Raffaele Marciello up the road from Earl Bamber by just a little bit. Dennis Lind is in hot pursuit of Earl Bamber. Bamber is having some trouble? Nope. There was a back marker, who has a puncture, and it is Benjamin Goethe in the #33 Belgian Audi Club WRT Audi R8 LMS. This race has been awesome so far. Good afternoon to you, or evening, wherever you are. Nothing prepares you for racing at night at places like Spa, Le Mans, or even Daytona. It is as black as a witches hat out there. LED lights are also extremely bright. Raffaele Marciello still has glare in his eyes through the traffic. You never are not in traffic after about two or three laps of this motor race.
Everyone is fed up with track limits. But it is again, about the car, not the driver. There is a good reason why you have to stay off the curbs, to preserve the cars. These are dead flat out sprint races. Don't throw the thing off the road. The engine, the gearbox, you are doing more miles than an entire F1 season, here at Spa, Le Mans, Daytona, Nurburgring, or other places. Marshals don't judge track limits. The race stewards do. Monitoring corner is possible as there are people here who have been tested negative for the virus. The stewards don't stop you running wide. You, as the driver, have to make the decisions. Tarmac, curb, grass, gravel. But, a 200 miles an hour F1 car, or a one ton GT3 car, is not stopped by grass. More friction slows the car down. Spa is quick no matter where you go.
These drivers have a lot to deal with. There are spots of water in the air. Heavy rain is not in the forecast, not like we saw at the Nurburgring where the race was stopped and everyone got a full night's sleep. Matthieu Jaminet is in the lane in the #12 GPX Porsche. Alessandro Pier Guidi is fourth, in the Ferrari, followed by the Honda NSX GT3, Renger van der Zande at the controls. We have no Audi's in the top ten. Fred Vervisch is 11th. Walkenhorst's surviving BMW is 13th. Matthieu Jaminet pits from fourth spot. Benjamin Goethe made it back to the lane aboard the #33 Audi, with his punctured tire. He is down to tenth in Silver, and 40th overall.
Marciello leads Bamber, Lind, Pier Guidi, Renger van der Zande, Richard Lietz, Thomnas Preining, Jordan Pepper, Davide Rigon, and Fred Vervisch. Yellow flags are out and Raffaele Marciello is in the pit lane. Stefano Constantini, leading Am, is in the lane, over Mikkel Joos, and Stephane Trabbadini. Davide Rigon is in and so is Marcos Gomes. The #98 Rowe Racing Porsche is also in the car. Nick Tandy was unhappy yesterday. Marciello, Bamber, Lind, and Pier Guidi, the top four. Renger van der Zande is on a different stratewgy and he and Fred Vervisch stay out on track.
Nick Tandy was unhappy with traffic. Davide Rigon hands to Miguel Molina. Earl Bamber hands to Nick Tandy. Mikael Grenier hands to Norbert Siedler. Kamui Kobayashi is back in Ferrari #27. Thomas Preining hands Romain Dumas the #40 GPX Porsche. In the #47 KCMG Porsche, it is Kevin Estre. Their modus operandi is singl stinting drivers, a la what they do in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Yellow flags from Les Combes down to Stavelot, (Curve Paul Frere). Valentin Haase Clot has the main Garage 59 Aston Martin.
There's drizzle at Eau Rouge and up to Les Combes. Spritzes and spots of rain, not a deluge. Honda #29 is in the lane. They are on the downhill side, in the endurance pit lane. They are on the other side of where the F1 pits are. Dane Cameron is in the lane from the lead of the motor race, car #29. Mercedes, Lamborghini, and Porsche, continue dominating this motor race as we are eight hours and 40 minutes into this race. Yours truly has had to take and combine a couple of hours into one report probably because of the factor that we are going to lose Daylight Saving Time in another week or so.
Spa in October, has been wild. It will continue to be. It's a lottery. We know it is going to rain. Rain is not a surprise, especially in October. Audi leads right now, Fred Vervisch is the leader of this motor race. Attempto Racing has run well with Porsche's but now with Audi. Indy Dontje runs 32nd overall. We still have a battle between Raffaele Marciello and Dennis Lind. Audi still owe us a stop. We're a quarter of the way into the race already. Raffaele Marciello moved by Dennis Lind. He had no idea. He was a sitting duck. Dontje and a bunch of others at 244 kilometers an hour. The Mercedes is at 251 kilometers an hour, much faster.
Raffaele Marciello had the line into La Source. He goes down the inside, and bish bash bosh, makes the move, fair and square. Put a stamp on, and send it. All these cars are basically equal compared to LMP1/LMP2 or GTE Pro/GTE Am in the World Endurance Championship. All these cars are rear wheel drive, massively powerful GT3 cars. Nick Tandy moves by Indy Dontje. Check that. He is chasing Dennis Lind. News from pit lane. The #159 Garage 59 Aston Martin will return to the track after having bodywork damage. Valentin Hasse Clot of France, Andrew Watson from England, Roman De Angelis from Canada, and James Pull from England.
Porsche #918, the Am division Herberth car is the only one remaining in the pit lane. It has been in the garage a long, long time, for an hour or so. We are headed for eight hours completed. The next slice of the points pie, is at 12 hours. Nick Tandy makes his way past Dane Cameron in the #29 Honda NSX GT3. Dane Cameron is right behind Romain Dumas in the #40 GPX Porsche. Dorian Boccolacci is back there as well behind Dane Cameron I believe. This is the Honda run by JAS Sport. Frederic Schandorff is leading the Silver divison as the Am drivers are having tire temperature issues on their Pirelli P Zeros. Schandorff is 22nd in the overall. They are gaining the points, going for the title, and the win this weekend. That's for dead sure.
Hubert Haupt is second, 28.7 seconds behind, with Benjamin Hites third, 28th overall. More than a lap between those guys, followed by Timothe Buret in the Lexus. There are a few other Silver class drivers as well. Sandy Mitchell, Patrick Kujala and company, are doing the same lap times, and Black Bull whiskey, their sponsor, is happy.
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