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12 June 2011
UNITY IS STRENGHT !

After a magnificent race the Aston Martin #22 Kronos/Marc VDS conquered seventh place in the Le Mans 24 Hours. And to say that five weeks earlier the team was not even sure of an entry!

Vanina Ickx (despite a lost wheel in the first hour and a slight contact on Sunday morning), Maxime Martin (‘Rookie of Le Mans’) and Bas Leinders (faultless) drove an almost perfect race to get a great result and get a podium finish in unofficial category of the petrol-engined prototypes.

“This makes us all very happy”, Vanina Ickx states, getting the best personal result in her 8th participation in the Le Mans 24 Hours. “This adventure was made possible by two who share the same passion, Olivier Baglione (Orbello Racing, the owner of the car) and Marc van der Straten, and by the skill and experience of two teams, Kronos Racing and the Marc VDS Racing Team. This 100 % Belgian collaboration also has strong symbolical value… The motto of our country is ‘Unity is Strength’, and even though that might not seem to work in politics for the moment, we have proven it surely works in motorsports!”

With a Walloon (Ickx), Flemish (Leinders) and Brussels (Martin) driver, the symbolical value of the whole undertaking becomes even stronger. It has been fifteen years since there was a national Belgian entry in Le Mans (the Ferrari 333SP of Goossens-van de Poele-Bachelart in 1996), but that project did not finish well. The time the car ran like clockwork and the team fulfilled its mission, without once missing a beat.

“This is fabulous”, Bas Leinders says. “A fantastic car and a whole lot of positive energy gave this adventure a happy ending, even though it was hard to realize given the reduced timeframe. Hats off to everybody, especially to Vanina, who has proven worthy of LMP1-racing.”

Maxime Martin found it all hard to believe. “I would like to thank all the partners who made this possible. I am very proud of this team and very happy to have been able to contribute to this magnificent result. To be able to race in these circumstances is a real treat. Le Mans is gigantic!”

The two Belgian teams who made the joint venture could appreciate the experience as well, knowing very well that only the combination of their strengths had made this adventure possible.

“We put our reputation on the line here”, Marc Van Dalen (Kronos Racing) confirms. “But it soon became very clear that we had to cooperate with the Marc VDS Racing Team to realize this project. The team worked with a lot of professionalism and a lot of serenity, because everybody put their egos away to form a strong unified team. Congratulations to all the boys… and girls!”

Jean-Michel Delporte (Marc VDS Racing Team) added: “Without Kronos Racing’s entry and Orbello Racing’s magnificent car we would never have been able to compete in Le Mans this year. We were able to create a positive movement, even though we had to start from way behind, with little time, especially since our agendas are already quite full. But to be able to show our strengths in these difficult conditions makes me very happy!”

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