New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday considers himself fully prepared for the penultimate round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup being held in Belgium this weekend. The race will be run on one of the most historic and demanding circuits in world motor racing – the fearsome Spa-Francorchamps track located in the forests of the Ardennes region.
Halliday has raced at Spa once before in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup and has often remarked on the high speed up and downhill nature of the circuit. One particular section is reputed to be the most spectacular in Formula 1 racing: namely the full throttle “Eau Rouge” which is definitely not for the faint hearted.
The Giltrap Racing Porsche 911 Cup car has undergone a full rebuild since the devastating crash at the last round of the championship in Hungary. The MRS organisation have worked tirelessly to have the car on the starting grid for this weekend although track time is limited to reset the car up before qualifying but Halliday merely sees that as part of the challenge:
“The team have done a huge job to get us here so I can’t thank them enough for the effort. I’m looking forward to the weekend as Spa is a fantastic circuit despite the unpredictable weather and also because the Belgium round is the “home race” for Zespri Kiwifruit in Europe. As a one of our major sponsors they will have several corporate guests attending and giving us some good support!” said Halliday from the track yesterday.
One redeeming feature of the weekend will be the possibility of overtaking with several heavy braking areas for tight corners. However, the plan will still be to qualify well and again ensure the car is set up for good race pace as the laps are quite long at 6.96 kilometres. The race itself will be over 10 laps so having a good knowledge of the circuit will be an advantage to the European based drivers.
Round 9 of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will again be a support event to the Belgium Formula 1 Grand Prix. The 45 minute practice session will take place on Friday afternoon with qualifying (30 minutes) on Saturday and the race around midday on Sunday.
