“I
can’t wait to scream and go fast again!”
Loads and loads of tire debris at the top of the circuit, on the
original circuit, it went straight on and to the left down into the valley into
corners like Burnenville, Malmedy, and the Masta Kink. The original course was 14.1 kilometers (8.8
miles) long, and began use in 1950, as it was yet different from the original
layout thought up in 1924. The track
started at the top of the hill at La Source, plunging down through Eau Rouge, and
Raidillon, to the Kemmel straight. Les
Combes continued the downhill plunge into Haut de la Cote, Burnenville and
Malmedy before the dreaded and awesome Masta kink, through Holowell and
Stavelot, back uphill to La Carriere, and Blanchimont was a straight blast back
up to the heavy braking zone at La Source to start another lap. That’s how one of the layouts (the most
famous layout) of the old circuit, worked out.
Meanwhile, in modern times, we have a safety car procedure on the track
towing the Walkenhorst BMW into the lane.
Nope. Never mind. The safety vehicle is going behind the
barriers.
Mapelli leads Dries Vanthoor now with the Aston Martin third followed by Ferrari and Mercedes. We have five brands in the top five places at this moment. Dries Vanthoor and company started 54th out of 58 cars of course. Is this car going to win? It is now up front. It seems this might be their year. This lineup is blessed tonight as the fog, the mist, continues. Many hours to go, but the #32 car does deserve the result. We’ll have to see. On merit, they’ve grabbed the bull by the horns, no pun intended. Dries Vanthoor is frantically heating/cleaning his tires.
KCMG is telling everyone else “please speed up!” behind the sagety car, as we hear from Race Director Alain Adam that the safety car will head for the lane this time by. KCMG are running 17th overall, with former 24 Hours of Spa winner Maxime Martin at the wheel. He has to catch and pass the #89 AKKA ASP Mercedes with Timur Boguslavisky at the wheel and has to pass the #3 Dennis Olsen driven Porsche for Schnabl Engineering as well. He will be working his way towards the top ten. Today is Mark Lemmer’s wedding anniversary, having to make up to his wife Jo. Lemmer is the Barwell team boss of course. Congratulations to them on their anniversary.
Now then, the #34 Walkenhorst BMW was retired due to a blown radiator just as we thought. Game over for both, Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW’s. Jens Klingman has the only BMW M6 GT3 left in the race for Boutsen Ginion Racing. Unfortunately, they are well down the order in 38th overall. We have a real candy dish of different cars in different positions for the lapped traffic that the top runners will be dealing with. Safety car lights off. It’s time to go racing again. Drivers will be asking who is behind them. Marco Mapelli leads Dries Vanthoor and we have to see how many back markers are in between.
Green flag. Dries Vanthoor is now second. They thunder into La Source again and down the hill to Eau Rouge in the darkness. Marco Mapelli is surely the leader right now. Dries Vanthoor is pushing the EBM Porsche, or one of them. There are four cars now between Mapelli and Vanthoor. Braking hard into Brussels corner. So many different lines the drivers use through that turn. The field is bunched up now thanks to the safety car. Aurelien Panis is the car inbetween, the #27 Sainteloc Racing Audi (the third of their cars, I believe, and one of two remaining for that team in the race).
Panis, the Frenchman, son of 1996 Monaco Grand Prix F1 winner Olivier Panis, sharing with Alexandre Cougnaud, his countryman, Lucas Legeret of Switzerland, and Italian Louis Prette (maybe he is French, because the name is surely French, but racing under an Italian license). This mist continues to hang in the air. Dries Vanthoor is flashing the lights through Blanchimont at Aurelien Panis saying “let me by!” Surprisingly, Marco Mapelli cannot eke out more of an advantage in the lead of the motor race right now. Through Eau Rouge, the rear diffuser and undetray scraping on the pavement. The second-place car is pulling out a wee bit before braking for Les Combes. The driving is fairly civilized at this point. Who is immediately in front of Dries Vanthoor? He flies down through Pouhon, the left-hand double apex corner. The balance of the car in these corners is critical. The fog has slid down the mountain. Everyone is enjoying the onboard camera footage and the sound of that V10 normally aspirated Lamborghini. The wall of mist is still there, too.
In replay, look, out of the Bus Stop, a Mercedes has spun sideways. That’s the #4 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes, with Maro Engel driving. Someone tapped him into a spin there. That is a busy section of the road. Engel should be back on his way now and he is. He was 17th overall but then will be dropped down the order a bit. We have a long, long way to go yet. Just be patient, fans. We’ll get there. Eight retirements I believe, from this field of 58 starters. 50 automobiles left as the Mercedes is in the pit lane for HubAuto. Nicky Catsburg, Maximilian Buhk, and Maximilian Gotz. A puncture rips the bodywork apart. So, a new tire is going on the car. But, the damage will also be fixed.
In Formula 1 we are familiar with flailing tires and the damage they can do. It is bad enough on an open wheeled car. But on a GT or prototype sportscar with risk of bodywork damage, it is even worse. Aston Martin #95 is moving up with Marco Sorensen at the controls and Daniel Juncadella is also in the mix in AKKA ASP Mercedes #88. The #14 Ferrari runs wide into the turn. #14 Ferrari? Sorry, Charlie. Mate, I think you have your cars confused and that can happen in the dark of night. It is the Emil Frey Lamborghini of course, the all-Swiss lineup. Alex Fontana sharing with Rolf Ineichen and Ricardo “Ricky” Feller.
These GT3 cars are really evenly matched and that’s what makes this form of racing so incredibly competitive. It is properly dark here at Spa around ¾ of the lap as the wheel arch damage for #50 is still be wrestled with by the team. The balance of the car will be all cattywampus and you are a sitting duck, and a danger to other drivers. As a driver you think, “oh no! I have more damage than I thought!” Late lunge into the Bus Stop, that driver decides discretion is surely the better part of valor. Moments of sheer genius are few and far between in motor racing.
Timor Boguslavskiy is that driver. Maxime Martin was driving the KCMG Porsche #47 and he is in the car now, moving up. As the cars spark and bounce over the curbs, Martin is being reeled in by Christopher Mies. Two drivers who have won this motor race before, going at it in a hammer and tongs duel. Martin has Mies right on his six. The mist is omnipresent, and we see now a Ferrari going off the road somewhere. It’s a bloke who is just trying to stay out of the way of other drivers, but in doing so, he is putting himself in a spot of danger.
Marco Mapelli has a 3.8 second lead over Dries Vanthoor. Alessandro Pier Guidi who led for Iron Lynx in the #51 Ferrari is now in third spot, 11 seconds behind Vanthoor. Some of the gaps are beginning to close in. Dries Vanthoor flies through Eau Rouge and the cars get a tad airborne up through there. The cars chatter over the curbs. We haven’t called the #99 Attempto Racing Audi R8’s number in a while. But they are still pounding around in 25th in the overall. Alex Aka, Max Hofer, and Fabien Lavergne are the driving trio there.
They are four and a half seconds ahead of the Silver Cup entered #40 Mercedes AMG GT3 for SPS Automotive Performance. Miklas Born and Yannick Mettler, both from Switzerland, sharing with Aussie Jordan Love, and German Lance David Arnold aboard that car. The mist is thickening up. Will this mist develop into fog soon? Only time will tell. The mist is wafting in and out and in and out. Marco Mapelli is 3.5 seconds up on second place man Dries Vanthoor. Well, well, well. We spoke of the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini a wee while ago, and now it is the commentator’s curse, they are under investigation by the stewards for speeding in the pit lane.
Nico Menzel in the #23 Porsche is way off out of the corner there, look. He was almost in the neighboring county there! Cherry red flames backfiring out of the exhaust, too. Absolutely amazing! McLaren in the pit lane from eighth, the #38 Jota Sport car. He steps out of the car and we shall see who comes into that car. Team boss Sam Hignett has run Jota Sport and used many brands and many cars in numerous championships. Power slide out of the lane! Wow! That’s incredible! In the gloom, the #188 Aston Martin is trundling ‘round with Marvin Kirchhofer at the controls is in strife. He was well placed in the Pro-Am Cup.
Into the lane he comes now and the race leader is also due in soon, leading Dries Vanthoor now by 4.4 seconds. Pit stop time now for the #63 car. #188 is 24th in the overall. Hard to tell what damage could be there. No drive change for the #188 but the dollies are being put under the car. This could be for checking the car and doing a brake change. Mapelli resumes in the lead. VS Racing back to the lane as well (Vincenzo Sospiri Racing), and this time, Dutchman Glenn van Berlo does a far better parking job getting the Lambo squarely into it’s spot unlike his co-driver Yuki Nemoto did earlier. Steam emanates from the Lamborghini, but it does not seem like a problem.
News flash on the #188 Aston Martin. The brakes and parts are ready to be changed but the rear diffuser is also being removed for some strange reason. What is going on in the driveline of that car? It has been running slowly. What could the matter be? There’s some front end damage being repaired and we need to know what is going on at the rear of the car, according to pit lane reporter, Ben Constanduros. Hopefully all they need is a brake change. Is it time for coffee and biscuits? Not yet. At least not for the #188 team as they’ve got work to attend to on the car.
Dries Vanthoor was promoted to the lead of the motor race after Marco Mapelli pitted. Alessandro Pier Guidi is a mere 8.9 seconds behind, and he is running his second stint in the car. Aston Martin #188 is still undergoing the brake change. Some teams can change the rotors, pads, and calipers in two minutes. This is going to take closer to five or six minutes, and the brakes, remember, are red hot. Back in the 1960s, there was a Formula 1 team that built a great looking car. But they couldn’t get to the engine without slicing the engine cover off. Now, Marco Mapelli has been given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane! So, this is the third car we’ve had leading this motor race that has been pinged with a drive through penalty.
This time, though, we still don’t understand the logic of the penalty. Speeding in the lane, yes. But, how? Why? Audi #32 leads the motor race with Dries Vanthoor. It is still misty. That’s not changed yet. We are finding out that there are still more repairs needing to be done on the #188 Aston Martin. There is oil ready to go into the car for the gearbox or the differential. Marvin Kirchhofer says that they have indeed lost the gearbox. It has gone bang and is being changed right now as we speak. The electronics were cycled through, and the gearbox needs to be changed.
They can finish the race and that’s good, but they won’t be in contention for a class win of any kind. Matt Campbell has brought the #22 Martini liveried GPX Porsche to the garage as well. The team have done their technical stop, their brake change. The car is being wheeled out on the dollies and is still on the air jacks. What a great color scheme that Martini scheme is. Legendary and classic, as a scrubbed set of Pirelli P Zero tires goes on the car, and the car is down and away. Audi #32 leads the motor race by 8.7 seconds now over Ferrari #51. We now look at the full field summary, the rundown of all the positions, or maybe at least the cars still running.
1.
#32 Vanthoor/van der Linde/Weerts Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3
2.
#51 Ledogar/Nielsen/Pier Guidi
Iron Lynx
Ferrari 488 GT3
3.
#95 Thiim/Gunn/Sorensen Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
4.
#88 Marciello/Juncadella/Gounon AKKA
ASP Mercedes AMG GT3
5.
#63 Bortolotti/Mapelli/Caldarelli Orange
1 FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3
6.
#37 Muller/Frijns/Lind Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8
LMS GT3
7.
#25 Winkelhock/Niederhauser/Haase Audi
Sport Team Sainteloc Audi R8 LMS GT3
8.
#54 Bachler/Engelhart/Cairoli Dinamic Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3R
9.
#3 Olsen/Christensen/Makowiecki Schnabl
Engineering Porsche 911 GT3R
10.
#66 Drudi/Marschall/Mies Audi
Sport Team Attempto Audi R8 LMS GT3
11.
#47 Martin/Tandy/Vanthoor KCMG
Porsche 911 GT3R
12.
#89 Auer/Boguslavskiy/Fraga AKKA
ASP Mercedes AMG GT3
13.
#38 Bell/Wilkinson/Barnicoat Jota
Sport McLaren 720S GT3
14.
#18 Liberati/Imperatori/Burdon KCMG Porsche 911
GT3R
15.
#4 Engel/Stolz/Abril HRT Mercedes
AMG GT3
16.
#90 Perez-Companc/Sanchez/Kujala/Breukers Mad Panda Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3
17.
#33 Hites/Crestani/Perel Rinaldi Racing Ferrari
488 GT3
18.
#31 Tomita/Bird/Eriksen Team WRT Audi R8 LMS
GT3
19.
#7 Jeffries/Tunjo/Petit/Dienst Toksport WRT
Mercedes AMG GT3
20.
#99 Lavergne/Hofer/Aka Attempto Racing Audi R8
LMS GT3
21.
#93 Hui/Froggatt/Cressoni/Cheever III. Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari
488 GT3
22.
#159 Tujula/MacDowall/Haase Clot/Kjaergaard Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage GT3
23.
#53 Cameron/Mastronardi/Griffin/Molina AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3
24.
#52 Machiels/Bertolini/Wartique/Rovera AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3
25.
#77 Ramos/Machitski/Chaves/Mitchell Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini
Huracan GT3
26.
#61 Triller/Rivas/Harker/Bamber EBM Giga Racing
Porsche 911 GT3R
27.
#22 Campbell/Bamber/Jaminet GPX Martini
Racing Porsche 911 GT3R
28.
#40 Born/Love/Mettler/Arnold SPS Automotive
Performance Mercedes AMG
GT3
29.
#30 Pull/Colapinto/Goethe Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3
30.
#666 Rump/Van Berlo/Moulin/Nemoto VS Racing Lamborghini Huracan
GT3
31.
#69 De Haan/Collard/Collard/Schiller Ram Racing Mercedes AMG
GT3
32.
#27 Cougnaud/Legeret/Prette/Panis Sainteloc Racing Audi R8
LMS GT3
33.
#20 Pierburg/Kurtz/Braun/Baumann SPS Automotive
Performance Mercedes AMG
GT3
34.
#2 Bastian/Scholze/Grotz/Pla GetSpeed
Mercedes AMG GT3
35.
#107 White/Jean/Panciatici/De Pauw CMR Bentley Continental GT3
36.
#911 Au/Allemann/Renauer/Renauer Herberth
Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R
37.
#10 Liebhauser/Ojjeh/Zimmer/Klingmann Boutsen Ginion BMW M6 GT3
38.
#16 De Folco/Zimmermann/Galbiati/Schmid GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini
Huracan
GT3
39.
#87 Gachet/Tereschenko/Umbrarescu/Drouet AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3
40.
#166 Decurtins/Busch/Lauck/Basseng Haegeli By T2 Racing Porsche
911 GT3R
41.
#14 Fontana/Ineichen/Feller Emil Frey
Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3
42.
#23 Schell/Jacoma/Leutwiler/Menzel Huber Motorsport Porsche
911 GT3R
43.
#222 Kern/Buus/Apothelos/Santamato Team Allied-Racing Porsche 911
GT3R
44.
#50 Catsburg/Buhk/Gotz HubAuto Mercedes AMG
GT3
45.
#11 Kohmann/Zollo/Roda/Fumanelli Kessel Racing Ferrari 488
GT3
46.
#188 West/Goodwin/Eastwood/Kirchhofer Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage GT3
47.
#70 Milroy/Iribe/Madsen/Pepper Inception Racing
McLaren 720S GT3
48.
#34 van der Linde/Pittard/Wittman Walkenhorst Motorsport
BMW M6 GT3
49.
#35 Glock/Tomczyk/Neubauer Walkenhorst
Motorsport BMW M6 GT3
50.
#19 Baguette/Hamaguchi/Constantini/Keen Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini
Huracan GT3
51.
#57 Ward/Grenier/Ellis Winward Racing
Mercedes AMG GT3
52.
#26 Green/Hutchison/Tambay Sainteloc
Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3
53.
#56 Dumas/Rizzoli/Pedersen Dinamic
Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R
54.
#5 Beretta/Haupt/Assenheimer/Dontje HRT Mercedes AMG GT3
55.
#114 Lappalainen/Aitken/Rougier Emil Frey Racing
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
56.
#163 Altoe/Perera/Costa Emil Frey Racing
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
57.
#71 Fuoco/Illott/Rigon Iron Lynx Ferrari
488 GT3
58.
#21 Muller/Lietz/Estre Rutronik Racing
Porsche 911 GT3R
There is your full field rundown, and a total of eight cars are now officially retired. 50 of the 58 starters continue pounding around. Low attrition by endurance racing standards, but it’s game over for some heavy hitters who have headed for the bench. The mist still hangs around and we are at 3:16 A.M., an hour and a quarter to halfway. Pit action still to come. To change brake calipers in two minutes is unreal. Again, it is that time of the race. More brake changes coming. Earl Bamber said there were more than just brakes being changed on Porsche #22.
Some teams have had to go through force majeur on their brake changes. The fog has tumbled it’s way down to Eau Rouge. It’s wafting across the road and will dissipate or hover around in the valley. At Daytona there is a lot of ambient lighting. Here at Spa, and at Le Mans, not so much. Circuits are totally different in their layouts which affects how much lighting they truly have outside of a car’s headlamps. The weather changes all the time. The darkest and coldest part of night is just before dawn in 3 hours and 45 minutes.
The leader of this race has moved up 53 places. Unbelievable, and of course, they started 54th from not getting a time in during qualifying and a red flag. They had no registered time. They lead Alessandro Pier Guidi. Nico Muller in the sister #37 Audi is sixth in the overall right now. Muller is playing catch up and Christopher Mies, Mr. Brave, stayed on slick tires in the downpour earlier in the race. Maxime Martin, too, he is one to watch and still a contender. Maxime Martin is bish bash boshing his way through the field.
Audi #25, Patric Niederhauser, has uncorked his fastest sector time in sector one. Every manufacturer save for Bentley is at the top of the shop. We have only one Bentley and only two McLaren’s. The McLaren’s are a wee bit down the order as Matt Campbell is back in the pit lane and they are wheeling the thing back into the garage. Is this their technical stop? Are they changing parts they couldn’t do earlier on? They are 27th in the overall which is not expected for a team of this caliber with three factory Porsche drivers who have all raced together in different championships and events in the past… Matt Campbell, Matthieu Jaminet, and Earl Bamber.
There is a brake change going on, but they could have further troubles, as the mechanics are looking at the car with torches (flashlights), instead of throwing the wrenches right at it. The mist is thickening up again. The lap times we are seeing are two and a half or three seconds off what it was earlier. Marco Sorenson is still fastest for Aston Martin. 2:19.2. The Martini liveried GPX Porsche has steering woes. They are working on the steering rack and the front axle. The brakes are fine. They have power steering fluid at the ready, but the deal is finding a vibration in the steering wheel that could come from the suspension or the steering rack, possibly.
They are looking at the left front corner of the automobile to find the problem. Teams like to know what is going on. Electrical issues, you can’t see them unless there are wires that are loose. This issue is a ripple effect for the team that won the Spa 24 Hours two years ago, in 2019. We’ve had just a few retirements from the race and some cars are in the pit lane fixing problems or doing brake changes. We have had very few track limits warnings. That’s good, because it is frustrating to hear the Race Director click his radio and hear “abuse of track limits”. Alessandro Pier Guidi is now just 1.1 seconds behind Dries Vanthoor. He is coming in a hurry. Through Les Combes go the leaders. The Iron Lynx Ferrari is chasing down the WRT Audi. The margin through Bruxelles is about 6/10ths of a second, headed down through Speaker’s Corner and Pouhon.
The Audi exhaust glows in the darkness is amazing and so does the Porsche. Whoa. Hang on, everyone. We have a Full Course Yellow in ten seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow, now. Full Course Yellow, now. What could the problem be out on the circuit? There’s a bug in my ear telling me that Christopher Mies has trouble out on course in the #66 Audi Sport Team Attempto Audi R8. It is slowing, someplace, but we have to see where. The Full Course Yellow boards are flashing right now. Kudos to the marshals who volunteer to do this. Without them, we cannot go racing at all. They are brave souls and are a part of the action. We doff our hats to these people. Bless them.
Check that. The car in strife is not the #66 Attempto Audi. Sorry to give that team a scare! It is the #666 Lamborghini for VS Racing that we saw in pit lane earlier. That’s the Vincenzo Sospiri Racing entry for Martin Rump, Glenn van Berlo, Baptiste Moulin, and Yuki Nemoto. They have had a fraught race in the recent nighttime hours and well, unfortunately, it continues that way for the crew of this Lamborghini. Glenn van Berlo is at the wheel of it right now, but he isn’t going anyplace. That car is 35th overall.
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