Headed for the halfway mark of the 24 Hours of Spa as Marco Mapelli leads Alessandro Pier Guidi by 6/10ths of a second with 11 and a quarter hours of motor racing, done and dusted already. Flying through Eau Rouge again. The cameraman is very brave to stand at the bottom. You stand there with a plate of frites mayonnaise and beer. The camera is robotic and on a stick. Eau Rouge is a stunning corner. One of the Porsche's outbrakes himself into the Bus Stop. Jorg Bergmeiser is in the lane, and now, Mattia Drudi has moved around. That robotic camera at Eau Rouge is amazing. The very tiny upside of no fans, is no trash on the road, but, we can still see incredible pictures as we watch from home.
Ferrari #27, Tom Blomqvist, is 18th, two laps down. Michele Beretta leads Silver. Marco Mapelli is in the lane, having sneaked in. He is stopping a lap earlier than AF Corse, Rowe, and AKKA ASP. #88 has a puncture, and Felipe Fraga is trundling through Blanchimont. Drive as slow as possible. Left front puncture, scraping on the disc. He's lost the wheel! You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel. The disc is scraping. The mechanics needs to pick the car up. What is the damage to the splitter. He turns right, down the hill to the endurance pits. Fuel in first. Then the team can do to work replacing the red hot bits.
They'll fuel the car and then get into the garage for repairs. They have been the leaders, and so this will turn the motor race partially on it's ear. It is on the dollies, and they are at an angle in a small space. Felipe Fraga has to be sick to his stomach. He's just crushed, and hoping to get back into the race and salvage something. Thank goodness the car isn't too damaged, but he lost the wheel half a lap from home. Louis Deletraz in the #40 GPX Racing Porsche is twelfth. Nick Yelloly is behind him. The #25 Sainteloc Audi just made a pit stop, Markus Winkelhock at the controls. Michael Christensen is now at the wheel of the #47 KCMG Porsche. Benjamin Lessennes has brought the BMW M6 GT3 art car into the lane, and BMW has a rich history of art cars.
Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and a bunch of other artists painted them. Felipe Fraga has now dropped down to 18th spot. 12 hours, 26 minutes into the motor race. Maxime Soulet, is third in the overall now. So, the technical pit stop that is supposed to last five minutes, can be taken in the next 11 hours. But, even if you have a catalog of woes, you still have to make the mandatory stop. You don't have to change brakes if you don't have to, but you do need to stop for five minutes. The #3 Bentley is being monstered by many other cars. 256-259 kilometers an hour at Blanchimont, one of the quickest parts of the circuit. 260 kilometers an hour is 160 miles an hour! Yikes!
Its got to be game over for AKKA ASP, or one of their cars anyway. Laurens Vanthoor is half a minute behind Alessandro Pier Guidi. Michele Beretta still leads the Silver division. Franck Perera in the lane. Trouble for AKKA ASP. Something exploded in the left front of the Mercedes. Suspension, brakes, a wheel. Just terrible. Under braking at Les Combes, that was a massive explosion. Alessandro Pier Guidi is the new leader. JAS Honda, and team boss Alessandro Mariani says the car has a good pace and the team wants to be in the top ten, which they are, fighting for fifth.
The three drivers are running well, and they are ready for the rain later in the race. Let's hope the rain does not get too hectic. SMP Racing Ferrari #72 pits and so does the #51. All the Ferrari's are run by Amato Ferrari and AF Corse. Earl Bamber is into the Porsche. Meantime, Renger van der Zande leads. The second Emil Frey Lamborghini is in the lane. Norbert Siedler, Ricardo Feller, and Mikael Grenier. Davide Rigon has taken over the SMP Ferrari. Louis Deletraz handed the #40 GPX Porsche to Thomas Preining. Dennis Olsen is being chased by Franck Perera. Lamborghini vs. Porsche. Patrick Niederhauser is in the #66 Attempto Audi.
Giancarlo Fisichella is 21st overall, catching Patrick Kujala. Fisichella's real target is another car, which is the second Barwell Lamborghini, 23 seconds up the road. Renger van der Zande has cycled to the lad overall as Ricky Collard is leading Pro Am. The #29 is going to pit. Lamborghini in the lane. Renger van der Zande will triple stint. Sandy Mitchell is driving Lamborghini #77, I think. More water at Campus corner. If you can see the car, the car is physically closer than it was before if you or your rival picks up time. Dennis Olsen in the Frikadelli Porsche is pushing, pushing, pushing., closing in on the Audi. Porsche to the right, Audi to the left. Th Audi is still there, down the main straight. Wow! That was close.
Spots of rain, misty rain, at the top of the hill as this battle for ninth continues. Dennis Olsen chasing Markus Winkelhock, who is also chasing Christian Engelhart. Then comes Dennis Olsen and Patrick Niederhauser. Dennis Olsen gains a place and we have more retirements as #88 is gone of course with a lost wheel.
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