24 Hours of Spa Hour 12

In replay, we can see up through Raidillon, Glenn van Berlo pulled the car off the road.  Glenn van Berlo is part of a racing family.  His brother Kai van Berlo is also a sports car racing driver, and their dad was also a racing driver.  It sounds like, according to Mr. Bruce Jones, the van Berlo brothers are good drivers and a hoot to be around.  Such a shame, but the car needs to be moved as it is right at the top of Raidillon.  The leaders pit.  Kelvin van der Linde hands the #32 Audi (the race leading car), to Charles Weerts for his next stint.  Alessandro Pier Guidi will stay aboard the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari.  We’ve had some position shuffling in the pit lane.

Apologies again to Audi Sport Team Attempto.  We thought their orange, yellow, and gray Audi was the car in trouble when in fact it was the VS Racing #666 Lamborghini.  The mist continues to hang over the circuit.  Alberto Di Folco brings the #16 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini in for service.  The team is doing their brake change but doing so in the pit lane.  Normally it is wiser to take the car into the garage to change the brakes.  Maybe they can do it in the confines of their pit box.  That’s a big maybe.  This is a rarity.  You just don’t see brake changes in the pit lane.  What will the SRO and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium say about this?

Schnabl Engineering’s loss is Jota’s gain.  Rob Bell and company are going to move back up the order.  Rob Bell, Oliver Wilkinson, and Ben Barnicoat in the #38 McLaren will gain places back that they lost earlier in the motor race.  Ben Barnicoat at the wheel of the McLaren.  Christopher Mies and Nick Tandy are still in the fight as well.  Work still going on, frantic work, on the #22 GPX Porsche.  They seem to be buttoning up the bodywork as the rollback is hauling back the stricken VS Racing Lamborghini,car #666.  They are taking the car back towards the pit and garage area.

Alessandro Pier Guidi leads in the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari with Charles Weerts now second in the #32 WRT Audi R8 LMS.  Marco Sorensen is third, a minute and a half behind Charles Weerts.  Fog is a main issue according to Rob Bell, and he is right.  Following the safety car, the drivers are weaving back and forth not so much to clean their Pirelli P Zero tires, but rather to put heat in them.  Everyone knows soon the safety car will be in the lane soon.  So, you will be ready to punch it almost immediately.  It’s clear as you like in some places on the road, but misty and foggy on other parts.  Nick Tandy and KCMG have just made their mandatory technical pit stop.

Dries Vanthoor says that the race is going well for him and for his team.  He got lucky with the rain and they moved up 35 places from 50^th to 15^th spot.  The strategy is key for tonight and tomorrow.  There’s lots of fog at Eau Rouge and it is hard to see.  The car is working well, and he and his team hope it stays alive and they can stay at the front.  Dries Vanthoor says he is going to go get some rest because he is quite tired and wants to be refreshed for his next stint behind the wheel.  Safety car in at the end of this lap.  The level of focus required in racing is high, but even more so in fog.

Many of the top teams work with physio therapists and massage therapists and the like.  There is a darker lighted room so drivers can rest their eyes and minds, but still watch the race to see how their car is doing.  Okie dokie then, mate.  We are back to green!  Marco Sorensen is looking to work his way into the mix here before long.  He is four and a half seconds down on Charles Weerts who is following the Ferrari.  Iron Lynx is growing rapidly, as a team, and they are opening an advantage in the lead.  Alessandro Pier Guidi is stretching his legs right now.  Michael Christensen now has the #3 Schnabl Engineering Porsche back on track and is playing catch up.

Christensen is a wheel man and so he’ll be able to do it.  The team followed through with the repairs and they are going to move up.  No doubt of that.  We are also looking for the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin which had been undergoing a gearbox change and the rear decklid and bumper of the car looked as if it was pretty oily and a real mess.  Alessandro Pier Guidi’s advantage has ballooned to a second a half.  So, he is motoring while Marco Sorensen is five and a half seconds down.  Fabrizio Crestani is now chasing down the Mad Panda Motorsport Mercedes #90 in Pro-Am.  Crestani currently at the wheel of the Ferrari for Rinaldi Racing, car #33.

Rino Mastronardi is catching Fabrizio Crestani as well, so, a battle between Ferrari’s.  Maybe the mist has lifted out of the third sector because that is where we are seeing fast times come in, bang, bang, bang, in quick succession.  Many drivers are now on new Pirelli P Zero tires as well.  The mist is still hanging in the air, obscuring the view of the cars.  Through Les Combes, the mist was horrid a while ago, but it is not so bad now.  But Rob Bell was right when he said the drivers are struggling with the mist.  The track isn’t slick at all.  Christopher Mies in the Audi works his way past the #93 Pro-Am class leading Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari.

Matteo Cressoni has gained a second or so and we have a car pulling off the road.  From 15^th place, this is Michael Christensen in the much delayed, beleaguered #3 Schnabl Engineering Porsche.  Oh dear.  His exhaust pipes were glowing and there might be some damage on the rear bumper.  Someone has clattered into the right rear corner of that car.  Commentator’s curse!  We were just extolling his virtues and talking about how well he was going.  But now, well, we’ll see if he can get back in the game.  Was this up to the entry of Eau Rouge?  Where dd this happen?  Let’s hope we can extract the car quickly.  We don’t know what happened.

The gap between Alessandro Pier Guidi in the lead and second place man Charles Weerts is growing slightly.  Pier Guidi is actually 3.3 seconds ahead now.  There’s fluid pouring out of the Porsche it seems.  Very sideways for Michael Christensen who spun completely around and across the track after hitting the pit wall!  Ouch!  That rear bumper is hanging by a thread, with a puncture, and suspension damage.  Deary me.  A few cars being warned about disrespect of track limits with the #69 RAM Racing Mercedes and the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes in fourth spot, Daniel Juncadella at the controls now.

Yet another car being warned, the #18 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R.  That is the car driven by Josh Burdon, Alexandre Imperatori, and Edorado Liberati.  Edoardo Liberati will have to obey the warning flags or serve a penalty.  Meanwhile, the sister #47 KCMG Porsche is still in the hunt too.  That is the Nick Tandy, Maxime Martin, and Laurens Vanthoor car.  So, KCMG has a warning.  Phil Keen and company have retired from this motor race and will finish 50^th in the overall standings.  Game over.  The race has been run at a fearsome pace, but it has been incredibly clean too.

We are getting some great racing here through the middle of the night.  The leading Ferrari is consistently improving it’s lap times.  Bentley #107 for CMR is given a warning flag.  Ulysse de Pauw at the controls right now.  But the car was penalized for some earlier indiscretion.  They are running way down in 34^th place in the overall.  The #3 Schnabl Engineering Porsche is just now being towed in.  Christian Engelhart driving the #54 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, a car that has consistently been moving up after their sister entry dropped out, is being monstered by another consistent runner.  It’s our old pal, Ben Barnicoat in that steady #38 Jota Sport McLaren, the sole remaining McLaren in the motor race after the Inception Racing car, I believe, has headed for the house quite some time ago now.

Barnicoat is a lucky, lucky, lucky luck boy that he didn’t get his nose chopped off scrambling through Bruxelles there!  Wow!  Close shave, mate!  Barnicoat almost got the rough end of the pineapple there.  The rub of the green indeed.  Some contact there, too, a lunge, between the Porsche and the Lamborghini, but the door was firmly slammed in somebody’s face.  Alessandro Pier Guidi could be growing the gap he has had for some time.  The gap is now closing, 3.6 seconds.  Charles Weerts is gaining slightly.  So, Barnicoat has moved past Engelhart through the mist.

The Porsche we worried about earlier has been moved.  The tire debris at the side of the circuit has not gotten any worse in the last five almost six hours.  Audi #31 wriggles through the turn.  Not sure who it is driving.  The Aston Martin, though, has impeccable manners insofar as handling and turning into the fast corners.  It is gripping, biting really well.  Weerts still runs behind Pier Guidi.  Two drive through penalties being handed out to the #31 Team WRT Audi and the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari.  That is the 17^th place car of Ryuichiro Tomita, Frank Bird, and Valdemar Eriksen.  The Ferrari of course is being shared by David Perel, Fabrizio Crestani, and Benjamin Hites.  Refueling infringement for the #31 car. 
#38 in the pit lane.  Ben Barnicoat will stay in the car.  Tires and fuel for the Jota team.  They are cleaning the rubbish out of the radiator grille as well.  A solid pit stop and a smoky sideways getaway!  Wow!  Iron Lynx and Alessandro Pier Guidi still lead.  Lots and lots of work done on the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin, and thankfully, they are back on track, Chris Goodwin now behind the wheel.  In half an hour, points will be allocated for the Intercontinental GT Challenge.  Two or three hits during the race, and then, at the end.  This is the first round of three in the championship. 

Warning is one thing, and last warning is far more concerning.  Last warning for the #18 KCMG Porsche in 15^th spot.  Edoardo Liberati, Alexandre Imperatori, and Josh Burdon will have to mind their P’s and Q’s.  The #37 WRT Audi is in the lane for service and just now being issued a drive through penalty is the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari.  Nick Tandy, we go onboard with him in the Porsche, the #47 KCMG car.  He makes a good move going uphill.  Tandy is running in tenth place right now.  Fully committed in that screaming flat 6 Porsche.  He is coming up to start another lap, on a clear track, behind Christopher Haase in the Sainteloc Audi, the #25.

Nick Tandy has just done his long pit stop with new boots and a brake change.  He is ready to go for this stint.  It will be interesting to watch his sector times as we get closer and closer to the halfway mark in the race.  The thick mist we saw earlier has lifted a bit.  KCMG have now come to the top ten.  What will become of the sister car though?  Drive through penalty for abusing track limits for the #99 Attempto Racing Audi.  Fabien Lavergne, Max Hofer, and Alex Aka drive that car.  Fabrizio Crestani, meanwhile, has the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 16^th in the overall.

Will Nick Tandy earn a podium?  Let’s keep our powder dry.  He was on the race winning team last year.  Alessandro Pier Guidi, meanwhile, leads the motor race by 6.7 seconds, and we have a car stopped on the road.  Oh dear.  Another local yellow at the very least.  Wait a second.  We have two cars.  One is stopped and one has spun to the left side of the circuit.  The T2 Racing Am class leader must have spun.  Manuel Lauck at the controls.  He just spun on his own accord and the other car was on the access road on the other side.  Manuel Lauck is recycling the system to restart the car. 

Whoops.  Hold everything.  That’s the Team Allied Racing Porsche that has spun.  Manuel Lauck, sorry Sir.  Did not mean to implicate you in a spin, sunshine.  Carry on, mate.  Team Allied-Racing, that is… the #222 Porsche 911 GT3R that has spun off the road.  Lars Kern sharing with Bastian Buus, Julien Apotheloz, and Arno Santamato.  It is not like Lars Kern (Porsche test driver and a man who knows the Nurburgring Nordschleife like the back of his hand), to make a mistake.  So I can only presume it is one of the other three co-drivers who has made a pig’s breakfast in the chicane there.  Ah yes.  It is Bastian Buus who has spun the car.  We watch Ryuichi Tomita of Japan in the #31 Team WRT Audi dropping down the hill.  He is currently in 17^th place.

Tomita appears to be being pursued there by Fabrizio Crestani in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari, car #33.  The mist is still in the air in a frond at the top of the hill.  It has really dispersed but is still in a clump at the highest point of the track at Les Combes.  Alessandro Pier Guidi is seven and a half seconds ahead of Charles Weerts who is another seven or so seconds ahead of Marco Sorensen.  Five different brands in the top five.  Ferrari leads Audi leads Aston Martin leads Mercedes leads Lamborghini.  Sorensen losing time to Weerts or so it appears.  A good mix of cars in the top five.  These GT3 cars sound wonderful.  It is the unexpected stops where the mechanics get on it. 

We are at 4:20 A.M. and have an hour and 40 minutes before dawn.  Will we see the sun?  Will we see more mist?  Andrea Caldarelli in the #63 Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini, under investigation for speeding in the pit lane.  Oh boy.  That car was the erstwhile leader of the motor race earlier and has dropped to ninth in the overall at this stage I believe.  Truthfully, Caldarelli is in the 11^th spot.  Axcil Jeffries at the wheel of the #7 Toksport WRT Mercedes has just uncorked the fastest time for his car.  So, the Zimbabwean is flying. 

We have other fastest laps for individual cars with Ulysse de Pauw setting quickest time in the #107 CMR Bentley and in the #10 Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW M6 GT3, the fastest time goes to the bloke currently driving it, Switzerland’s Yann Zimmer.  The fast lap times and sector times are massively improved especially in the midfield.  Has the #22 GPX Martini Porsche come back on track?  Nope.  They are down in 46^th place.  A spot above is the Nicky Catsburg driven Mercedes, still being worked on.  That is the #50 HubAuto Mercedes Catsburg is sharing with the two Maximilian’s, Maximilian Buhk and Maximilian Gotz.  

McLaren #38 is still running well.  We are skimming around to see if there are more incidents.  We do see the #166 Porsche, the Haegeli by T2 Racing car is still in the field, 37^th overall, leading the Am class and 25 seconds ahead of the Huber Motorsports Porsche.  Evetryone is being sensible through traffic.  People are beginning to see better, and the track conditions are uniform without surprises of any kind.  We have a nice mix of manufacturers.  Audi has a run on the top eight, but in sixth and ninth we do have a couple of Porsche’s, and Ferrari leads, Aston Martin third, a Mercedes in fourth and a McLaren has come into the top ten with Ben Barnicoat.  Andrea Caldarelli of course in the Lamborghini is under investigation by the stewards for speeding in the pit lane.

Most should make the hour without a stop but those who pit now will give up champipnship points as we’ll be halfway next time by.  The blokes who have done brake changes have tossed points opportunities out the window or so it seems.  The gap still extends for the lead, and we watch the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari in the Silver class in 16^th overall.  They continue to run half a minute down on Silver Cup leaders, the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes in 14^th overall compared to 17^th for Rinaldi and the Ferrari.  Yet, it is still half a minute gap in Pro Am, no matter how you slice it.  Ryuchiro Tomita continues harrying Fabrizio Crestani.  Don’t forget that during the daylight hours yesterday, Benjamin Hites spun that Ferrari and landed in the gravel trap, having to be extracted by the marshals.  This battle continues unabated for another lap.  We are ticking down to halfway through the race.  12 hours down and 12 hours to go.  Who will be the king of the late brakers? 

The #3 Schnabl Engineering Porsche is also in the garage with the front bumper and the front trunk lid, up.  Now, that’s not the hood, since a Porsche is a rear engine, nee mid-engine car.  So, the “frunk”, the front mounted trunk, as it were, is open, while the mechanics service the automobile.  Has there been contact on the circuit?  That is a dodgy, wobbly looking left front headlight on that Porsche, if I say so myself.  They are fiddling with the whole left front fender assembly on that car.  They are eighth overall, so still in the top ten.  They likely could be doing a brake change on that car.  The brake change work continues, on the #16 Lamborghini.

This is a car we have seen in the wars through the race this weekend.  Clemens Schmid, Alberto Maria Di Folco, Tim Zimmerman, and Kikko Galbiati on the driver’s strength.  It appears they’ve changed the discs and not the calipers and the whole braking system.  That’s odd.  Remarkable work at Schanbl Engineering.  They have worked on the left front fender, the bumper, the splitter, and now, will do a new door, and have done the brake change.  This is a full service stop for Schnabl.  It is very efficient.  They are remembering and praying for those here in Europe, across the border in Germany, with the flooding.  Stay safe.  Bless you all.