We have reached the crown jewel event of the 2017 Blancpain Endurance Series. This is the 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps at the fabulous Spa Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes forest of Belgium. This is the 67th renewal of one of the greatest GT sports car races in the world, that began as a touring car event, but is now exclusively for GT3 spec cars. This is always a highlight of the season. The 69th renewal of this race has 63 cars. The annual driver's parade sees the cars on the public roads of Spa Francorchamps. People come from all around to see the drivers and cars. Nico Muller is one of the drivers who could win this race. 65 cars are going to start this race.
Maxime Soulet is in a good spot to win his home race, and he won last time out in France at Paul Ricard for Bentley. Giancarlo Fisichella has run at Spa in Formula 1. Now he wants to win the 24 Hours of Spa driving for Ferrari. Maxime Martin won in 2016 and he wants back-to-back wins for BMW and the M6 GT3. The Am Cup will be competitive. Chris Harris and the Garage 59 squad with the McLaren 650S are ready to go. Harris is totally prepared, but knows that luck will play a major part in this race.
Chris Harris, TV presenter and all around car guy is once again on the driver's strength for the #188 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3 that he is sharing with fellow Brit Chris Goodwin, Sweden's Alexander West, and another Briton, Bradley Ellis. Porsche and Ferrari are set to go and Patrick Van Glabecke is one of the new rookie drivers. Van Glabecke is sharing the #488 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, the team's second car. The Belgian shares with Pierre Ehret of Germany, Italy's Rino Mastronardi, and another Italian, Gabriele Lancieri. Welcome to one of the greatest races in the world, the 24 Hours of Spa.
SRO President Stephane Ratel is delighted with the competitiveness of this race. Five brands within the top six places on the grid. Struan Moore in the #22 Nissan GT-R and the #00 Goodsmile Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 will start from pit lane after having to change to new cars. So, the driving squads of Struan Moore, Matt Parry, and Matt Simmons in the Nissan, and the all Japanese lineup in the Goodsmile entry of Tatsuya Kataoka, ex-F1 turned sports car ace Kamui Kobayashi (a factory Toyota driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship of course), and Nobuteru Taniguchi, will be on the back foot as we get going in the 2017 renewal of the Spa 24.
On the front row are Ferrari and Lamborghini. Jonny Adam was penalized in qualifying. The Aston Martin driver, may have work to do, as he is sharing with Ahmad Al Harthy of Oman, Salih Yoluc of Turkey, and fellow Brit Euan Hankey in this race. A couple more team profiles before we get this race underway. There are two distinct teams running the Bentley Continental GT's. Hans Jurgen Abt, and M Sport. Two cars, as customary for M-Sport, and one car for Bentley Team Abt. Across the two M-Sport factory cars, here are the driver lineups.
In the #7 it is the all British lineup of Guy Smith, Oliver Jarvis, and Steven Kane. In car #8, it is Vincent Abril of Monaco, sharing with Belgian Maxime Soulet, and Spain's Andy Soucek. The Abt entry is carrying #9 and has Christer Jons of Germany (a veteran of the Nurburgring 24 Hours), Jordan Pepper of South Africa, and the experienced Belgian GT3 racer, Nico Verdonck, on the driver's strength.
The cars run up towards the starting line (which is not the same as the finish line here at Spa), and 63 cars are racing, now! Go! The 24 Hours of Spa is underway! They thunder into Eau Rouge. Maximilian Buhk is keen to go, but there's calamity on the uphill to Eau Rouge, as all these cars in a massive grid try to get through. Giancarlo Fisichella leads Kevin Estre. Into Eau Rouge, over Radillon, down the Kemmel straight and into Les Combes. So, it is Ferrari vs. Porsche right at the beginning. Kevin Estre is racing for KUS Team75 Bernhard. This is the team operated by experienced endurance sports car racer, Timo Bernhard.
Estre, the Frenchman, is sharing with two Porsche drivers we have been used to seeing in both the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Those pilots are the Dane, Michael Christensen, and in his home race, Laurens Vanthoor. The car is a Porsche 911 GT3 R carrying #117 for this race. Jonny Adam runs behind Maximilian Buhk down through Brussels.
The #22 Nissan GT-R is stopped for it's penalty as directed by the race stewards. But the car is stranded. Down to La Source they come and flying through Eau Rouge to end lap one.
We move now to the race's second hour and there's side-by-side tussling as Jake Dennis passes Alessandro Pier Guidi. Dennis is sharing one of the WRT run Audi R8's. That's car #17. This is an all British lineup with Jake Dennis, the lead driver, sharing with Stuart Leonard, and Audi DTM veteran Jamie Green. Pier Guidi is in the #50 Ferrari 488 GT3 sharing with Pasin Lathouras and Michele Rugolo.
Side-by-side Jake Dennis inside Alessandro Pier Guidi. But, later on, car #50 meets it fate! Pasin Lathouras has wrecked in the second hour. We have a full course yellow. Pasin Lathouras hits the tires and, crash! Wow. That was a heavy incident as we are entering the race's third hour. A sad sight to see as this was a car that was doing so well at the beginning of the race. Bentley is in the lane with Maxime Soulet ready to take over the car. So, this would be car #8. The Soulet/Soucek/Abril entry. We fast forward to three hours and 45 minutes in as Stepane Ortelli has to serve a penalty in one of the Emil Frey Racing Jaguar's. That's the #14 entry he shares with Lorenz Frey and Albert Costa. The team car has the trio of Jonathan Hirschi, Christian Klien (former Formula 1 driver), and Marco Seefried at the wheel of it.
We've got cars coming into pit lane as some will have to stay on the course. Andrea Calderelli leads James Calado as Jamie Green is missing a rear wing on his Audi out of Brussels corner or Bruxelles, the French pronunciation of the corner's name. It is obviously after Brussels, in Belgium. The Grasser Racing Lamborghini has Andrea Caldaretlli who took over for Mirko Bortolotti. The #18 Black Falcon car leads Pro Am. The driver's strength on that car is a good one including Abdulaziz Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Hubert Haupt of Germany, Gabriele Piana of Italy, and the experienced Dutchman Renger van der Zande who we've seen in DTM, IMSA, and in GT racing.
James Calado is also in the lane. We are now into the fourth hour as we move ahead through the coverage. The Lamborghini has to go downhhill through La Source as the Ferrari is still in pit lane. He's on the road but where's Caldarelli.? There he is. Calado has taken the lead.
Caldarelli is in second. Calado has to rag the Ferrari on his outlap. The #1 Audi is up there, too. This is the lead car for Team WRT with Antonio Garcia, Nico Muller, and Rene Rast on the driving squad. All three of these drivers are very quick. Garcia races for Corvette in IMSA and also raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans with them. Nico Muller and Rene Rast are both regulars on the Audi DTM squad and in the GT3 cars here in Blancpain Endurance. The order changes in the top three as the #48 Mercedes has a puncture midway through the lap.
Now, it could be car #84, which is the lead HTP Motorsports Mercedes entry. That's the car where Maximilian Buhk is the lead driver, and the German is team with Sweden's Jimmy Eriksson and Franck Perera of France. There are three HTP Mercedes cars entered here at Spa. The other two are the #48 of German's Patrick Assenheimer and Kenneth Heyer, sharing with Dutchman Indy Dontje, and the #85 car with Dominik Baumann of Austria, Fabian Schiller of Germany, and Sweden's Edward Sandstrom.
OK. It's the #84 that has to be tended to. That's the top runner, the Buhk/Eriksson/Perera car! Let's hope they get that puncture taken care of ASAP. It happened midway through the lap of this 4.3 mile circuit. So, this changes the running order in the top three. The #6 Audi R8 is off the road and the electronics are out on the car as we've made it to hours six and seven and darkness has blanketed Spa Francorchamps. That #6 Audi is the beleaguered WRT entry for Nathaniel Berthon of France, Monaco's Stephane Richelmi, and former Audi LMP1 racer, France's Benoit Treluyer.
Not sure where the sister #5 Audi is either. This is another entry, with a strong driver team. Marcel Fassler, the Swiss veteran shares with Porsche LMP1 star Andre Lotterer and Belgium's Dries Vanthoor, brother of Laurens Vanthoor who is in this race for Porsche and who is a former Audi GT team driver himself. Darkness is upon us with the cars racing with their headlights on through Les Conbes. Night falls now. Will there be rain? Maybe there will be some rain at midnight. We'll see.
We've got a car off the road in the gravel, and the driver has vacated it. It's difficult to tell which car went off, as another racer has smoke emanating from it, maybe an Aston Martin. Marco Cioci is now in the Kaspersky Ferrari, as indeed we have crossed between hours six and seven in the highlights package. There's debris off the Lazarus Racing Lamborghini, and it is shedding bodywork. This is car #27. Orange 1 Team Lazarus. Fabrizio Crestani of Italy, Nicholas Pohler of Germany, and Italy's Luca Filippi share the car.
Hour six and someone is off the road in the gravel. The driver is out of the car. Yours truly could be seeing that Lamborghini again, but, this has to be a different incident. The Lazarus Lamborghini shunt from earlier has to be cleaned up by now. Smoke for one of the cars, maybe an Aston Martin. Marco Cioci is now in the Kaspersky Ferrari in hour seven. There's debris off the Lazarus Racing Lamborghini. 59 cars remain on the road as the night falls here at Spa. Andy Soucek chases Audi #2. Oh nno! Mercedes #84 has crashed! Ugh! Game over for #84. Full course yellow. Deary me! HTP Motorsport must be gutted. This was one of the cars that could have won. He slid off the road going across the track at Eau Rouge! It's game over for Franck Pererra, Maximilian Buhk, and Jimmy Eriksson.
Andy Soucek leads Marco Cioci and Soucek brings the Bentley into the pit lane. There is a driver change going on. Not sure it will be Maxime Soulet or Vincent Abril who gets into the car. We are back racing going into the seventh hour with Raffaele Maricello in the #90 Mercedes, leading the way. Marciello is sharing with Michael Meadows of England and fellow Italian Edoardo Mortara. Marciello, Meadows, & Mortara. Sounds like a law firm, an accounting firm, or an insurance agency. Let's hope there are no claims on a crashed race car. Sorry sir, if you crash your race car, the repairs are not deductible.
If you see Eau Rouge in the dark, there could be sparks. Compression on the Mercedes causes these sparks to appear. Big compression, through an ultra fast, ultra wicked corner! Frederic Vervisch is second in Audi #2. He is in the second of the three Belgian Audi Club WRT Audi R8's, sharing with Christopher Mies and American Connor De Phillippi who won at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring earlier this year. Darkness is shrouding the track. Ooh! We have another crash, at the exit of Pouhon, another fast corner on this track. The Black Falcon Motorsports Mercedes of Hubert Haupt, has wrecked!
Now, the plot thickens as the #22 Nissan GT-R is stuck out on the course. Marshals will have to recover the #22 Motul Team RJN Motorsport Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. Not sure who is in the car at the moment. It is either of the British pilots on that squad, Struan Moore or Matt Parry, or it could be Australia's Matt Simmons. The sister car #23 runs under the colors of Motul Team RJN Nissan, and that is basically the same team, with a stellar driving team featuring Brit Alex Buncombe, Katsumasa Chiyo of Japan, and Lucas Ordonez of Spain. We see more sparks through Eau Rouge. Ooh! More carnage. An Audi turns into the side of the #89 Mercedes! So, the Mercedes suffers a broken suspension as a result.
#89 is one of the sister AKKA ASP entries, with a Pro-Am lineup in the car, featuring Ludovic Badey of France, Swiss drivers Alex Fontana and Daniele Perfetti, and Nico Bastian of Germany. The Audi R8 turns sharp left and smashes into the Mercedes! Ker-runch! It is the #3 that has crashed. That's the Pro Am Audi for that team in the hands of Josh Caygill of England, Jonathan Venter from Australia, Richard Lyons from England, and Niklas Mayr-Melnhof from Austria. Mayr-Melnhof has been a Blancpain Endurance regular since the series began.
Now the #1 and #2 Audi's are in the lane, making a brake change at the eleven hour mark. It's not quite the witching hour yet, but it's close. Halfway through the race will be in an hour's time at 4:30 A.M. Vincent Vosse is the team boss at Audi WRT who have been changing their brakes as mentioned. Fast forward again to hour 12. Halfway, and we have rain out on track. Put traction control and ABS to the maximum settings. If the rain does not stop, drivers on wet tires are going to have trouble as their tires turn to jelly.
Giancarlo Fisichella is in the lane and it looks like they will switch to slick tires at Kaspersky Motorsport. Fuel as well. Where's the driver? Will Fisichella hand over to James Calado, or to Marco Cioci? The drivers are using the curbs, and this is a deal where you wouldn't use the curbs but these drivers are. Full course yellow now, as the Grasser Lamborghini pits. Just past halfway, and the Grasser Lamborghini leads so they'll get championship points.
Bentley #8 is now fourth in the overall with Andy Soucek at the wheel of it. Press the fast forward button on your DVR another time. Red sky at night, sailors delight. But, the weather has changed during the night as the #55 Ferrari has slid off the road as we go to yellow in hour 14. The Kaspersky Racing Ferrari has something broken. Marco Cioci is out of the car. Let's see what happened. Ah! He gets crunched by the #90 Mercedes, losing his steering as a result of the collision. We are under another full course yellow. Wow! Yellows breed yellows, and this is even true in endurance racing.
Marco Cioci is angry, understandably. Mercedes #85 leads at hour 15, changing brake pads. The car has damage on the right rear corner. Not sure who is in the #85 car as it takes the lead. That is the driving squad of Dominik Baumann, Edward Sandstrom, and Fabian Schiller. We go on board with Bentley #8 and the nose panel with the grille is damaged. Watch out, because that panel could fly off. Audi #1 is second.
The air is cool as we move ahead to the end of the 16th hour. Really strong laps could be coming. We have a full course yellow at hour 17. The #63 Lamborghini of Christian Engelhart has crashed at Fangnes! Oh dear! He's buried. He won't be able toget out of the car unless he crawls to the right side, having impacted on the left side. Open the passenger side door, Christian. That's the escape plan. The track is drying now., Nico Muller hands over the Audi to Rene Rast. Up through Radillon, it's Mercedes vs. Audi up to Les Combes. Ooh! A spin for Audi #1 and in Les Combes, the Mercedes is also off the road. That's car #90.
Audi #1 will have a drive through penalty and has to go through both pit lanes. Ferrari #488 has a puncture in hour 18. That's a car we mentioned earlier. The Ferrari of Pierre Ehret, Rino Mastronardi, Patrick Van Glabeke, and Gabriele Lancieri. The Bentley is also off the road. Now, we go to Hour 20 and our race leader, the #90 Mercedes gets hit by Porsche #911 who's team manager has been summoned to the race stewards' office. Someone in that car, made unnecessary contact with the Mercedes. It is one of the two Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R's. #911 has an all German lineup with Jurgen Haring, Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer, and Marc Lieb. It's sister car #912, who we have not seen much of during this Spa 24 is being shared by Daniel Allemann of Switzerland, Ralf Bohn of Germany, Mathieu Jaminet of France, and Sven Muller of Germany.
This race is now coming towards a dramatic conclusion. Markus Winkelhock is trying hard to make a pass through Campus corner, hounding Nico Muller. It is two Audi's (Sainteloc vs. WRT). We're into hour 21 and we are seeing a fight for position between these two cars. Winkelhock passes Muller. The Mercedes is in it's pit box for fuel, a driver change, and tires. Audi #1 is in the lane as well. Press the fast forward button on your DVR's folks, because this one is about to get intense. #90 is in the lane with two hours left to run while there issues for Audi #1 on both tires and refueling! Oh dear!
Markus Winkelhock leads the Spa 24 Hours and will pit soon as we are within the final two hours now. It's coming down to crunch time. Bentley #7 has bodywork damage as Stephen Kane is driving that car at the moment. Sainteloc Racing would love to beat WRT for bragging rights of who at Audi might win the Spa 24. One of the Bentley's is in pit lane, after they have had a fraught race thus far. Is it #7? No. It's the sister Continental GT3 #8. Andy Soucek is at the controls of #8 headed to the finish. OK. We're continuing this race, with just an hour and 47 minutes left to go. The lead battle is beginning to hot up. Christopher Haase in the Sainteloc Audi is hunting down the #90 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Raffaele Marciello.
#90 is in the lane with just an hour or so left. The car is being penalized. Bentley is also in the pits from third with Maxime Soulet. Now, we have just 37 minutes to go. 530 laps done. Bentley is behind Audi, with damage to the grille of the car. Nerves at Sainteloc. Now, we have just over a half an hour left in the 24 Hours of Spa. It's crunch time indeed as the clock counts down to zero. Fast forward the DVR again, and we come now, to the very end. One more lap left of this glorious, legendary 4.3 mile loop through the Ardennes forest. Christopher Haase will bring the leading Audi home. The Bentley is more than likely going to finish second.
AKKA ASP sertved a penalty and they were dropped down to
third behind the Bentley. Bentley won't win, but they will extend their
championship lead going into the final race of the year. The #8 Audi
goes through Bruxelles for the final time. But, Audi is going to win
the 2017 24 Hours of Spa throguh Fangnes, Campus, and Courbe Paul Frere. Chris Reinke of Audi Sport can celebrate! Audi and Sainteloc Racing, win the 69th renewal of the 24 Hours of Spa! We congratulate, the winning drivers... Jules Gounon of France, Christopher Haase of Germany, and his countryman, Markus Winkelhock! Well done, boys! You've won overall at the biggest GT race in the world, the 24 Hours of Spa!
Raffaele Marciello is third with his team mates, suriving a spin through Eau Rouge. The win by Sainteloc was by an 11 second margin. Porsche #117 was very close to winning this race, but it wasn't to be. Sainteloc wins Pro. Pro Am honors are taken by Black Falcon Mercedes and their #16 Mercedes AMG GT3 shared by a quartet of drivers. Maximilian Gotz of Germany, Marvin Kirchhofer of Germany, Britain's Oliver Morley, and Miguel Toril of Spain. Honors in the Am division go to Kessel Racing and their Ferrari 488 GT3 #888 shared by Niki Cadei of Italy, Jacques Duyver of Belgium (winning his home race, so that has to be special), South Africa's David Perell, and Marco Zanuttini of Italy.
For Duyver, Perell, and Zanuttini, this is their second Am class victory in as many races, because they also took Am honors last time out in the 1,000 kilometer event at Paul Ricard in the south of France in late June. So, we have a look at our overall and class winners. Remember, the classes are based on driver rating, as all the cars are to the same GT3 specifications.
Overall/PRO: #25 Gounon/Haase/Winkelhock Audi R8
Pro Am: #16 Gotz/Kirchhofer/Morley/Toril Mercedes AMG GT3
Am: #888 Cadei/Duyver/Perel/Zanuttini Ferrari 488 GT3
To win at Spa is a true honor, and something that will be in the record books for all time. A well deserved victory for the winners, and kudos to all the competitors in the Blancpain Endurance Series, who contested the biggest race in GT3 competition. One more race in the Endurance Cup for the Blancpain GT Series this year, a three hour finale in Barcelona, Spain at another legendary course, Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, the first Sunday, and first day of October. The endurance championships will without doubt be on the line in that one.
To the winners at Spa, savor this triumph. This event is one of the crown jewels in motorsports and is one every GT3 driver wants to win. To the above winning drivers and teams, you've earned it. Join us in 2018 for another great Spa 24 Hours. Au revoir for now.
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