Since their first start in Pro Modified, Joosten and his Pro Dutch Racing crew had been one of the frontrunners in the class. In 2008, they made history at Mantorp Park when Joosten became the first Dutchman to win a Pro Mod race in the FIA European Championship; he also secured the Swedish Pro Mod title and reset the Alastaro track record. Joosten ended the season as runner-up in the FIA Championship and started as one of the favourites for the 2009 title. But at The Main Event, Joosten's campaign came to an abrupt halt when he crashed his beautiful Corvette C5. New plans were made and, before season's end, Pro Dutch Racing approached G-Force Race Cars in the States to order a brand new '70 Camaro. Their reason for wanting that body style is a good indication of how they think at Pro Dutch. The choice had nothing to do with sentiment; rather, the model was the first of its kind in Europe (thus good for publicity and sponsors) and is blessed with perfect aerodynamics!



Of course, the team were not so naïve as to imagine they might win the championship in their first season with the new car. To get a baseline setup, Joosten and his crew travelled to the States. "We only wanted to know how the car would react as we changed the set up. Everything worked perfectly so we shipped the car to Europe and, as we didn't have time to do extra testing, we thought it would take us three races to run the numbers we were looking for. We always said 2010 would be a test year. On the test day before The Main Event and during qualifying we found and solved a few problems but still, owing to ignition and other electronic snags, the car just didn't want to leave the start line as it should. We even hit the rev limiter and hurt an engine. It was horrible."



Back home the team checked everything, fixed a few defects and it all looked okay again. "So we went to Alastaro with the idea we could start tuning the car. In the pits everything was okay but at the start line we had the same problems as we'd had at Santa Pod. On the last run we blew the burst plate owing to another electronic failure," explains Joosten. Alastaro was his second 'did not qualify' of the season. Back home once more, the team checked everything all over again, found a few minor issues and everything looked fine for Mantorp Park.

Robert discussing with Åsa Kinnemar/co-ordinator Speedgroup at Hockenheim

"The first run was good and, for the first time this season, we imagined we might have a race car," continues Joosten. "But on the second run the problem was back again. I couldn't keep the engine at a steady rpm. We spent twenty hours at Mantorp checking all the wiring, but we didn't find anything at all. We talked a lot about it and concluded it had to be far more simple. Well, so it was. It was one of the cheapest parts on the car, the two-step switch under the clutch pedal. When the rpm went up, the switch did everything except what it was meant to. The engine went from 6000 rpm to 8000 and back to 6000, all in a split second. That was why it stayed on the line, rolled through the beams or went up in smoke.



"So Hockenheim was effectively the new start to the season. The first run was a 6.5sec, on seven cylinders only - the first pretty normal pass under power. After all the problems, we could at last start tuning the car. On the next run we had tyre shake at the start line. We changed the setup and the car did what it was supposed to do, but now we had tyre shake later in the run. We made some more adjustments to the setup to get further down the track. In the first round of eliminations we had to race Melanie Troxel. The car left the line like crazy but drifted to the left. I steered it back but went too far towards the centre line which forced me to get off the loud pedal. We thought I had overcorrected but, when checking the data, we found that the car produced so much power that we'd had wheel spin in second gear. We had never been that far on the track under power, but now we knew we had a real race car to go really fast. So we went to the Euro Finals in the hope of ending the season in better style.



"But again it was a big disappointment. The same problems were back, the car didn't want to leave the start line. It was a completely different car again. We didn't know where to look now. The only parts we'd changed after Hockenheim were the clutch discs. But we had always used the same type and never had any problems so didn't realise that could be the cause. Well, it was. We looked at the clutch discs back in the workshop and immediately discovered they were not of the same quality as we normally had." So that was the end of a very frustrating season. Joosten goes on: "But the two good runs at Hockenheim were an indication that we can tune the car in only a few runs. The car feels so good and has so much power.



In 2011 we want to be back in the top five again. Owing to all kinds of business commitments we couldn't go testing this year, but next season, if we think we need it, we shall go to Malmo or Santa Pod for a test weekend. The crew and sponsors will be the same as this year. The car is race-ready but we'll take it apart this winter and check everything all over again and start the new season with two engines. We are already looking forward to it and, if the WorldWide Pro Mod Association really takes shape, we want to be there. To race against the American, Australian and Middle East Pro Mod teams would be a dream come true."