Russell Ward has spun and clattered the wall, doing a pirouette at Speaker's corner. He will have toc heck and make sure there is no damage. Fred Vervisch is motoring again now that the rain is getting heavier. Winkelhock is going to get dusted here. Tiptoe through Eau Rouge. This race is getting spicy. There are heavy patches and slight drizzle. It varies. The big gain is in the middle sector. The wet section is on the Kemmel straight and into Les Combes. Vervisch is going to gain the lead back. Vervisch has the grip. More rain appears on the camer lenses. Markus Winkelhock will be tiptoeing on slicks. He is a good driver. He knows where and when to push but has his hands full.
The gap is down to 6/10ths of a second. On wet tires, Fred Vervisch has the pace and has the grip. Let him go. Attempto Racing may have made the right call on the bottom end of the course from Les Combes to Pouhon to Fangnes. Hot slicks will work for a while, and now, Winkelhock is coming because it is drying out again. Interesting. This is going to be a see saw battle. Chopping and changing. Vervisch and Winkelhock are really going for it, but Alessandro Pier Guidi, he is even quicker than the two Audi boys. Vervisch can surely attack the corners and Winkelhock is feathering it just a shade. The Ferrari is making inroads. Patrick Niederhauser says things are looking good for the Attempto team. He says it is difficult to decide the right decision, and more rain is needed. It's a gamble. More rain is coming.
Weather apps say it is coming from the south. Pier Guidi is lapping quicker than the Audi's. He has to gain on the slick tires, making inroads to Winkelhock. Pier Guidi is closing up. He loses a little time. Winkelhock and Pier Guidi lose some time. In Pro Am, the #93 Sky Tempesto Ferrari is being chased, as Giancarlo Fisichella is fending off Jonny Adam's challenge in the Aston Martin. He has to be so gentle, through the Piff Paff. Jonny Adam in second, and he might be struggling in these mixed conditions. He is 71 seconds behind the class leading Ferrari in Pro Am.
Fisichella pits and he has to be careful on entry and will be. The pit lane is wet, too. We have more rain to come. Stay out of trouble. No mistakes. The gap is three seconds. Vervisch leads Winkelhock and Pier Guidi remains third. Rain tires onto Ferrari #93. Check that. They opted for slicks. These conditions are so variable. Jonny Adam is 58 minutes into a 65 minute stint. Then he will have to hand over to a co-driver. Mario Farnbacher is eigth overall and there could be a wire on the edge of that car and they haven't been given a meatball flag for it yet. Mario Farnbacher is eighth overall, half a minute down on the GPX Porsche of Patrick Pilet, car #12. Sandy Mitchell is reeling in Giancarlo Fisichella.
He goes through the left hand corner at Pouhon. Out the other side of Pouhon, he runs towards Stavelot. Markus Winkelhock is back in the lead. Fred Vervisch is second. Jonny Adam leads Pro Am and Giancarlo Fisichella will get the lead back on the next pit stop. Markus Winkelhock is quicker on slicks. Maybe it is starting to dry out again. Vervisch could be damaging his tires. Alessandro Pier Guidi will be on top of Vervisch, right on his six, soon. Rain may start falling again. This is going to be a wild race for the next little while. Markus Winkelhock goes back to the lead, Vervisch losing time to the leader. Jonny Adam, Sandy Mitchell, and more, are pushing.
Rain is getting heavier on the front straight. Jonny Adam pits and Sandy Mitchell has an open door to the Pro Am lead. Ah. The wt tires have come back to Vervisch and Attempto. #66 is back in the race. This is unreal. Big twitch from Winkelhock and Winkelhock knows he is in dire straits and he needs rain tires. Pier Guidi goes for another lap and so does Davide Rigon. Vervisch is going the stretch his lead. Winkelhock is going for wets. The roll of the dice nearly worked, but not quite. Winkelhock is back in the race. Sandy Mitchell is leading and Sky Tempesto will have to change tires back to rain tires. It is getting much wetter on the circuit. Incident involving cars #4 and #98 at the exit of La Source? Earl Bamber and Luca Stolz.
It ios getting darker and wetter. The two Ferrari's are changing to wet tires. Trust a Belgian driver for the weather and the choice of tire at Spa. The weather is going to get worse over the next hour. We have to see what the Luca Stolz and Earl Bamber conundrum will be. The Ferrari's are back on track. Ferrari's are quicker in pit stop land. Fred Vervisch and Markus Winkelhock were battling heavily earlier. The race leading Audi has had more time in the lane compared to the Ferrari at this point. #66 leads with #25 and #51 next up.
Three and a half hours on the board. Fred Vervisch still wants a Spa 24 Hours winner on his CV. The weather is getting worse as headlights pierce the gloom in Fangnes (the Piff Paff). Rigon and Calado are going to lose time, and Spa type proper rain, is affecting the Ferrari. Jonny Adam has now given the #188 Aston Martin to Alexander West. It was a long pit stop. They may have troiuble. In the spray, James Calado is being caught by Davide Rigon through Fangnes. Calado and Rigon move through Stavelot (Curve Paul Frere). The mist hangs in the air, three and a half hours left on the board. The leader is 2/3rds of lap up, through the Bus Stop, and the rest of the cars turn through Bruxelles. Vervisch must tread carefully.
If the Ferrari's scrap and squabble for third, Vervisch can get away. Ferrari have not had the best success in the Spa 24 Hours in recent memory. Will they gain an advantage on Audi? Suddenly, the weather might be brightening up just a shade. The weather may change all over again, but the track will stay wet. Jonny Adam came in due to the weather and Alexander West went out on wet tires after Adam was scrapping around on slicks. Earl Bamber runs ahead of Patrick Pilet followed by Luca Stolz, Sven Mueller, Dennis Olsen, and Renger van der Zande. Sandy Mitchell leads Pro Am Cup and Giancarlo Fisichella is still tiptoeing.
Fisichella has wet tires. Sandy Mitchell is outperforming the Italian, though. Jonny Adam and Sandy Mitchell both have run a lot in the rain in England. Mitchell is moving ahead. Is Davide Rigon being careful or can he even overtake Calado? The risks and rewards are high, but even more so in the wet. James Calado is being challenged by Davide Rigon and he has made the move at Pouhon on the outside, in the wet! Yikes! Of the 56 cars that started this race, 34 are still in the fight, with 22 retirements. Both of those boys were tiptoeing in the wet. Painted lines and rain just don't mix. Sandy Mitchell is running well and the Boutsen Ginion art car is fourth in Pro Am, running well. Fifth in class. Check that.
Sandy Mitchell from Giancarlo Fisichella, Alexander West, Rino Mastronardi, and Benjamin Lesennes. Giancarlo Fisichella is chasing, still. The rain is getting worse. The race started half an hour later than expected as well. The race will end at 3:00 P.M. Fisichella is second Pro Am, 2:40.2 for Mitchell, and 2:40.3 for Fisichella. He does not have a face full of weather even though the windshield wiper is working hard. He is relying on his rearview camera. Fisichella is a very smooth driver, in Formula 1 and sports cars. He is taking the middle line at Pouhon. Dab the brakes into Blanchimont. Lap times are improving and the wet Pirelli tires could still work. Fisichella, though, is hitting traffic, giving up time to Sandy Mitchell. Poor old Rino Mastronardi has to make an unscheduled pit stop and he was trying to fight back after an incident yesterday but just can't quite get there.
Winkelhock continues to push. Rigon, Calado, and Bamber, for third, fourth, and fifth, Bamber is pulling away from the race leader, trying to keep the Rowe Porsche on the lead lap. The track just won't dry before this race is done and dusted. Sorry to tell you, folks, but this track is completely wet now. Fred Vervisch pits from the lead of the motor race. How much will this cost him in relation to the others in the top five? 466 laps, 2,027 miles. Heavy, nasty rain is falling. Markus Winkelhock had a great performance on slicks, but is going to have to keep pushing. The track is as wet as it's ever been. It is a deluge.
Ezequiel Perez Companc says that the wet conditions are fun and difficult in the Mad Panda Mercedes team. They have to climb the ladder back up the order after dropping to stone last for a while. Pit lane reporter, Jemma Scott, she gets a new beanie hat, for Mad Panda, but only if we know why the name Mad Panda came to be for the team. The cold track is just something not used to by the drivers. Laurens Vanthoor and the Rowe Racing team boss have been asked to visit Race Control. Fred Vervisch has moved down to fifth after his pit stop. Freddie will have another pit stop within an hour. He is out of sync at the moment. The rain is getting worse.
Earl Bamber is doing his job, driving the car, and we will have a Full Course Yellow. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow, now. 469 laps, 2,040 miles. In the wet, someone has gone off the road. It is Audi #33, Ben Goethe, going wide into the barriers, having penalties and loads of pit stops, shedding bodywork as it's gone, look, and also, just having a really pear shaped motor race. Two pit stops to go to get the teams to the end of the race. Attempto is running out of sequence but they will get there, and we have pit stops. Markus Winkelhock out of the Audi.
