Drive through penalty for Nicky Catsburg. We have three retirements from this race. So, 53 of the 56 cars in. Nick Yelloly has stuffed it into the wall at the Bus Stop. There's water, residual water, from the rain that has fallen, into the tires. Spa is noted for it's water, it's natural springs. The wind is picking up. It is getting chilly and breezy, and dark. Marco Mapelli leads. Oliver Wilkinson is back in the race, but they are 40 laps behind everybody else. They will just have to go through the motions and finish. It's soul destroying for everybody, but they have to keep going. Oliver Wilkinson, Joe Osborne, and Rob Bell, keep going, chins up chaps. Michael Christensen is catching Felipe Fraga. He must be thinking, "great Scot! I can nab him!" Christensen is closing in. Fraga runs wide into the Bus Stop. Here comes last year's winner, trying to do the switcheroo, and no. Fraga slams the door in his face. 96 laps, 418 miles.
The battle rages. Christensen running in the wash of the Mercedes. He has to stay close and keep applying the blowtorch to the Mercedes. Christensen just does not have the acceleration advantage for the Mercedes. Dries Vanthoor is sitting there, licking his chops to see if he can get through if the two blokes in front of him make a pig's breakfast out of their race. Marco Mapelli, is still leading the motor race. You've not missed much if you have stepped away. Mapelli's lead is going up. It has ballooned to seven seconds. Fraga has been having performance trouble with that Mercedes, just a little.
Sergey Sirotkin is in the lane. Ferrari #72. Also, we see Mercedes #89, Porsche #54, and others in the lane for service. The track at Spa Francorchamps is now dry again. Thank heavens for a good strong breeze. Alex Fontana is in the lane in the #89 AKKA ASP Mercedes. Bentley #3 is abusing track limits. Jules Gounon, running 15th for the K-PAX team. Gounon sharing with Jordan Pepper and Maxime Soulet. Porsche #98 also in the lane for service. Clean the headlamps for the maximum visibility. There are auxiliary lights as well on the corners of the car.
Christensen is catching Fraga again. Pit stop time for the leaders. The top seven. Mapelli, Fraga, Christensen, Vanthoor, Calado, Drudi, and Campbell. Two part pit stops. Fuel first, followed by the driver change as well as going up on the air jacks and changing tires as well as drivers. Is it time for a brake change yet? Not yet. Service the car, and send it. Andrea Caldarelli is now into the #63. Fraga loses spots. Porsche and Audi, look, leapfrog the Mercedes in the pit lane. Kelvin van der Linde will be a tough nut to crack. A refueling investigation for the Sainteloc Audi, the #26 car.
Nick Yelloly is not happy about his race so far. Bentley #9 warned about track limits. Jules Gounon briefly led but no more. Andrea Caldarelli is leading Michael Christensen and Kelvin van der Linde. Fraga is next followed by Nicklas Nielsen to complete the top five. Kelvin van der Linde nearly gets by Christensen but can't do it. Fraga is chasing. Through the Paul Frere corner. They fly towards Blanchimont. Patrick Kujala and Ricky Collard, have both Barwell Lamborghini's leading Silver and Pro Am. Into the Bus Stop, firing away down the main straight. Caldarelli leads Christensen by 1.7 seconds.
Trouble for Euan McKay in the #11 Team Parker Bentley. Team boss Stuart Parker will not be happy. He is at Brussels corner, Bruxelles. Fraga, van der Linde, and Christensen, catching the leader, through Piff Paff, and lap 101. 439 miles. Kelvin van der Linde is trying by the Porsche and Felipe Fraga wants it. No dice. Michael Christensen gets stymied by a couple BMW's. Caldarelli leads the motor race. Nicklas Nielsen is inm the fifth place Ferrari. The #11 Team Parker Bentley is back up and running. It won't become daylight until 7AM tomorrow morning. We are here to do a job, and have fun watching a motor race despite a long, long night.
It's 8:25 P.M. local time. Martin Tomczyk at the controls of the #35 BMW right now. Kelvin van der Linde wants to get by Christensen, and they clear Tomczyk, and Fraga goes wide. Martin Tomczyk, a good driver, was a moving chicane there for a wee while. Michael Christensen has now lost a second to Andrea Caldarelli. 17 cars are now on the lead lap. 103 laps, 448 miles. Fraga is bish bash boshing it, and he is closing fast on Kelvin van der Linde while Michael Christensen has broken away just a tad. Fraga has lost some time. All this will ebb and flow as the race goes on.
Andrea Caldarelli leads. The #74 Ram Racing Mercedes will have a drive through penalty for Callum Macleod. Where do you catch the traffic? More drive through track limits penalties for KCMG and Barwell. Mercedes #88 is all over the Audi from Les Combes to Bruxelles. He had to think about getting by Fraga. Patrick Kujala, the Finn, he is also serving a penalty. Christensen just has to take his medicine and get after it. KCMG says that Christensen was forced wide by another car. Will the Race Director talk to them about it?
Patrick Kujala serves his penalty. Michele Beretta takes over the lead in Silver Cup for the #5 Mercedes AMG GT3. Michele Beretta of Italy, sharing with countryman Gabriele Piana, Hubert Haupt from Germany, and Sergey Afanasiev of Russia. Ricky Collard leads Pro Am over Maxime Martin. That's the Barwell Lamborghini #77 ahead of Maxime Martin for Garage 59 in the Aston Martin. Martin sharing with Alex West, Chris Goodwin, and Jonny Adam. Ricky Collard takes over the Barwell Lamborghini. Sandy Mitchell shares with Ricky and Rob Collard as well as Leo Machitski, three Brits, and a Russian driver.
#47 still must serve the penalty. Giancarlo Fisichella is third in Pro Am. You instinctively do what your instincts tell you as a racing driver, not to be redundant, but it is true. Alex Fontana is up to fourth in Silver Cup. Michael Christensen was second and now serves the drive through penalty. Christensen completes the drive thorugh and the Lexus gets racy with the Audi of Kelvin van der Linde. Fraga is closing. Lexus #15 has to be cleared. Not sure who is driving that car, but the bloke is in the way. That was Timothe Buret and Buret should not have been in the way. Christensen drops down the order.
Michael Joos leads Am for Herberth Motorsports. The headlights pierce the gloom through Bruxelles corner. Plunging down the hill, Michel Petit, driving the #129 Raton Racing Lamborghini. Three cars out of the race, but more will retire. We are almost at 10PM in the evening. Will Timur Boguslavskiy get into the #88 car? Fraga is in it now, and he is chasing Kelvin van der Linde. Michael Christensen is now down to 12th place. Pit stop time for Walkenhorst Motorsports and car #34. Augusto Farfus sharing with Nicky Catsburg and Phillip Eng. This Audi and Mercedes battle is fascinating.
Caldarelli is flying and his lead is building. Through Pouhon, THIS BATTLE IS HOT AND HEAVY. Fraga is pushing hard. Not much between these two blokes, really. Maxime Martin is catching Ricky Collard in Pro Am. Martin is a legend here at Spa and knows Aston Martin's. He did win here, for BMW, years ago as well. Another drive through penalty for track limits, for Davide Rigon in the SMP Ferrari, car #72. Penalties go with the car, but penalties get erased after a six hour period for penalty accumulation. SMP will fall down the order. Collard, Kujala, Martin, 21st, 22nd, 23rd. Maxime Martin fought for race wins in the Marc VDS BMW Z4's. He did finally win, emulating his dad. He wants a class win here.
He wants to move past Patrick Kujala. Michael Joos is still running but he has a hazard light on. The engine cover has been hit under the rear wing of the car. Joos is leading in Am, 41st in the overall. That's Porsche #918. Euan McKay is back on the road, 39th in the overall. Michel Petit is now in the lane also in Am. Gregory Paisse takes over the Am lead in the #26 Sainteloc Audi. Pierre Yves Paque, Gregory Paisse, Christophe Cresse, and Stephen Palette. Into the garage, that aforementioned Porsche, he has exhaust system damage and rear damage. Be careful of that car as the exhaust system is coupled straight to the engine, the manifold etc.
Drive through penalty for car #26. Andrea Caldarelli leads the motor race by five seconds. 115 laps on the board, 500 miles exactly. Lamborghini leads Spa. 117 laps done and dusted.
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