of RACB Sport. “Although there may be a short delay, I know that the team, directed by Jean-Pierre Mondron and Marc Van Dalen, are working full throttle on this project and are ready, with their twenty years of auto sport competition, to fully meet this new challenge. The counters have been switched back to zero, we have a clean slate and the federation has complete faith in them. The dark clouds are behind us and now it’s time for sport!”

A player with Procar for years with Peugeot and carrying off many national titles along with being double winner of the 24 hours of Spa and already an organiser in the past for the Peugeot 106 Trophies, the Mazda MX5 Cup as well as the European Toyota Yaris Cup, Kronos Events moves on now to taking on the role of director and producer for the Tourisme and GT car championships on one hand and the new Be Trophy on the other hand.

“Jean-Pierre Mondron and I have always been passionate about auto sport”, Marc Van Dalen explains. “We could not just ignore the situation and the future of national auto sport and so decided to act. It is a big challenge but we believe in it. Motors are our passion and passion is also our motor. 2012 will certainly be a year of apprenticeship but we are prepared to listen to the critics and progress.  

The important thing for us is to get there fast and well so that all the players of auto sport in Belgium will be able to find their place, that a maximum of drivers will be able to satisfy their passion and that teams can ply their trade. We are launching ourselves late into the adventure but to deprive enthusiasts of a championship in 2012 would have been dreadful for auto sport in Belgium. We are going to do what we can with what we have and show to drivers, partners, suppliers and the media that they would be right to have faith in us. Our objectives for 2012 are to merit the trust of enthusiasts and to earn credit so as to build the best possible bases while working already towards the future”.

End of discussions, time from now on for action.

The Tourisme and GT car season 2012 will revolve around six meetings (three at Zolder and the same again at Francorchamps) with two championships in one, open to all Silhouettes, Supercars and Tourisme cars as well as the Grand Tourisme. The Belgian Racing Car Championship (BRCC) is born!”

“Linguistic balance and also the equality between our two circuits, are major things for us,” Marc Van Dalen continues. “We want everyone to feel welcome in our competitions. We clearly need the support of all forces involved in motor sport in Belgium to help launch the machine”.

Starting from the principle that there is strength in unity, the BRCC will be open in 2012 to all types of cars (GTs, Silhouettes, and Tourismes). By being inspired by watching what works for our German, Dutch and French neighbours  means returning in a way to the original days of successful formulas in the big years of motor sport in Belgium” Marc Van Dalen and Jean-Pierre Mondron add. “It would have been stupid on our part in these circumstances to pin our hopes on categories with only four or five cars with very little engagement with importers. Thanks to a subtle points system that we’ll give more details about later, (with a cumulative of units in general and in each class), the best representatives from each category will be able to target the titles of Belgian champions”.  

“The titles” in fact since the BRCC proposes to have two, with the organisation of two Short Races on Saturday afternoon (two races of 30 minutes each broken with a 20 minute pause with the Top 8 reversed on the grid for the second match), and a Long Race of 3 hours on Sunday.

The start of the 2012 season will be in a month and a half, May 19 and 20 at Zolder. Following this, the BRCC will be produced three times at Francorchamps with a nocturnal Long Race June 9, the prologue of the 3000 km of Francorchamps July 7 and the curtain raiser of the “Total 24 hours of Spa” July 27 and 28, before a return to Zolder at the end of the year for the Zolder Belgian Masters (19 to 21 October) and the Race Promotion Night (November 9-10).

Three times out of six the BRCC will be accompanied by the new Be Trophy reserved for the famous little silhouettes with the look of Beetles, that come from all corners of Europe. This championship will be the subject of a further, more detailed, press release but for now know that it will start with a 6 hour race at Francorchamps June 9, will include an endurance competition in July (the 3000 km of Francorchamps) and will also have stops at Mettet, at Val de Vienne, and at Zolder. Finally, to have a beautiful close to the season, Kronos Events has a major surprise in store for participants.

Now, get to your diaries and your motors! The 2012 season has been launched!

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