Hockenheim was the venue for the Porsche Endurance Trophy Benelux, barely two weeks after the opener of the season at Circuit Zolder and also just two weeks before the next race, in another fourteen days in the Belgian Ardennes. As part of the Belgian endurance championship the Porsche Endurance Trophy Benelux was again a real sprint of 180 minutes with a second victory for the team of Belgium Racing and the duo Dylan Derdaele and Nicolas Saelens. The team leading the championship certainly did not receive the victory as a gift!

The Porsche Endurance Trophy has the wind in its sails, because in addition to the three Porsche 911, two 992 GT3 Cup and one 991 GT3 Cup, from Belgium Racing and the 992 GT3 Cup from Red Ant Racing, we also saw two additional Porsche 992 GT3 Cups form Q1 Trackracing by EMG. Therefore, the German round of the Porsche Endurance Trophy had additional names from the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux on the starting list. For example, Jan Lauryssen took place next to Filip Teunkens and Nicolas Vandierendonck partnered with Dirk Schouten. Naturally, the Red Ant Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport was also present, with in addition to the duo Van Laere-Vandekerckhove, the young Kobe De Breucker who was ready to make his debut in the competition.

During the qualifications the pole position was narrow for Ayrton Redant, in front of Jan Lauryssen who confirmed all the good talks about him in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux. Dylan Derdaele sprinted to third place at barely three tenths of a second, in turn chased by Dirk Schouten. Koen and Kris Wauters closed the top 5, ahead of Glenn Paenen and Jan Ooms, of course in the slightly older Porsche 991 GT3 Cup. Red Ant Racing's Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport was the fastest in the GTB class.

"This is good after our difficult first race in Zolder," said the young Ayrton Redant, who kept the pack behind in the chrono stages. “But it's a 180-minute race so it won't be decided in qualifying. Moreover, the weather for tomorrow, Sunday, is uncertain, so a good strategy will play an important role! ”

The race itself

After three hours - dry - racing on Sunday, half a minute determined the victory and difference in the Porsche Endurance Trophy Benelux. After a solid start, national endurance champion Dylan Derdaele took the lead, but the black-red 911 of the Red Ant family was not far behind. The pressure remained on Belgium Racing, but in the end details made the difference and the victory went to the team from Lommel. The battle for places three and four was a fraternal battle between the two Porsche of Q1-Trackracing by EMG, where the verdict was in the final phase of the race. Dirk Schouten and Jan Lauryssen were well matched, but in the end it was Schouten who secured the last step on the podium with a five-second bonus. Koen and Kris Wauters were also not far off, they finished fifth at less than a minute and a half from the podium. The sixth place was for the duo Paenen-Ooms.

“I am of course satisfied”, Dylan Derdaele told the podium. “This is already the fourth victory of the season with the brand new Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, after previous victories in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux and in the first round of this championship. Let’s bring on Spa!”

Victory in GTB went to Red Ant Racing's Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

On 5 and 6 June there will be another race in the Porsche Endurance Trophy Benelux. On the Calendar: Spa-Francorchamps for another 180 minutes of exciting competition.