Dutch Supercar Challenge

Dutch Supercar Challenge

Category	Touring cars and Sportscars
Country or region	Benelux
Inaugural season	2001
Drivers	~80
Drivers' champion	Alex van't Hoff
Official website	supercarchallenge.nl

The Dutch Supercar Challenge is a motor racing series centered on the Benelux. A special feature is that touring cars, GTs and Sportscars can all participate on an equal basis within the same class, enabled by very open regulations. The championship was first held in 2001. It replaced the Supercar Cup.

Format and regulations

A typical race weekend exists of the usual practice on Friday and Saturday, qualifying on Saturday and two races of 45 to 60 minutes with one pit stop of at least 60 seconds. One race is on Saturday and one Sunday. The four classes usually run separate races two classes at a time. The two fastest run together and the two slowest run their race separate. The exception is at Spa-Francorchamps where all four classes can and do run together in two races over the weekend. All races are started from a rolling start though in the past standing starts have been used as well. "Success time" is awarded after every race. The first-place finisher gets 15 seconds, second place gets 10, third place gets 5, fourth place loses 5 seconds, fifth place loses ten and all below fifth place lose 15 seconds. This is added to the time of the minimum pit stop duration. The reason no "success ballast" is used, is the immense variety in vehicles competing. For instance, a 50 kg weight has a much larger effect on a Lotus Elise than it has on a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe even though these can compete in the same class.

Classes

• Sport I - Vehicles over 5.2 kg/bhp. Engines maximum 3000cc and 6 cylinders.

• Supersport II - Vehicles over 4.7 kg/bhp but under 5.2 kg/bhp. Engines maximum 5000 cc and 8 cylinders.

• Supersport I - Vehicles over 3.7 kg/bhp but under 4.7 kg/bhp. Minimum mass is 1080kg. Engines as in Supersport II

• GT - Vehicles over 2.7 kg/bhp but under 3.6 kg/bhp. Minimum mass is 1180kg.

Single make series

During most of its lifetime the Dutch Supercar Challenge has served as a host to many single make series. In the first two years the Marcos Mantis Cup ran within the GT class. In 2003 it was fully integrated in the GT class. Starting in 2008 the Mosler Challenge has run within GT. In 2010 three series were added. Those are BRL V6 and the Saker Challenge, not to be confused with the series of the same name the DNRT hosts, both within Supersport I and BRL Light in Supersport II. The BRL series were before separate events and still have a slightly different calendar. The races at Silverstone don't pay them points while the races at the Zolder truck Grand Prix do though to all other classes they don't count.

Champions

Season	GT	Supersport I	Supersport II	Sport I	Marcos Mantis Cup	Mosler Challenge
2001	Herman Buurman	Ruud Olij	Arjan Vels	Dirk-Jan Hofmans	Herman Buurman
2002	Pieter van Soelen Cor Euser	Rudolf van Soelen	Arjan Vels		Peter van der Kolk
2003	Rob Knook Peter van der Kolk	Hans Ambaum		Albèrt Priem
2004	Cor Euser Jos Menten	Graham Coomes		Hans Ambaum
2005	Pieter Dubois René Wijnen	Lex van der Meijden		Richard van den Berg
2006	Hans Ambaum	Pieter van Soelen		Eugène Janssen Rolf van Os
2007	Ardi van der Hoek Arjen van der Zwaan	Peter van der Kolk	Tony Brown Ian White	Kees Kreijne	Sport II
2008	Martin Short	Henk Thuis	Pieter van Soelen	Luc de Cock	Rob Nieman	Martin Short
2009	Cor Euser	Nol Köhler Henk Haane	Bert van der Zweerde	Nik de Jong Koen Bogaerts	BRL V6	Martin Short
2010	Alex van't Hoff	Rob Frijns Charlie Frijns	Pieter van Soelen	Richard van der Bos Bert van der Zweerde	Niels Bouwhuis

Reference

External links

• Dutch Supercar Challenge website