MY PERSONAL MOTORSPORT TOP 25 OF 2013 : AJ'S REVIEW.2013-12-17

2013 is almost over, so it's time to look back. It was again a year full of motorsport for me. I made a top 25 of events/moments that made me have fun, caused adrenaline or gave me great racing. Enjoy!

2013 is bijna voorbij. Tijd dus om mijn jaaroverzicht te maken. Het werd voor mij weer een jaar vol autosport. Ik maakte een top-25 lijst met evenementen en momenten die me gelukkig maakten, me een adrenaline shot gaven of gewoon mooie autosport leverden. Geniet ervan!

This is my personal Motorsport top 25 of 2013:


Dit is mijn persoonlijke autosport top 25 van 2013 :

25 :Our Drift Company events are always a pleasure to organize! 

25: Onze Drift bedrijfsevenementen zijn steeds een plezier om te organiseren;

24 : Euro NASCAR @ Tours (F)

23: Supporting Dale Lomas at VLN

22: Skylimit @ Bilster Berg Drive Resort

21: SKYLIMIT DRIFT CUP AM class champions : 1. Rick Van Goethem, 2. Nico Van Daele, 3. Karen Vaes

SKYLIMIT DRIFT CUP PRO class champions : 1. Kurt Van Doorslaer, 2. Kris Cox, 3. Twan Lambriex

20: Judging at DHB in Denmark... Great event by Martin Poorhamidi and crew. Black smoke racing Mercedes won!

19: BRCC race Spa. Great stints by Bart Van Haeren, Henk Haane, Karen Vaes, Charlotte Maes & Sarah Ganser in the Endurance race and by Jo Lammens and Philippe Huart in the sprint races!

18: Visiting Monza for WTCC with Lisa Linke. Great historic venue with some nice racing.

17: One of the Drift hilights every year are the Sport Auto High Performance Days at Hockenheim where I had to judge over 50 drivers for the drift event on my own with Matt Carter taking the win!

16: Skylimit Super Sunday... A new concept is born and it will grow big in 2014! 

15: visiting the SRT Viper Team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans during Wednesday and Thursday qualifying days. 

14: FIA WTCC at Salzburgring. Great scenery and nice racing. I really like this Austrian track that I visited for the first time. 

13: DAYTONA Speedweeks with the Daytona 500. Another great trip to my second home. This time I was there with Lisa Linke, Rony Orlans, Rudi Steylaerts, Dirk Serneels and Kevin Corsius. It was my 15th Daytona 500... 

12: The Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of the best races every year. But 2014 seems to become the best edition ever. Can't wait! 

11. The Skylimit Summer Trackday at Spa Francorchamps was really great! 

10: Skylimit Trackday at the Nürburgring Nordschleife is always a highlight for me. Our trackday in September was really great. Full house and many happy people!

9: Skylimit Driftschool exists 10 years. One of the highlights this year was Jo Lammens and Karen Vaes drifting the 997 Porsche at paddock zero.

8: At the final BRCC race we gave all track and pit marshalls donuts for breakfast. After the sprint race Jo Lammens performed some nice donuts with the Porsche to show respect for the many volunteers!

7: The new Skylimit office and VIP lounge at circuit Zolder is really great to watch races, have a drink at trackdays or an afterparty.

6: The many laps I drove with my Megane RS at the Nürburgring Nordschleife were all great. Never get tired of driving that track.

5: Traveling to Georgia USA for Petit Le Mans, what would be the final American Le Mans Series race in the history as the championship mergers with Grand-Am. Visiting my friends at SRT Viper together with Lisa Linke. It was a great week!

The impressive Vipers were driven by Marc Goossens, Dominik Farnbacher, Ryan Dalziel, Jonathan Bomarito, Kuno Wittmer and Tommy Kendall. The team of Bill Riley performed very well in their first full season and I look forward to what they will bring us in 2014!  

4: The 24 Hours of Zolder is always a highlight in my Motorsport year. This year we again reached the finish with out 2 Porsches. So we keep our 100% finishing record going in this race.

François Bouillon, Stefaan Schoonjans, Flip Van Eename and Gideon Wijnschenk took a 3rd place in their class and 8th overall.

Karen Vaes and het team mates Audrey Van Ham, Jo Lammens and Charlotte Maes had some bad luck. They lost a wheel and dropped to 12th place overall. Here we see Karen just before jumping in the car at sunrise, the most beautiful moment of a 24 Hour race.

3: Race Promotion Night at Circuit Zolder. Our 2 Porsches driven by Jo Lammens #269 and Frank+Peter Beliën #169 on the first 2 rows of the packed grid!

My Skylimit partner Jo Lammens raced for 3 hours on his own. He performed well and finished second.

The race was won by Belcar 5000 champions Dylan Derdaele and Kenneth Heyer ahead of Jo Lammens and our second car of Frank and Peter Beliën. Great way to end our race season with the Skylimit Yokohama Race Team.

The Nürburgring Drift Cup was born only in August 2013. But our first main event at the end of October was a big success. 80 drifters from all over Europe started at this event.

James Deane outperformed all drivers to become our first winner.

The Müllenbachschleife is a great venue for a drift event. In 2014 it will again be our drift heaven and we will be using different lay outs.

1: My most beautifum moment came on Thursday before the 24 Hours of Zolder. We were allowed to drive a few laps with all our Porsches. It made Jo Lammens and me very proud!

Some of the Porsches will be replaced for 2014 but the look will remain the same.

This was my motorsport year... Next to those trips I had many nice moments with my crew, instructors and friends all over the world. Best wishes for 2014 and I hope to see you all again next year.