It is time, for the most famous GT3 sports car race on the planet, round three of the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge. The 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps on the mighty road circuit bearing the names of the closest local villages in the picturesque Ardennes forest in southern Belgium. All the cars make the run in the annual parade from the track, down into the town itself so that fans young and old, can get up close and personal with these gorgeous race cars, and also meet their heroes who drive them.
There are autograph sessions and posters of the cars and drivers being handed out. So, now that we've gotten a taste of the atmosphere surrounding this wonderful race, let us look at this fantastic circuit, a seven kilometer (4.3 mile) lap. From the start/finish line out of the La Source hairpin, you plunge downhill towards one of the most daunting corners in all of motor racing, Eau Rouge. Eau Rouge, if you are brave as a driver, you take it flat out, your foot planted to the accelerator pedal. You've now made it through Eau Rouge, but there's more. The hill climbs steeply as the speed continues to build, faster and faster through Raidillon, up the Kemmel straightaway and to the highest point on the track, into Les Combes. Les Combes is a good place on the road for passing. You can dive inside your rival. But, get the braking right. Otherwise, it's off onto the escape road for you, and you'll have to skitter your way back onto the racing line in the hopes of not clouting a competitor.
Right, left, right again, over the crest of the hill, plunging down the mountain, down through Bruxelles (Brussels corner), then into Pouhon, turn ten. Pouhon is a long, fast, sweeping left hand turn, at full throttle. Don't worry, because should the car get out of shape, you've got the runoff area there to help you make it to safety. Through the Fagnes (also known as the Piff Paff), referring to the fens region where the Spa Francorchamps village is located. Then you approach Campus corner. Campus corner, houses a school, an automobile technology/motorsports training technical college, right at the circuit.
Then comes the Paul Frere corner. This is a fourth gear corner, at the junction between the new track and the old circuit climbing from Stavelot towards Blanchimont. Paul Frere was a journalist and a racing driver who ran his final Grand Prix here at Spa, invited to do so by Enzo Ferrari in the Formula 1 race in 1956 and he apparently drove the best race of his career in that particular event. When you come out of Paul Frere, you approach Blanchimont, which is a wickedly fast left hand turn, taken flat out, at full tilt boogie in one of these GT3 machines. You've got loads of runoff room on the outside if necessary, should you overcook the corner. Then, to finish the lap, you slam on the brakes for the Bus Stop. Shift the transmission down to first or second gear, and if you need to pit, this is incidentally also where the entrance to the two sided pit lane is.
The first side is the Formula 1 pits, and then, around the corner are the additional pit garages for the endurance cars, such as in this race with such a massive grid as we have, of 72 GT3 cars out there, to do battle for 24 hours. You pass the Formula 1 pits over the starting line, and then, turn down towards the hairpin at La Source. La Source is a great overtaking opportunity as it's a slow corner, but you have to be on your toes to avoid any argy bargy through there, before you start off on another lap of this glorious circuit, and there will be lots of them over the course of 24 hours, believe me.
Bienvenue aux vingt-quatre Heures de Spa Francorchamps! Welcome, to the 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps! Folks, we are in for a wet race. 72 cars are about to do battle against each other and against mother nature. We join commentators David Addison, John Watson, and Bob Varsha in the video of the broadcast. No one has turned any laps in the wet so far in 2019 here at Spa. The start will be conducted behind the safety car to warm up the tires, and let the driver's get their bearings out on this wet track. This is absolutely no surprise.
The drivers will be able to heat up the tires, and, find out where the puddles are. So, we are in business! It's lights out, and away we go? Well, we're off and running behind the safety car, look, due to these atrocious weather conditions. So here's the order. Maro Engel leads the motor race in the #4 Mercedes AMG Team Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3. Engel is sharing that car with countryman Luca Stolz, both German drivers, and Dutchman, Yelmer Buurman. In second place is New Zealand's Earl Bamber in the #117 KUS Team75 Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3R he shares with Timo Bernhard (the team owner), from Germany, another experienced Porsche racer, and with Belgian Laurens Vanthoor who has won this race before for Audi, and is now of course, a factory Porsche driver.
Third is Miguel Molina, the Spaniard starting the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 he shares with Mikhail Aleshin of Russia, and Italy's Davide Rigon. Fourth is the third Rowe Racing Porsche 911 GT3R with Fred Makowiecki of France, starting, another Porsche factory ace, sharing with countryman Patrick Pilet, and Nick Tandy from England. These three are team mates for Porsche in the United States in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship as well. Fifth is the #227 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. This is the car that won the second round of the IGTC, the California 8 Hours at Laguna Seca Raceway. Nick Foster from Australia starts the car, sharing with fellow Australian Nick Cassidy, and Brazilian Daniel Serra, son of former Formula 1 and Group C sports car driver, Chico Serra.
Seventh is the #2 Belgian Audi Club WRT Audi R8 LMS, Frank Stippler from Germany, starting the car, sharing with Belgian Dries Vanthoor (Laurens Vanthoor's brother), and Spaniard Alex Riberas. Rene Rast has the sister WRT Audi, #1 next up. Rast, the rapid and experienced German who is also a star of the DTM touring cars, is sharing with Switzerland's Nico Muller and Dutchman Robin Frijns. Eighth place is the #66 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS of Milan Dontje from Holland, Austria's Clemens Schmid, and South Africa's Kelvin van der Linde. In ninth place, the #55 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS driven by the Dutch Schothorst brothers, Steijn and Pieter, alongside Mattia Drudi of Italy.
Maximilian Goetz starts ninth in the #999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Goetz is sharing with fellow German Maximilian Buhk, and Lucas Auer of Austria. Completing the top ten, in grid order, is Romain Dumas, the vastly experienced Frenchman who is leading off the driver's strength in the #98 Rowe Racing Porsche 911 GT3R he shares with countryman Mathieu Jaminet and Sven Mueller of Germany. There's your top ten starters. The safety car will peel off for the pit lane at the end of this lap, and the 24 Hours of Spa will officially be under green. It's go time! We're in business here, at Spa! Green light, and away we go!
The lights flash green, and Earl Bamber is chasing after Maro Engel already. They head to the La Source hairpin in anger for the first time. Miguel Molina is third followed by Fred Makowiecki, Nick Foster, and the battle of the Audi's for WRT. It's Frank Stippler vs. Rene Rast. Romain Dumas overcooks it into La Source, and gives a shot to Kevin Estre to go down the inside. Estre is in the #20 Gulf liveried GPX Porsche 911 GT3R. How often have we seen a Gulf Oil liveried Porsche in endurance racing? Iconic livery, thinking back to the John Wyre Automotive team and the days of the Ford GT40's, the Porsche 917's, and later on, the Mirage Ford spyders of the mid 1970s. Kevin Estre, of France is another Porsche factory pilot and he shares with his FIA World Endurance Championship factory team partners, Richard Lietz of Austria, and the Danish ace, Michael Christensen.
Earl Bamber, as they speed through the spray, is going to plot a move up the Kemmel straight and try his darnedest to get past Maro Engel into Les Combes. The fastest lap of this motor race is being traded by everyone from 30th on back, so some 40 cars are volleying it back and forth as the leaders are about to go side by side into Les Combes! Engel fends off Bamber's challenge as the Porsche man decides discretion is the better part of valor just 15 minutes into a 24 hour race. Fred Makowiecki in the Porsche ducks ahead of Miguel Molina in the Ferrari. Meanwhile, Frank Stippler has gone off the road at Les Combes! Frank, where are you, sunshine? Has he gone up the escape road? Ah. Now we find him, mired in the field behind it looks like the HubAuto Corse Ferrari. Stippler actually makes a move and gets past Nick Foster in the Ferrari! Wow. It's all happening on lap two of a 24 hour race.
Settle down, lads. We've got a long, long, long way to go yet. There's a lot of extra grip offline. Maximilian Gotz has been shot out of a cannon and he's on the inside, passing cars like they're standing still! Maxi Gotz absolutely sweeps by a couple of his unsuspecting rivals! He saw two other blokes scrapping through Pouhon and said, "thank you very much, I'm coming through!" Maro Engel has a one second lead and has set the fastest lap of the motor race so far at 2:38.6. Maxi Gotz still has his hands full and now it's Steijn Schothorst he has to deal with. Schothorst is off the road, slithering his way on the wet line on the inside, past cars! Has he gained an advantage? If so, the stewards won't like that very much.
Rene Rast is harrying Frank Stippler. The two WRT Audi team mates are all over each other. Rast is all over Stippler like the proverbial cheap suit here. Rast goes around the outside through Campus corner! Incidentally, Campus corner did not exist until 2007 or so. It's a fairly new corner on the circuit. Kevin Estre wants by Frank Stippler, and Stippler shuts the door, defending from the Porsche driver. The outside line clearly has grip, but it's still very close as Kevin Estre, he's not giving up. The visibility and the water levels, as we are 20 minutes only, into this 24 hour marathon race, is not as iffy, not as ugly as some people thought it would be.
We have a change for fourth in the overall, look, as Rene Rast in the Audi makes his way past the Ferrari with Miguel Molina at the controls. Rene Rast is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Spa, and now, look, Kevin Estre is probing Miguel Molina as well. But, we see a heavily damaged Audi off to the side of the roadway here, and it's the #80 car that has backed it into the barrier, hard! That's the #80 Audi Sport Cup entry for the Australasian quartet of drivers. Sharing the car are Andrew Haryanto of Indonesia, Jeffrey Lee of Taiwan, Australian Yasser Shahin, and Jingzu Sun of China. Andrew Haryanto, who races Lamborghini's in Blancpain GT Asia, has clobbered the wall and done the back end of that Audi no good at all.
He's at pit out, headed up the hill through Raidillon. The car just snaps out from under him, and, boom! He crunches the barrier, hard. He over corrected and slammed the wall. It's an early bath for that team. They're out of this one after barely 20 minutes of running. Meanwhile, the Ferrari vs. Audi scrap continues. Miguel Molina is being monstered by Steijn Schothorst at the moment. These two chaps are nose to nose uphill on the Kemmel straight. There are still local yellow flags at that corner, and so, Schothorst could have to give up the spot. Big trouble for Garage 59 Aston Martin. The #59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 is 68th in the overall, and in the garage with big damage. Jonny Adam sharing with Andrew Watson and Come Ledogar, two Brits and a Frenchman.
The battle resumes on the circuit. Porsche vs. Audi. It's Kevin Estre and Rene Rast having a fair old dust up at the moment. Kevin Estre moves past the Audi into Paul Frere corner. Kevin Estre had a reason for going on the wet line, to cool his tires. He was definitely looking for water. Estre's next target is a rival Porsche, one of the Rowe Racing cars it appears. Kevin Estre is trying to pass Fred Makowiecki right now. He's the chap, the ever smiling racing driver, at the controls of the #998 Rowe Racing Porsche 911 GT3R that he shares with Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, who are his co-drivers in America and in the Le Mans 24 Hours as well.
Estre is going to force the issue, and has two wheels off the road. Estre has made another clean pass. All this action, and we're just about 50 minutes into the motor race. Estre got good drive to go the long way around Paul Frere Curve. Kevin Estre has also passed another factory Porsche team member, Earl Bamber in the Bernhard #117 Porsche. Estre is up to second place from his starting spot on the sixth row of the grid, and now, he has to chase down race leader Maro Engel who has led since the lights flashed green. That'll be a tall order. That Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3, the Engel/Buurman/Stolz car, #4, is a very strong entry indeed. A worthy adversary.
Estre is going like the clappers here, and his most recent lap was two and a half seconds quicker, would you believe, than Maro Engel at the wheel of the leading Mercedes. Holy smokes! The pace of this race in the early stages, is amazing and it's not quite an hour old. 2;35.233 is the fastest lap for Estre as we watch him sweep by Earl Bamber headed for La Source in replay. We've got a full on traffic jam, look, at Les Combes as we ride aboard the #42 BMW Team Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3, being shared by Brazilian Augusto Farfus, American IMSA stalwart for BMW, John Edwards, and the rapid German former DTM champ, Martin Tomczyk.
Not sure who is at the wheel of the BMW, but they are seeing quite the battle here between Giancarlo Fisichella in the Ferrari 488 GT3 and Gerhard Tweraser in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Fisichella, the rapid Italian former F1 turned sports car ace is in the #93 Tempesta Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. He shares that car with Eddie Cheever III. from Italy, son of Indy 500 winner and former World Sports Car racer for Jaguar, and Formula 1 driver, Eddie Cheever, and also, Hong Kong's Jonathan Hui and Briton Chris Froggatt. Tweraser is at the wheel of the #19 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3, their second car in the Silver Cup.
Tweraser, the Austrian, sharing with Lucas Mauron of Switzerland, Arno Santamato of France, and Andrea Amici of Italy. Martin Tomczyk finds the gap, shoots it, and says, see ya' later, boys! That's mine, and I'm taking that race track from you! Tweraser tries to overtake Tomczyk, but he goes off the road. Yo, Gerhard, you'll have to give those spots back, mate, or the stewards will call you to the sin bin, my friend. Meantime, it's hot and heavy at the sharp end, as Maro Engel is being preached to by Kevin Estre about why a Porsche should lead this race instead of a Mercedes. These two chaps are toe to toe, and Estre's speech is not very convincing as he gets brushed off, and goes wide, right across a puddle.
He's back on the road, right behind Engel having gone through Blanchimont, and now they make their way to the Bus Stop, which used to be a real bus stop in daily life, but maybe not anymore. I was standing on that corner, waiting for the bus, but it never showed up and there was a sign. If you are waiting for this bus, it's busted, and this service has been cancelled. Meanwhile, Engel dives for the pit lane. So, Kevin Estre takes the race lead and is still the fastest car on the track. Now, in replay, as we are two hours and 35 minutes in, there's a mega sized lockup from the #31 Team Parker Bentley Continental GT3 going into Les Combes. Andy Meyrick, the Briton at the wheel of it. Last year, Meyrick had an almighty shunt here at the Spa 24 Hours but survived it.
Meyrick is part of an all British lineup for Team Parker Racing in their #31 Bentley Continental GT3, sharing with Derek Pierce, Glynn Geddie, and Ryan Ratcliffe. In 61st spot, the #37 BMW M6 GT3, Jean Paul Buffin at the wheel. He's being chased by the leading Mercedes, the Engel machine. But, Buffin has a huge problem! He spins at the top of Les Combes and he smashes into the wall! That's a huge off and that BMW is utterly obliterated! You could almost see that coming. Buffin looked in the mirror to see the leader behind him, then he probably looked back through the windscreen and went, "sacre bleu!" before pounding the Armco barrier. Reflexively, he locked up the wheels, lost control of the car, and smashed into the tire barrier.
In replay, we watch the 3Y Technology BMW M6 GT3. This is Jean-Paul Buffin at the controls, in a driving team of all Frenchmen. Buffin, sharing with Philippe Bourgeois, Philippe Haezebrouck (a veteran of many endurance races), and Gilles Vannelet. The right front suspension on this BMW, collapses, and there's mega sized camber at the right front wheel. It's turned all the way, completely locked. The air pressure rams through the front of the air intake, forcing the bonnet upwards, and then, Buffin knows he's a passenger as the suspension breaks and he clobbers the tire wall. So, this incident with the Buffin and company BMW did put us under a lengthy Full Course Yellow. The green flag comes out, with just about enough time to end the third hour of this motor race.
Nick Tandy leads over Maxi Buhk, Michael Christensen, and the #563 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. This is one of three cars entered by Orange 1 FFF Racing and Danish driver Dennis Lind is at the wheel of it, sharing with team owner/team boss Andrea Caldarelli from Italy, and Marco Mapelli also from Italy, but now living in Switzerland. The starlight effect of the hedlights shows you how dark it is getting at Spa. Maximilian Buhk is chasing the Porsche of Nick Tandy. The Mercedes has to be one of the best driving, sweetest handling GT3 cars out there as Maxi Buhk is giving Nick Tandy a tough run for his money uphill on the Kemmel straightaway headed for Les Combes another time. Buhk has the intent to pass and he's going to give him what we call in the trade of motor racing, a very good work over.
Whoa! Just at the beginning of the fourth hour, we've got another massive accident on the road, somewhere. That's out of the Paul Frere corner, and we have a report that's the #31 Team Parker Bentley Continental GT3 that's in strife. There's a large paved runoff area at the exit of Paul Frere curve, and this car has been heavily backed into the guardrail over there. He comes out of the corner, runs wide, it looks like he's got a flat left front tire. Hard to tell. The rear end of the car snaps around the other way, He spins again, and crunch! He backs it into the tire barrier with tremendous force! It's probably a good thing that he went in backwards instead of that being a head on collision with the tire bundles. So, we clean up that wreck, and we're back to racing, four hours and 40 minutes into the 24 hours here at Spa. Nick Tandy is in the race lead.
A quirk of this race, probably because of pit stop strategy, every hour we've run so far, the #998 Porsche has been at the top of the tree. OK. Now things are getting interesting. A drive through penalty for the race leading car, for setting a best sector time under a double waved yellow flag signifying a Full Course Yellow. The car cops the penalty, no matter who was driving at the time or is driving now. This puts the #563 Lamborghini in the lead. Nope. Wait. Hold it. Stop everything. The #563 gets the exact same penalty! Drive through for best sector time set under the double yellow! Oh dear! The wheels are coming off the wagon here, chaps. Check that. The penalty for the Lamborghini was overtaking on the exit of pit lane, and now, the #1 WRT Audi with Robin Frijns at the wheel of it, takes the overall race lead.
Some rough treatment, for the #16 Modena Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in the hands of Frenchman Philippe Descombes through the Bus Stop. Ugh! Ugly, ugly, ugly! Rough driving penalty from the stewards, surely. The SRO is a busy bunch here. The Modena Motorsport Porsche is being shared by Swiss driver Mathias Beche, a name we know from the FIA World Endurance Championship, the aforementioned Hong Kong based Frenchman Descombes, his fellow Hong Kong native John Shen, and the Dane Benny Simonsen. We've started the fifth hour. Headlights on, piercing through the impending darkness. A battle is well and truly on between the GruppeM and Black Falcon Mercedes' for third in the overall, between Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer.
Lucas Auer is the Austrian driver, sharing with the two Maximilian's, Maxi Buhk and Maxi Gotz, in that car. There's a swarm of angry GT3 cars behind this scrap as well. Alex Riberas, Richard Lietz, Marvin Kirchhofer, and Mirko Bortolotti, these blokes are waiting in the wings as the two Mercedes' go side by side, look. #4 is on the wrong side of the road, and there's some of that classic argy bargy we talked about as these two make it a short track stock car race down the straightaway! Side by side stuff through La Source. Stolz stands his ground against Auer. Alex Riberas and Richard Lietz have a ringside seat for all this action. Riberas is at the wheel of the #2 WRT Audi alongside Frank Stippler and Dries Vanthoor.
Ahead of these blokes is the Bentley, the #110 car with Pipo Derani at the wheel of it, the Brazilian sharing this fourth factory Bentley Continental GT3 with Spaniards Lucas Ordonez and Andy Soucek. Lucas Auer makes his Mercedes really wide and slams the door in Luca Stolz's face. Alex Riberas has a run on the Mercedes. Is he going to have room to get by? No. He'll have to tuck back in and wait for another momentary opportunity to make a pass. Luca Stolz made it clear, "you cannot pass me here, buddy." Riberas says, "that's not fair. I had a clean run on you, and you blocked me." Porsche #20 in the lane for fuel and a clean of the windscreen with the glass cleaner, instead of the tear off, but that crewman who clambered his way onto the bonnet of the Porsche, just got the scare of his life, when the bloke with the air jack hose, released it, and sent him on a ride, down.
He finishes cleaning the windscreen and hops right back over the white line back to the pit bunker. Close action even the lane here at Spa! Never knew a GT3 race car was a carnival ride. What a drop back to terra firma! Back into the race #20 goes as we see some more argy bargy headed into Malmedy. Kim-Luis Schramm in the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS biffs Marco Mapelli out of the way, and Darren Burke from England in the #74 RAM Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, likewise, is simply nudged out of the way. But this leaves damage, and smoke trailing from the Lamborghini. Darren Burke is sharing that Ram Racing entry with fellow Englishman Tom Onslow-Cole, once a stalwart of the British Touring Car Championship before going GT racing, and Dutch drivers Remon Vos and Christiaan Frankenhout.
That Lamborghini is going to have a cut down Pirelli tire well before he trundles back to the pit lane. It is now that magic twilight hour here at Spa, as the lights come on around the circuit, the sparks fly from the undertrays of the cars, the headlights pierce the evening twilight. It's a gorgeous sight to see. Aston Martin is on two ends of the spectrum here. R-Motorsports has one car in the lane for service as Marvin Kirchhofer hands over to either of his British co-drivers, Alex Lynn or Jake Dennis, and meanwhile, the sister car, the #62 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 is in trouble, and off the road. Matt Parry has rear damage on this car, coming out of Paul Frere corner. Not good for R-Motorsport. Parry, the Englishman, sharing with Matthieu Vaxiviere of France, and Aston Martin factory driver, Maxime Martin, a former winner of this race, who's dad, Jean Michel Martin also won this one when it was a touring car race way back in the day.
In replay, we see the misfortune that befell Matt Parry. He hits the curb, and the rear end of the car snaps around, hitting the wall. Very similar to Ryan Ratcliffe's shunt we saw earlier. He's damaged the back, and he's hit the rear wing, dislodging it from one of it's mountaing brackets. Five hours and 45 minutes into the motor race and the stewards hand out yet another penalty. Dries Vanthoor is dinged for speeding in the pit lane. Davide Rigon in the SMP Ferrari is going to benefit from this. Now, speaking of Ferrari, we have one off the road another time. This just near the five hour mark in the race.
With headlights on, Ferrari 488 GT3 #444 is facing the barrier. This is the HB Racing car, Frenchman (with a German sounding surname), Thomas Neubauer at the wheel of it, sharing with Jens Liebhauser of Austria, and German drivers Florian Scholze and Philipp Wlazik. Now it appears this is out of the Piff Paff, as Neubauer spins off and, bang!, straight into the tire barriers. Pit stop time for the #998 Porsche. Nick Tandy will hand the car to one of his co-drivers, but who it is, is unclear. SMP Racing has their Ferrari in the lane as well. Davide Rigon was driving, but there will be full service. Fuel, tires, and a driver change to either Miguel Molina or Mikhail Aleshin. Dirk Werner has now gone by Milan Dontje for fourth spot as we watch Stephen Kane in sixth gear, speeding along at 248 kilometers an hour (155 miles an hour). Kane is closing on one of Rowe Porsche's and ooh, he has close shave with that Porsche, as they wriggle their way through the Bus Stop.
Blimey! That was a close shave! Fabian Schiller, meanwhile bring the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3 into the pit lane. We haven't called these blokes' number in a while. Schiller, the German sharing with last year's Intercontinental GT Challenge champion, Raffaele Marciello of Italy, and Vincent Abril of Monaco. This should promote Luca Stolz back to the lead of this motor race. Christopher Haase will take the lead for a brief time in the #25 Sainteloc Audi R8 LMS. The shuffling action starts. Almost an unsafe release as the the lollipop man whacks the windscreen of the car, and we watch the fireworks adding to the atmosphere of the Spa 24 and the smoke from the fireworks adds to the fog and the mist we already have seen here at Spa.
Fireworks in the fog and rain, and headlights at Spa. We have now reaching close to the seven hour mark and raindrops are coming through the fog and the grandstand floodlights here at Spa Francorchamps. We've run 136 laps (592 miles). Gotz, Engelhart, and Stolz are in reverse order and now, Christian Engelhart has gone to second and Luca Stolz tries to go past Maxi Gotz but he doesn't quite get by, trying to find the track. Through the Bus Stop, as we are getting close to the end of the seventh hour. Steijn Schothorst has gone past, or is trying to go past the #2 WRT Audi and Schothorst maintains the spot, taking to the curb. It's dark, it's wet, and there's boatloads of action.
We have a new commentary crew in the booth for the evening shift. We welcome Martin Haven and Charlie Butler-Henderson to the commentary box, and Ryan Myrehn to the pit lane. It's prime time now. We are watching Mikhail Aleshin trying to re-pass the Rowe Racing Porsche. All three Rowe Porsche's are potential race winners. Each of them has a stellar lineup of drivers. The grippier line is on the inside. The Porsche has gone past the Ferrari. Molina knows the Porsche is there. Maro Engel leads in the #4 Black Falcon Mercedes as one of the sister Black Falcon cars is in the garage for a routine brake change. This is the #6 entry with a lineup of Italian and Czech drivers. Josef Kral sharing with Gabriele Lancieri, Matteo Malucelli, and Jiri Pisarik.
This is their five minute mandatory tech stop for servicing. Every car in the race has to do a compulsory five minute maintenance stop before the 22nd hour of the raceto keep costs down. Alex Lynn is being harried by Mercedes #999. Frank Stippler is watching Alex Lynn and Maxi Buhk. There's some argy bargy there, look between Buhk and Stippler. Mirko Bortolotti in the Lamborghini is back there, too. He's coming, quick. Alex Lynn has actually gone to second overall, past Mirko Bortolotti. Markus Winkelhock is up there, driving the #25 Sainteloc Audi which he has taken over from Christopher Haase, and are also sharing with Belgium's Frederic Vervisch. This trio, has won the Spa 24 overall, before. They've also triumphed at the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
Alex Lynn has been shuffled down due to a mistake. Mercedes #999 goes wide off the road, and there's a major bottleneck there as Alex Lynn dive bombs both of those blokes out of Eau Rouge! Lynn passes two cars in one corner! That was unreal! A spin there, look, for the #488 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. This is an Am class car being shared by Pierre Ehret of Germany who is at the wheel now, Rory Penttinen from Finland, Martin Berry from Singapore, and Jose Manuel Balbiani from Argentina.
He spins in Campus corner and Davide Rigon, on his outlap is nearly collected in this shemozzle! Deary me! Mama Mia! Rigon nearly clattered into the Rinaldi car! That was lucky indeed and a brilliant piece of driving, as the #2 Audi spins at Raidillon and Darren Burke also spun. There was a Lamborghini, we don't know the number, that tagged Darren Burke in the darkness. Now, we have passed the halfway point in the race. We are eight minutes past halfway, so early A.M. Sundy morning now, and #555 is off the road as we are under a Full Course Yellow situation. This is the second of the three Orange 1 FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3's. It is shared by Michele Beretta of Italy, Diego Menchaca from Mexico, Taylor Proto from the United States, and Giacomo Altoe, also from Italy.
That is the Silver rated driving crew as he spun just out of Campus corner. Now, we move forward in the motor race, and at the 14 hour and 13 minute mark, just before the dawn, we've gone to a red flag condition out on the circuit. We have a red flag, for more rain on track as the weather conditions here at Spa are getting worse and worse. Not much prospect of the weather drying out. So, the clock has ticked down, but, we've been under a red flag for a solid five and a half hours. If you've awakened from a slumber, good for you, because you've missed absolutely nothing. We've not raced since 5:45 A.M. this morning as we are getting ready for a restart here at Spa.
Let's have a look at the top fifteen places.
1. #63 Bortolotti/Engelhart/Ineichen Lamborghini Huracan GT3
2. #34 Jensen/Krognes/Catsburg BMW M6 GT3
3. #54 Bachler/Rizzoli/Ashkenani Porsche 911 GT3R
4. #72 Molina/Aleshin/Rigon Ferrari 488 GT3
5. #4 Engel/Buurman/Stolz Mercedes AMG GT3
6. #88 Abril/Schiller/Marciello Mercedes AMG GT3
7. #90 Bastian/Boguslaviskiy/Fraga Mercedes AMG GT3
8. #20 Lietz/Christensen/Estre Porsche 911 GT3R
9. #1 Frijns/Muller/Rast Audi R8 LMS
10. #25 Winkelhock/Vervisch/Haase Audi R8 LMS
11. #99 Olsen/Campbell/Werner Porsche 911 GT3R
12. #30 Farnbacher/Van der Zande/Baguette Honda NSX GT3
13. #998 Makowiecki/Pilet/Tandy Porsche 911 GT3R
14. #999 Buhk/Auer/Gotz Mercedes AMG GT3
15. #97 Yoluc/Al Harthy/Eastwood/Thiim Aston Martin Vantage
The top three in this running order, they still must serve their five minute mandatory technical pit stop. So, they will drop down the order. SMP Racing with the #72 Molina/Aleshin/Rigon Ferrari, led at the six and twelve hour marks in the race and depending on where they are at the end of the motor race, they could take the championship cup for the Blancpain Endurance Cup. But, we'll find out. It's not over yet. The field is formed up now, behind the safety car, and we are about to back to green flag racing with four hours and 53 and a half minutes left on the clock. This has gone from a 24 hour race, to a four and a half hour race, because of all the rain and the dreadful weather conditions we've seen.
Cars that are stuck in the pit lane best get out quick and just hope they don't go a lap down to the rest of the field. Christian Engelhart is the leader, and last year's winning driver and team owner for Walkenhorst Motorsport, Christian Krognes, is running second as the Norwegian brick salesman is sharing his car with the Dane Mikkel Jensen and Nicky Catsburg from Holland. Could there be another surprise. We're under green coming out of the Paul Frere curve. Krognes is fourth in the queue, look, and he has to eventually find a way around two of the Audi's in front of him while Mirko Bortolotti is still in the pit lane waiting to get into the car to take over from Christian Engelhart. Engelhart is in the lane, now.
One of the Porsche's wanted to pit, but they stay on track. Grasser should have pitted under Full Course Yellow, but no. They chose to gamble and pit when the green light came back on. This is going to thrown a giant spanner in the works for those boys. Christian Krognes is in a familiar place, through the traffic. He leads the Spa 24 Hours, which he and his team won, last year. Zaid Ashkenani in the #54 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche, is second. This is the car and team that were the surprise winners at the season opener at Monza in Italy back in April. Zaid Ashkenani from Kuwait, Klaus Bachler from Austria, and Andrea Rizzoli from Italy. The WRT Audi is threatening the SMP Ferrari for the race lead as the #18 KCMG Nissan GT-R is an interested observer. That's the car of Alexandre Imperatori from Switzerland, Britain's Oliver Jarvis, a very experienced sports car racer in all kinds of cars at all kinds of circuits in all kinds of championships, and, Italian driver, Edoardo Liberati.
Rene Rast makes the pass on Oliver Jarvis and makes it stick. Rast tries to pass Aleshin and he does. Aleshin has argy bargy with the Aston Martin, and he tries again on the downhill run to Eau Rouge. Rast, punts the Aston Martin, in the door, and the Aston Martin now, clatters off the wall! Aleshin moves ahead, Rast survives the kerfuffle, but the poor old Aston Martin is a wounded bird out there. Rast could be slapped by the marshals with a penalty for making contact with a Pro Am car. Actually, it was an Am car. It was the #188 Aston Martin from Garage 59, Chris Goodwin at the controls, getting slammed into the wall. Goodwin sharing that car with fellow Brits Chris Harris (a presenter of his own car television show), and Ross Gunn, as well as Sweden's Alexander West, all of these blokes, amateur drivers.
Rene Rast went for the opening that was not there, and there's clear damage to the Aston Martin as the right rear suspension assembly on that car, is broken, and he's dead stick. That car isn't going to move with a torn off wheel and busted suspension pieces. Meanwhile, Mikhail Aleshin gets sideways, and barges right into the side of Oliver Jarvis in the KCMG Nissan! There's loads of bodywork damage to the Nissan after that contretemps happened in Fagnes and Campus corner. Bodywork and left front suspension damage, look, to the SMP Ferrari. Now, less than three and a half hours to go, and Michael Christensen is applying the blowtorch to Yelmer Buurman. It's Mercedes vs. Porsche as Christensen tries to overtake Buurman for the race lead, but backs out of it deciding discretion is the better part of valor.
Buurman and Christensen both go wide. Christensen has a better exit out of the Bus Stop with the rear engine Porsche having more rear weight distribution than the big, hefty front engine V8 Mercedes. Christensen squeezes Buurman into the braking zone for La Source. Easy peasy lemon squeezy there, look, as a racing driver uses their head and makes a decisive, calculating move on a competitor. That's how you pass people. Now, the fight continues in the lane, with three hours and 15 minutes to go. Pit stop time for them both. We are getting down to crunch time. Two hours, just over two hours to go. Two hours and six minutes on the clock and the lead battle, the duel continues between fresh drivers in each of these cars. It's now between Maro Engel in the Mercedes, and Kevin Estre in the Porsche.
It's the German against the Frenchman, drivers for Stuttgart's finest going at it hammer and tongs here for victory in the 24 Hours of Spa. Estre is on the outside on the uphill run to Les Combes, he has his nose in front, braking as late as he dares for the corner, and Kevin Estre swoops around the outside of Maro Engel! Great driving on Estre's part there. Maro Engel is pushing for all he's worth, but Estre clearly made a proper move around Engel, on the outside line, on a road that is greasy and full of oil, clag, you name it. What else did we expect from Estre after watching him yesterday, on Saturday in the wet, driving from 12th on the grid to the lead of the motor race. This guy is a proper racing driver. We move ahead once again, to just over two hours to go in the 24 Hours of Spa.
Nico Muller in the #1 Audi is in the lead, for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, but he is most clearly the minnow, and Kevin Estre is the shark, or the sailfish as it may be because he has zoomed in on Kevin Estre, flying up the Kemmel straightaway and going for second place on the road (not the lead), but second, he tries to dive inside the Audi, but in thinking about it, he is being very cautious. Each way he goes he gets a face full of Nico Muller. But, Muller is gone! Nico Muller has spun the #1 Audi and almost backed it into the wall! Muller backs it into the fence, and gets going again, but there's damage to the rear of the car as the bumper and the diffuser are smashed.
Into Les Combes, Muller's Audi begin to go into that pendulum swing motion, the car being sent into a tail wagging ride and slapping the barrier, hard. We fast forward again now, to just under an hour and ten minutes to go in the motor race. Nick Tandy finds his way to third overall past the #1 Audi that has continued to have problems since it's tank slapper nearly an hour ago. On new tires, Mercedes #4 overcooks it into the Bus Stop! Oh dear! Maro Engel, that's not in the script, sunshine. Some argy bargy between Engel and Tandy, and now these blokes are turning into racing drivers with an hour to go, as they've been taxi drivers this whole race so far. Maro Engel runs wide on the uphill through Malmedy and Nick Tandy goes by.
The gloves are off! It's fight time. Rene Rast will take the #1 WRT Audi to the end. Yelmer Buurman cannot believe that Maro Engel has made a couple mistakes, perhaps ruining Black Falcon's chances for a win. Now, we fast forward again, to crunch time. Under half an hour to go, 26 minutes and change in fact. Kevin Estre still leads, but he gets trapped behind a slower Audi who has no idea he's even there and he sends the Audi spinning through the Bus Stop! Hard to catch a number on this particular Audi. It looks to be the same car that was in strife yesterday early on in the race. The Gulf Porsche leads, but another Porsche is in strife! Bang! That's the #16 Modena Motorsport car of Benny Simonsen! The damage on that #16 Porsche is massive. This is going to be without doubt a Full Course Yellow so the marshals can clean that mess up.
There's car damage and Armco barrier damage. Here's Benny Simonsen, look, he runs wide over the curb, loses traction, absolutely T bones the inside wall, and wrecks the car. That Porsche is junk. It's headed for the scrapyard. Trust me, you're not going to be rebuilding that automobile for the next race, chaps. The lights flash green again, with less than 15 minutes to go, going over the timing line. Kevin Estre is the leader. Nick Tandy is doing the chasing, hunting down Kevin Estre for the win. Tandy makes his way past the #50, that's the Herbie the Love Bug VW Beetle 1969 tribute Porsche that is a charity car and has only done bits and pieces of this race, while resting in it's garage for certain parts as well.
It is being driven by an all Belgian crew including former winner of this race, Marc Duez, Stephane Lemeret, Loic Deman, and Angelique Detavernier. The gap is 4.2 seconds now between Kevin Estre and Nick Tandy with just 14 minutes of this race left. More drama in the downhill section of the circuit as the #54 Dinamic Porsche spins top the inside and the #1 Audi of Rene Rast runs off to the other side of the road, while the #54 also collects the luckless #444 HB Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Klaus Bachler at the wheel of the Dinamic Porsche.
We've made it to the final lap of the 24 Hours of Spa with two minutes and two minutes only, left on the board. There's still argy bargy having run 23 hours and 58 minutes, even. Matthieu Jaminet is putting the short track stock car treatment on Renger van der Zande! It's Porsche 911 GT3R vs. Honda NSX! Matthieu Jaminet makes the move on Renger van der Zande for fifth spot. GPX Racing and Porsche, win the 24 Hours of Spa for Porsche! Nick Tandy is second, 3.3 seconds back at the end of the 24 Hours of Spa. This race came alive despite the long red flags for all the rain. The team is elated! The great history with the car in the Gulf Oil livery makes this victory even better.
Kevin Estre has won his first outright victory in a 24 hour race. So, here are the final race results.
1. #20 Lietz/Christensen/Estre Porsche 911 GT3R
2. #998 Makowiecki/Pilet/Tandy Porsche 911 GT3R
3. #4 Engel/Buurman/Stolz Mercedes AMG GT3
4. #25 Winkelhock/Vervisch/Haase Audi R8 LMS
5. #98 Muller/Dumas/Jaminet Porsche 911 GT3R
6. #30 Farnbacher/Van der Zande/Baguette Honda NSX GT3
7. #99 Olsen/Campbell/Werner Porsche 911 GT3R
8. #563 Lind/Caldarelli/Mapelli Lamborghini Huracan GT3
9. #117 Bamber/Bernhard/Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3R
10. #999 Buhk/Auer/Gotz Mercedes AMG GT3
11. #34 Jensen/Krognes/Catsburg BMW M6 GT3
12. #10 Weerts/Nato/Breukers Audi R8 LMS
13. #88 Abril/Schiller/Marciello Mercedes AMG GT3
14. #129 Mies/Feller/Green Audi R8 LMS
15. #78 Pull/Witt/Mitchell Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen, and Richard Lietz have tons of reasons to celebrate and so does their team, GPX Motorsports. The drivers are presented with their winning trophies including the big trophy with all the winners names of the 24 Hours of Spa engraved on it. The SMP trio of Molina/Rigon/Aleshin, they lead with one race left to go even though they retired from the race. The champagne sprays on the podium, and Porsche scores their first 24 Hours of Spa since 2010, nine years ago.
It's been wonderful to bring you coverage of the 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps, even though it's been delayed by some time. A fabulous race this was, despite all the rain. There will be more fabulous racing from Spa Francorchamps, next year. Bye bye, for now.
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