We welcome Bruce Jones into the commentary box as a driver change takes place for Ferrari #93. So many incidents through the night, drying ink out of our magic markers, our dry erase markers. We still have six hours on the board, two standard enduro cup races. Luca Stolz moves to sixth past the Porsche! Wow! That was wild. Luca Stolz moves past Laurens Vanthoor. Vanthoor knew he had to give it up. More stings in the tail to come. Online it is red hot, but the pavement offline, according to Dennis Lind, is ice cold, I mean, icy cold. Matt Campbell is being harried by Sergey Sirotkin, look. Ferrari was down in the doldrums early doors in this race yesterday. But they are back into contention. If they drop the ball now, they'll look like completely foolish blokes.
But, we will see what happens. 401 laps completed, 1,744 miles. Mattia Drudi is trying to make his escape, passing Christopher Haase. Maybe Haase has let him by. Drudi has some handling issues in the front of that automobile. Jonathan Hui says there is only one proper line on the road here at Spa right now. Ferrari #93 is third in Pro Am, with Chris Froggatt driving. Ricky Collard Jr. leads for Barwell Motorsports in Pro Am, with Sandy Mitchell, Leon Machitski, and Rob Collard. He is the grandson of Duffy Collard, a British hot rodder. The track here at Spa is drying out. That's good. The driver's have more scope for where they can put their cars.
Mattia Drudi's lap times are dropping. Sergey Sirotkin is doing very well. Renger van drr Zande is also running really well in the #29 Honda NSX GT3. Renger van der Zande out, and into the car, from ninth, on the lead lap, is Mario Farnbacher. This car is a sleeper. It has a chance of a great result. Honda's bullet is doing a storming good job. Drama on the right rear corner of the Honda. What is wrong? Nothing. The Honda blasts away. There may have been bodywork that needed to be attached to the car. James Calado gets trapped by the Honda, and Calado is really getting upset because the Audi's have checked out.
Mario Farnbacher is starting to move, but Calado thinks he can't move fast enough. Calado must be seething inside his helmet. The Bentley of Jules Gounon is still fastest at 259 kilometers an hour. Calado is trying to regroup so he doesn't go bonkers. The Honda could get ahead of the Audi's as Matt Campbell is also quicker than Calado. 407 laps done and dusted, 1,770 miles. Could we see another surprise winner here at Spa? We will see. Calado's tires are knackered, and well, the Honda has fresh tires. Farnbacher is right on Christopher Haase's gearbox. Haase does not have to battle the Audi. It is quicker with newer tires. Haase has no reason to defend from it and Calado is closing, fast.
Porsche's are still fast at Eau Rouge. Plenty more teams might have trouble. Five hours and 40 minutes to go., The track will pick the winner. Do we have rain? Not yet. The road is getting dryer. No moisture is dropping from the sky right now. Luca Stolz is reeling in, or trying to reel in, the SMP Ferrari. The K-PAX Bentley has lloose bodywork, but is chasing the #98 Porsche. Kamui Kobayashi has the #27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari in 16th just behind the Bentley that was at the back of the grid as well, with Rodrigo Baptista trying to gain back track position on Christian Engelhart, the Porsche #54, the last car on the lead lap. Haase has been passed by Farnbacher so Mario can get a lap back. But the Honda has the speed on new tires and gobs of traction.
The car has extra pace over the Audi. Mario Farnbacher has a heavier fuel load but better Pirelli tires. Honda JAS team manager Alessandro Morari says that the last three hours are goiing to be the most important part of the race. Rain is coming, again, according to Morari. They have the pace at JAS Honda as well. JAS Honda are very happy. They know the pressure, but they can handle it. With limited testing etc. because of the global situation, Honda are still in good shape insofar as car pace. Mattia Drudi leads the motor race by 2.9 seconds. James Calado has dropped back from the Audi's. He has not been able to answer the pace of the Audi boys.
Matty Campbell is 2.8 seconds behind James Calado as well. Hubert Haupt leads the Silver Cup in 19th overall. Ricky Collard leads the Pro class. Clements Matteu leads the Am division. Mattia Drudi leads the motor race by 2.1 seconds. Mikael Grenier brings the Emil Frey Lamborghini to the lane. Laurens Vanthoor and Christian Engelhart are battling in the contending Porsche's. Laurens Vanthoor has had an odd season in IMSA in 2020. He is of course, Dries Vanthoor's older brother. Laurens Vanthoor came out of Formula 3 into the old Blancpain Endurance Series and Dries Vanthoor came from Formula Renault. Matt Campbell and Luca Stolz both pit. 413 laps on the board, 1,796 and a half miles. Christian Engelhart in the lane and so is Kevin Estre who won this race last year. Audi, Audi, Ferrari, Ferrari 1-2-3-4.
The story still changes with five and change hours to go. Matty Campbell has had a slight fuel spill. The extinguisher residue is all over the back of the car. Sergey Afanasiev is in the lane. Here at Spa with the two sided pit lane, you can't see some of your rivals and what they do. Porsche #99 and Bentley #3 are in. Franck Perera in the Emil Frey Lamborghini #163 is also still in it. Some of these backmarkers have been encountered by the leading Audi's as Dirk Werner pits the #99 Rowe Racing Porsche. James Calado in the lane, and there will be a driver change. The car needs fuel, a new driver, and new boots. Plus a clean of the windscreen. Who will step into the car? We don't know yet. Patrick Pilet takes over from Matty Campbell.
Ferrari and Porsche down and away, and Alessandro Pier Guidi is the new driver in the Ferrari while Earl Bamber is in the Porsche and Christopher Haase pits his Audi. Earl Bamber is in the #98 Porsche and Sergey Sirotkin is in the #72 SMP Ferrari still. Markus Winkelhock is now in the #25 Audi for Sainteloc. Rodrigo Baptista and Stuart Hall have been warned at Speaker's corner about track limits. Mattia Drudi and company have been squeaky clean so far. Rino Mastronardi is in the lane in the #488 Ferrari, with David Perel, Daniel Keilwitz, Pierre Ehret, and Senore Mastronardi as well. They are still in it. Karim Ojjeh in the art car BMW is scrapping with the Keilwitz Ferrari, too.
Alexander West still has the #188 Aston Martin second in Pro Am. Mattia Drudi is also running the car dry before he comes to pit road. #66 into Bruxelles. Drudi, Niederhauser, and Vervisch, are doing really well. Mattia Drudi pits the car and the klaxon in the lane has gone off. Meantime, we shall see who steps into the car. Attempto made their name in Porsche SuperCup and Carrera Cup Germany. They came into GT3 with McLaren, shopped around different makes, and now have stuck with Audi and have a factory deal with factory drivers.
419 laps on the board, 1,823 miles. The Audi has to dive down through both pit lanes and here comes the Ferrari. The Ferrari is going to perhaps catch the Audi. This is a squeaker. You lose 15 degrees of tire temp between the two pit lanes. The Audi of Fred Vervisch won't stay in the lead, and now, Alessandro Pier Guidi leads the motor race. Winkelhock in the other Audi moves to second. Mattia Drudi has driven a smart race, but the Ferrari has gone back to the front. We may see rain before this motor race is complete. A point worth reiterating. A cold track, with one dry line. Vervisch wants by Winkelhock.
A pass for second spot and we see #66 is the hare and #25 is the tortoise. Freddie Vervisch knows this circuit and knows it well. Pier Guidi leads, but he has his hands full with the Audi boys, and into Fangnes, Vervisch gets by a Ferrari, but Winkelhock is stymied by the back marker. Alexander West, the Sweidhs driver in the Aston Martin, has his hands full with Giacomo Altoe and Leo Machitski. Russell Ward has the #84 HTP Mercedes AMG GT3 in Silver Cup and IGTC. That's Indy Dontje, Russell Ward, and Philip Ellis.
No comments:
Post a Comment