EEMNES (7 September 2025) – The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by Tom Coronel, Paul Meijer and Jan Jaap van Roon looked set for a good finish in the second running of the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup powered by Porsche Motorsport at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, but a stone in the throttle mechanism necessitated a lengthy repair. As a result of the time lost, the car, entered by MDM Motorsport, was no longer in contention at the front of the field. Nevertheless, the three Dutch drivers still went home with a trophy, as they finished third in the Pro-Am class. ‘It’s a shame about the bad luck, of course, but that’s motor racing. In any case, it was another great event,’ said Tom Coronel.
 

 
The second edition of the 12-hour race, exclusively for Porsche Cup cars, once again featured many familiar names at the start, including champions and race winners in various Porsche one-make series, from national Carrera Cups to the prestigious Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, the highest international category in Porsche one-make series’ racing. In this strong field, Coronel, Meijer and Van Roon secured a very good starting position during Friday’s qualifying.  

 
With their combined average across the three sessions in qualifying, the trio secured themselves a slot for the top 10 shootout, a feature introduced for this year. In this session, it was Paul Meijer who posted the second fastest time of the ten participating drivers, but as the fastest driver, Britain’s Harry King, incurred a one-place grid penalty, the Porsche of Coronel, Meijer and Van Roon started from pole position, just like last year. ‘Last year, we benefited a little from the weather, which helped us to pole position, but this time it was pure speed,’ said Meijer with satisfaction. ‘It’s great to start like this. All three of us did well and Paul did an excellent job in the shootout. We had every confidence in him and he proved us right,’ said Coronel. 
In the race, Meijer took the lead immediately after the start on Saturday morning and kept the Porsche nicely among the front runners. Subsequently, Jan Jaap van Roon then spent a long time in the car, neatly holding on to third place. An unfortunate calculation during a pit stop to change the brakes meant that the team was seven seconds short of staying on the same lap as the leader, causing the Porsche to fall back to eighth place in the overall standings, but still retaining first place in the Pro-Am class. 

 
During Tom Coronel’s stint, the throttle valve problem manifested itself. He explains: ‘I got an error message and the car started to accelerate very strangely. I stopped to reset it, which sometimes works, but then it stopped working again, so the car had to be towed back to the pits, where the team removed the engine. Sure enough, there was a half-centimetre stone between the lever that opens and closes the throttle valve; that was the problem. The stone was removed, everything was put back together, the engine was put back in, and we were able to drive again. Unfortunately, we were no longer in contention for a top-five finish and the overall podium we were aiming for, but at least we were able to finish the race and still came third in our class.” 

 
Jan Jaap van Roon expressed his admiration for the team’s performance: ‘It’s always impressive how quickly they can remove an engine from a car and put it back in! Fortunately, we were able to finish the race, it’s still a great event!’ Paul Meijer agreed: ‘I really enjoyed it! It’s a shame that we had no chance after that repair, but at least I achieved the best average of the ten fastest laps during my stint, which earned me a test at Manthey-Porsche on the Red Bull Ring with the latest GT3, which I’m really happy about.’ 

 
Tom Coronel was behind the wheel for the final part of the race and drove the car across the finish line. ‘That was cool, with fireworks in the dark, all very well organised! It’s a shame we weren’t in contention for the overall podium, which would certainly have been possible, but that’s just the way it is. In any case, it was another special experience. A stone in the throttle valve, how do you come up with that…’