24 Hours of Spa: Hour 6

Pier Guidi’s margin increases through Bruxelles, Brussels corner.  We’ve talked about BMW and Audi.  Michael Christensen and the #3 Porsche with Michael Christensen, the Schnabl Racing car, he is still in the fight.  So are our old pals at Mad Panda.  Remember, we saw Ezequiel Perez-Companc wearing the head of his panda mascot suit earlier on.  Well, now, his co-driver, the flying Finn Patrick Kujala continues on and is still bish bash boshing it in that car.  Recall, too, early in the race, the #3 Porsche had Fred Makowiecki at the controls with a driver’s door mirror hanging by a thread.  Repairs to said mirror have long since been made and now Michael Christensen is creeping up the race order.

At the end of this racing hour, we shall be ¼ distance through the Spa 24 Hours for 2021.  Schnabl Racing were not even supposed to be here.  But the heavy rains and flooding in this portion of Europe have really affected many of the race teams that are based around here, and so Frikadelli Racing, those are the same people who make the meatballs and sausages, and who race consistently at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the Langstrecke endurance championship and at the 24-hour race there, they just could not make it to Spa because of all the flooding.  They were originally entered, but the flooding put the team and it’s personnel in dire straits.

Porsche then called up the Schnabl team, who race at the Nurburgring with the Falken Tires team and said, “can you guys field a car for the 24 Hours of Spa?” and the Schnabl group said, “yes, we’ll do.”  The Porsche’s are beginning to perk up.  These chaps lost a mirror in contact on the first lap, but no worries.  Timo Glock remains in third place now, lapping nearly to the level of the leaders.  He’s what, seven or so seconds behind?  He’s making inroads to say the very least.  I mean, he’s dropping in real terms, and the leaders are coming.  Within this hour, we are looking to pay points out for both the Intercontinental GT Challenge and that triple crown of races including here at Spa, and two more. 

Plus, we will pay out points for the endurance championship for GT World Challenge Europe, but parse out these points I believe, separately.  Not entirely sure how the two championships coincide.  How do you run the strategy?  We have an hour or so more, well, 57 minutes, think about where you are in terms of the points if you are a contending, eligible team.  The leaders are due into pit lane imminently as we are 110 laps into the motor race, crossing over 479 miles.  So, we are nearly, nearly 500 miles into this race.  But it isn’t by mileage, it is by time. 

The leaders will be due to pit lane soon as Alessandro Pier Guidi leads Marco Mapelli.  It’s still the battle of the Italian drivers in the Italian cars.  We have not seen the Deutschland powerhouses come to the fore yet which is a little surprising.  The BMW is the top ranked German built GT3 car.  Some information coming in, and that is the KCMG Porsche pit stop was too early.  Hang on here.  We’ve got more details.  The team says they didn’t get enough petrol into the car, thinking something went awry with the fueling rig.  Oh dear.  That could be costly for the KCMG Porsche team. 

In Ferrari land, they are going a lap longer while Marco Mapelli hits the lane as we speak.  Race Director on the radio calling a drive through penalty.  What does Alain Adam have to announce?  Porsche #23 is called tp the penalty box for driving too long on their latest stint.  Tisk, tisk.  Boys, remember.  You can only have your driver in the seat for 65 minutes.  You must pit before or right at the minute the 65 minutes are up.  The #23 Huber Motorsports Am class Porsche will have to do a drive through.  Mapelli is in the lane now, look.  He’s serviced and sent and good to go.

Glock in the BMW is also in the lane.  26 laps on a fuel stint for the BMW and the Lambo, but the Ferrari is going to eke out an extra lap on their fuel mileage.  Pier Guidi has to stay out for a wee while longer, but does not want to lose ground to the undercut that will be made by GRT Grasser or Walkenhorst.  We have driver changes as Andrea Caldarelli steps aboard the Lamborghini and Martin Tomczyk former DTM champion, is now at the wheel of the #35 BMW M6 GT3.  Timo Glock ran a very impressive double stint.  It is assumed that Tomczyk shall also clock in a double stint.

Pier Guidi and the Ferrari team for AF Corse, they will be in the lane now at the end of this lap.  There’s no way they can extended the margin further.  It is true.  Caldarelli is in the #63 Lamborghini for GRT Grasser.  Pier Guidi to the lane.  111 laps on the board, and 27 laps for this stint for the Ferrari, one further than the Lamborghini went and Pier Guidi stays in the car.  He will do a double.  With the sun setting, the same driver should be in the car transitioning from day into night.  Good stop there for Iron Lynx.  This is the car that carries the torch for Iron Lynx after the retirement of the #71 sister car for Davide Rigon, Callum Illott, and Antonio Fuoco.

The Rigon/Illott/Fuoco machine headed for the house hours ago.  Rigon was involved in a crash for that car.  He is being observed at the hospital but should be OK.  That’s great news.  Caldarelli won everything in 2019.  Lamborghini did not have a good year in 2020, and now, they want their maiden win in this crown jewel that is the 24 Hours of Spa.  They have been knocking on the door year after year at this race and are hoping to come good.  Caldarelli will be shuffled behind Charles Weerts in the #32 Audi, the Skechers shoes car that we saw way down in 54^th on the starting grid.

Ferrari #51 is just out of the pits.  We can see the headlights of the Lamborghini through Les Combes and Andrea Caldarelli leapfrogs Alessandro Pier Guidi?  Nope.  The Ferrari maintains the spot.  The pit time for the Ferrari was 1:53 vs. 1:55 for the Lamborghini.  Sitting on the air jacks, compounds how you might get behind.  Charles Weerts was the leader on the road.  He is in the lane now.  We also have in the lane the #3 Schnabl Porsche of Michael Christensen and others, coming to the pits.  Jules Gounon is in now in the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes, and so is the #37 WRT Audi of Nico Muller.  They are due to stop in 20 minutes, but for now, we will see the Benz and the Audi cycle to the top of the tree.

Start rolling the dice on the strategy.  New tires for Charles Weerts in Audi #32.  Nico Muller in the #37 Audi is coming back to the sharp end.  He has a pit stop in his future.  New tirs and more fuel.  Charles Weerts stays in the car.  The groups were split hours ago during the second Full Course Yellow and they pitted later on, so that is what has put them on totally different strategies.  So, we have seen Charles Weerts, Sheldon van der Linde, and Michael Christensen all come to the pit lane for service.  Audi, BMW, Porsche. 

Again, Nico Muller for Audi leads ahead of Jules Gounon for Mercedes.  But, don’t trust this order.  It’s going to reshuffle again, just like a deck of cards.  We watch Matt Griffin in his Ferrari going by.  Now, this section on the uphill through Les Combes is really dark and offline there’s loads of tire clag and other junk out there, that you don’t want to come across especially if you’ve just fitted new boots to the car.  We’re going to see five, six, seven hours of darkness starting now.  Last fall when we were here, the hours of darkness were far more numerous because of a different point in the year.  The days were much shorter in the autumn than in the summertime. 

Fastest lap of the motor race has just been uncorked by Marvin Kirchhofer in the Aston Martin at 2:19.889.  This is the #188 Garage 59 Aston, the second car on the team.  Pier Guidi flying through Blanchimont and staying ahead of Caldarelli and the Lamborghini.  Raffaele Marciello led for a while at the very start, losing the lead to Audi #37 which led large chunks in the first few hours.  Now, it leads on strategy but the second strategy was in the hands of the #63 Lamborghini, but now the Ferrari is at the top of the shop.  It is so hard to say who the favorite could be.  Nico Muller finds himself back in the lead and as far as picking a winner, forget it.

Not now.  It is just too soon to say if anyone will be in the catbird seat for a win in the 24 Hours of Spa and the Coupe du Roi trophy.  Muller leads but has a pit stop in his future in 13-14 minutes.  Jules Gounon in second also should pit and the two cars have been glued together.  They are the jokers in the deck of cards.  They’re connected by a slinky that has a limit.  It can connect but the spring can only stretch so far before it compresses again.  Another drive through penalty assigned for abusing track limits.  Who’s the abuser?  The #222 entry, the Team Allied Racing Porsche being shared by Lars Kern of Germany, Bastian Buus from Denmark, Julien Apotheloz of Switzerland, and Arno Santamato of France.

Julien Apotheloz is at the wheel.  The leaders have now run 114 laps, 496 miles.  We’ve nearly crossed the 500-mile mark and will next time by.  120 is the target lap for the next pit stops.  So, that will be mile marker 522.  The jury is still out if the stints will be 26 or 27 laps.  Ferrari #51 might just come back to the lead of this motor race.  The Ferrari is very fuel efficient right now which could pay dividends.  Jules Gounon is biding his time.  He probably knows the Audi ahead has the pace to keep him at bay.  Jules Gounon at age 26, he wanted to go racing, and his father, Jean Marc Gounon (a great driver in Formula 1 and sports cars in his own right), said, “no, son.  I don’t want you to race because I will worry about you.”

To this, the younger Gounon probably explained and said something like “papa, I want to race.”  They had to make a deal on Jules’ racing career.  Jules was told if he got good grades in school, he’d get to drive a go kart.  At age 15 he was able to do that.  He has gotten the job done ever since.  He is a former Spa 24 Hours winner, a winner in German GT, he was a factory Bentley driver, and then, he came to Mercedes.  He sounds just like his dad and maybe he is even a better driver.  Jean Marc Gounon was a bit ragged and let things hang out.  But his son has a slightly more refined driving style.

Now he is throwing the kitchen sink and everything else at Nico Muller.  Muller was only 7/10ths of a second up last time by.  The battle continues to rage through the Piff Paff for the overall lead of the motor race.  Now we move onto lap 115 watching the two leaders chase each other through the gathering darkness here at Spa Francorchamps.  115 laps means that we’re right at 500 miles into the race.  Once again, 120 is the pit window.  Since the early crash that eliminated four cars, there has not been much attrition.  We still have 53 of the 58 cars that started on track.  But just you watch.  The overnight hours are when attrition will begin taking it’s toll. 

That is the nature of the beast of these 24 hour races whether it is here at Spa, or at other tracks around the world… Dubai, Daytona, Le Mans, Nurburgring and so on.  Nico Muller powers towards the La Source hairpin, sharing the car with Robin Frijns and Dennis Lind.  So, you have a Swiss driver sharing with a Dutchman and a Dane.  Sparks flying from under the Mercedes into Eau Rouge.  Pounding through Eau Rouge again, we check the speed trap via the AWS Race Vision and can see that Ben Barnicoat in the McLaren is fastest at 246 kilometers per hour along with Pierre-Alexandre Jean in the #107 Bentley.  Marco Soresen and David Pittard have the next fastest speeds at 245 clicks, and Marvin Kirchhofer at 244 is not far away.  Again, this is a range of 170-175 miles an hour through the daunting Eau Rouge, probably the most spectacular corner on this circuit and perhaps in all of racing.

Through Les Combes, Nico Muller leading Jules Gounon by 8/10ths of a second.  You can actually get online and go to SRO Motorsports Group’s webste and click into the race data section and click through pages and pages of different cars and the data being collected on their speed in different sectors and do it by class or by brand of car.  This is cool stuff.  This is the genuine data coming from the cars that is not fudged, thanks to AWS and their Cloud computing.  Our top two are running liner stern.  Daniel Juncadella says thing are running well right now and during his stint there was confusion over a Full Course Yellow.

He says it is hard to know what is going to happen.  They will have to pit before the 6-hour mark comes and goes.  Juncadella says he will be able to get some rest for about four hours before his next driving stint.  They are going to drop away relative to the points being awarded at the end of six hours.  A lot of the cars have had differing pit total times, anywhere between nine and 13 minutes.  If you go to the website for GT World Challenge Europe, click on the Spa 24 Hours event page and onto the Race Vision dashboard.  Ben Barnicoat meanwhile is monstering Michael Christensen for tenth overall.

Nico Muller leads right now and Alessandro Pier Guidi, he is preparing for a stint aboard the #51 Ferrari.  Pit stops are due soon.  Ben Barnicoat, in seventh place, aboard the #38 Jota Sport McLaren is running for position but is being held up by the #3 Porsche of Michael Christensen.  Barnicoat tripped the beam just 3/10ths in-arrears of the Porsche.  Christensen has fallen back as Barnicoat is moving forward and we saw a lapped Mercedes in the picture shot of Mikael Grenier, the Canadian.  One penalty as l;ong as you don’t lose a lap, you are still in the picture. 

After the 12^th hour and before the end of the 22^nd hour, the idea is to do a technical pit stop to change things like brakes, both discs and pads.  The stop can be undertaken anytime in a ten-hour window between the 12^th and 22^nd hour of the race.  Patrick Kujala, our old pal in the #90 Madpanda Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, continues to lead in the Silver Cup class.  The class for Silver rated drivers.  Marco Sorensen, the Danish ace, he pits the #95 Aston Martin from sixth spot.  This is the other Garage 59 entry that he is sharing with Ross Gunn and Nicki Thiim, his countryman. 

119 laps now complete, with Nico Muller leading the motor race.  518 miles traveled.  We expect to see Mercedes #88 and Audi #37 hitting the pit lane at the end of this lap, or, if they can stretch their fuel mileage, next time by.  It will be a 26-27 lap stint.  Patrick Kujala, an ex-open wheel driver.  We heard earlier from the Mad Panda himself, Ezequiel Perez-Companc when he wore the panda costume with just the head of the bear and keep asking him where on earth the name comes from.  Perez-Companc refuses to give anyone the answer to that question.  Where does the name Mad Panda come from?  He says “I’m not going to tell you.”

Pro-Am leader is… I wonder.  Oh look, it’s old Bertie Breadstick.  Bertrand Baguette at the controls of the #19 Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini.  The Belgian ace, a former IndyCar driver, sharing with Hiroshi Hamaguchi of Japan, Stefano Constantini of Italy, and Phil Keen from England.  “Bertie Breadstick” is the name given by our colleague, Martin Haven, to Bertrand Baguette.  Just realized that our friends Ryan and David on play-by-play did not give him that name.  Jeepers creepers!  So, we have The Mad Panda, and Bertie Breadstick.  What?  Are we writing a comic book here?  Meanwhile, Baguette, he had done loads of racing in Japan and had run with the factory Honda NSX team in GT3 for a couple of seasons.

That Honda program is no more.  For those of you here in the states, the Honda is the Acura NSX GT3.  It’s the same car, just with a different badge with Acura being Honda North America’s luxury division.  So, Bertrand Baguette is now in the pit lane, and be warned, I think the Bertie Breadstick nickname has stuck.  Martin Haven, thank you very much.  Not!  He will possibly bail out of the car and see who will be able to drive that car.  Since Baguette’s foray into IndyCar, he has lived in Japan and been in Super GT over there, but of course Japan has been one of the more closed off nations due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  Glad to see he’s made it to Spa for the 24 hours.

120 is the target for a 27-lap stint.  Audi continues to lead.  There’s also a battle for seventh between two Audi’s.  Christopher Haase in the #25 Sainteloc Audi has the place and Charles Weerts in the #32 WRT Audi, wants it.  They are getting closer to the Mercedes of Vincent Abril while Marco Sorenson has gone down the list.  18 and a half hours remaining.  We have a long, long way to go as it is getting darker and darker all the time through Speaker’s corner running down to Pouhon.  Charles Wweers runs it out to the white line, diving through the Piff Paff in the darkness.  120 laps on the board and here comes both Nico Muller and Jules Gounon.

Just as we predicted, with these stops, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Ferrari will assume the lead of the motor race.  Again, these two are going to fall down the order.  The action has been consistent as we give Ryan Myrehn a chance to rest and welcome our pal, Northern Irish racing driver and commentator extraordinaire, John Watson, back to the booth.  Ferrari leads Lamborghini once again.  When was the last time we saw the two Italian cars leading?  Audi back on track as the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes is getting sticker Pirelli tires.  The only thing better than fresh tires is a genuine, gin clear windscreen.  Happy Hour is about to begin as Marvin Kirchhofer just cut the fastest lap of the race so far.

A long-ish stop for Gounon who had to drive further on the bottom endurance pit lane.  Audi are pitted at the top of the hill in the Formula 1 pit lane.  So, with all this shuffling, Alesandro Pier Guidi brings the Ferrari, the Iron Lynx Ferrari back to the race lead.  The track is busy as it cools off, the air gets dense, and there’s more downforce and power for the naturally aspirated motors.  If you are comfortable driving at night (not every driver enjoys it), but those who do, really can go for it.  Marvin Kirchhofer really pulled something out of his hat.  So, Jules Gounon resumes his scrap with Nico Muller as the drivers begin double stinting.  Triple stinting works during the night if the driver feels up to it.

Sometimes these cars can heat soak though, depending on where the engine is located, especially if it is in the front like the Mercedes or the Aston Martin, or perhaps even amidships such as the Audi, the Lamborghini, the McLaren, or even the Porsche.  Modern Porsche’s are moving toward a mid-engine configuration.  Despite ventilation, the car does get warmer and warmer.  Vincent Abril makes his pit stop as we still have Alessandro Pier Guidi leading the motor race.  We now go onboard with the only other McLaren 650S GT3 in this race.  Brendan Iribe from the United States has the #70 Inception Racing car down in a lowly 53^rd spot.

Iribe is experienced in McLaren’s, running in International GT Open and British GT before heading into IGTC competition.  All the atmosphere of Spa including the pits, the Braserie restaurant at the top of the pit complex, the omnipresent Audi hot air balloon, and the darkness of the forest.  The pit lane may be lit up but most of this circuit, it is pitch everywhere.  Night closes in looking over Speaker’s corner and there’s no additional lighting outside of the pit lane including the Formula 1 pits and the heritage pits for F1, sports cars, and touring cars.  Turning through the Piff Paff, Alessandro Pier Guidi has control of the motor race in the lead to the tune of 8.9 seconds. 

Two different engines could account for the difference in fuel mileage between the Ferrari and the Lamborghini as you have a twin turbo V8 for the Ferrari and a naturally aspirated V10 for the Lamborghini, also used by the Audi R8’s.  Different aerodynamics between the two cars also determines how their fuel efficiency is affected.  Andrea Caldarelli climbing the hill, through the darkness gives you an idea of how solitary and dark it can be in one of these 24-hour endurance sports car races.  A long trip, alone, perhaps.  Martin Tomczyk, former DTM champion, he is becoming a very handy GT3 racer.  He has his BMW M6 GT3, the #35 car for Walkenhorst Motorsports in IGTC and ran the old BMW M8 GTE in the FIA World Endurance Championship and in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship a few short years ago.

The BMW has formidable speed on either side of the valley whether it is the uphill or the down dale section.  Tomczyk has a back marker to deal with.  He skitters the car through Eau Rouge and is right on the six of a Porsche that he needs to pass ASAP.  Cannot tell which Porsche that is.  Again, all GT3 spec cars in this race.  When the SRO took this race over with production sports cars, it used to be a cross between what were GT2, GT3, and GT4 cars.  Now the race has evolved to include GT3 only.  The midrange torque of that 4.4 liter twin turbo V8 in the BMW really allows it to run up the hill and efficiently pass. 

In a head on shot from the cockpit, we can see Martin Tomczyk driving at night while wearing eyeglasses.  That’s not something you see a racing driver do too often.  It is getting darker out but staying dry as we work lap 125, crossing over 544 miles into this race.  To the relief of many, the weather today has been pleasant and we have not seen the rain that was forecast.  It is terrible to have a wet track at night and that’s true anywhere, but especially here at Spa Francorchamps.  Charles Weerts continues holding fourth but he is not anywhere as quick as Tomczyk or the two leaders, Pier Guidi and Caldarelli. 

Patrick Kujala in the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes is seventh in the overall and continuing to lead in the Silver Cup division.  Second place in Silver Cup is the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in the hands of Rolf Ineichen, the second driver in their all-Swiss lineup.  The next cars in that class, are Adrien Tambay and new GT racer (who has also shown well in prototypes this year), Franco Colapinto.  Tambay of France, and son of Formula 1 and sports car driver Patrick Tambay, he shares the #26 Sainteloc Audi with former DTM driver Jamie Green and Finlay Hutchison, both from Great Britain.  Colapinto, the Argentinian sharing the #30 Team WRT Audi R8 with James Pull and Benjamin Goethe. 

Patrick Kujala has been a great addition to Mad Panda Motorsport and their team, and he shows that right now.  You’ve missed nothing if you’ve paid attention to Silver Cup, because Kujala continues in the lead.  That car has been on the lead lap the whole way so far.  In another 12 laps, our leader should be in the lane for scheduled service.  Massive speed as always, carried through Eau Rouge as we watch Sandy Mitchell in the #77 Barwell Motorsports Lamborghini.  The Englishman is our leader in the Pro-Am Cup class.     

Alessandro Pier Guidi leads by 8.9 seconds, and he continues growing that gap.  That is odd because the Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini and their driving trio are formidable.  The Ferrari is more efficient with it’s V8 turbo and the naturally aspirated V10 in the Lamborghini is a slightly older design, and the aerodynamics are also a big deal.  As we have said, it is solitary and dark out there as night falls here at Spa.  Cars have run wide and kicked gravel onto the circuit.  Speakers Corner falls away and washes out.  Once again, Martin Tomczyk is still fighting, and he is 5.7 seconds down on Andrea Caldarelli.

Recall earlier that Timo Glock was chasing Rob Bell in the McLaren and that was an incredible scrap for position during the daylight hours.  BMW has a formidable advantage as he is doing all he can to clear a Porsche that is a back marker.  The BMW has the mid-range torque to pull through.  You don’t often see drivers wearing glasses in the car.  Tomczyk might just wear glasses at night.  125 laps completed, 544 miles.  Again, we are just shy of 600 miles into the race.  It is incredibly dry on the road, as some weather forecasters said rain would be upon us.  Have not seen the rain in the motor race yet.  That’s a relief.  A wet track at night is a bad thing.  You always look for the change of color in the pavement if it is wet.

Precision driving in the wet is required as we watch fourth place Charles Weerts in the #32 WRT Audi.  Again Patrick Kujala leads the Silver division.  Adrien Tambay and Franco Colapinto are also up there.  As we said, Patrick Kujala is proving himself.  He really is.  He is a true racer.  We expect the race leading Ferrari to be in the pit lane on lap 138 and now we are working lap 126.  So, another dozen laps, and we shall see pit stops.  Eau Rogue is blindingly fast, and Sandy Mitchell is nailed to the track running in the Pro-Am lead in 20^th overall.  Ben Barnicoat in the #38 Jota Sport McLaren is also back there.  Bentley #107 of Pierre-Alexandre Jean is running the fastest times in sector one.

The Bentley is quick everywhere and has straight line grunt with it’s 4-liter turbo V8.  The Bentley factory may not be running these cars anymore, but they are still competitive.  The battle we are now watching towards Blanchimont contains the top six runners at the front.  Quite the variety of cars still at the front including Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, Audi, McLaren, and Porsche.  Everyone has their headlights on due to the darkness.  Porsche #18 of Edoardo Liberati, he is moving up and doing so now on the Lamborghini of Rolf Ineichen.  Stop and go penalty called for the #30 car, the WRT Audi for Pull, Colapinto, and Goethe.  Franco Colapinto now has to serve a penalty.  This is a stop and go penalty. 

The car has had a drive through penalty for track limits and for ignoring another rule yours truly has to check on.  Every lap someone is getting pinged for track limits or so it seems.  Nick Tandy just pitted the #47 KCMG Porsche which has a wonky fuel rig where it won’t fill the tank full.  Michael Christensen in the #3 Schnabl Porsche, you can buy a model car of it and the proceeds of the sales of the 1:43 scale model of that car, the money goes to help the victims of the flooding in Germany and Belgium.  Nick Tandy will go back out on track shortly.  He is now back on track and Franco Colapinto is serving his stop/go penalty for too long of a drive time.

WRT knows their rulebook better than anyone in the pit lane, so how they’ve made that mistake, who knows.  Maybe someone screwed up the numbers of didn’t get the radio message.  It is getting a last warning for track limits as well as we drive up Eau Rouge through the darkness.  Alessandro Pier Guidi continues as your race leader.  The gap now is down to 1.7 seconds and Andrea Caldarelli is closing fast.  Maybe it is traffic.  There was an anomaly that caused a two second time loss.  Traffic giveth.  Traffic taketh away.  It is so much more difficult to identify a car behind you because the rearview mirrors absolutely bleach out with the power of these headlights.

Mercedes vs. Porsche for tenth and eleventh as Nicky Catsburg is being pursued by one of the Porsche’s.  Alesandro Pier Guidi, the Italian Ferrari ace, large and in charge here at Spa Francorchamps.  130 laps completed, 566 miles.  Nicky Catsburg running tenth is in a battle with Earl Bamber.  Mercedes vs. Porsche.  Catsburg won with BMW in 2013 or so.  David Pittard in the BMW is next up in the Walkenhorst Motorsports M6 GT3.  He was a star earlier in this motor race but still is pushing hard.  We are getting into the meat and potatoes portion of this race.  Steak and frites if you prefer, with a Stella Artois beer I might add.

Ben Barnicoat on the inside, makes his move on Charles Weerts.  Ben Barnicoat is coming back after the team’s earlier penalty.  Give the man the right equipment and the right opportunity and he will deliver, as he is pressing on after Martin Tomczyk.  He has 15 or so minutes before having to pit and hand over the car.  Cars #19 and #166 receive penalties for track limits.  Stefano Constantini, the Italian will serve the penalty in the Pro-Am Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini.  #166 is the Porsche, the Haegeli by T2 Racing red and yellow Porsche with veteran Marc Basseng driving.  That is the “berries and custard” car as I like to call it.  OK.  I’d best lay off on the food references for the time being.  Getting a little hungry here.

Marc Basseng was an FIA GT1 World Champion, so he ought to know better about track limits.  Basseng has run TCR touring cars as well.  His co-drivers are Peter Decurtins, Dennis Busch, and Manuel Lauck.  We watch Charles Weerts continuing to make progress.  He is up to fifth in the overall and this car started the motor race in 54^th place.  Ben Barnicoat is making his escape up the road running 2:21.4 but must make up 50 seconds even though he is running quicker than Martin Tomczyk.  #38 is going to take a few stints to get on terms with the BMW boys.  Sandy Mitchell, in the Barwell Lamborghini, he is now the quickest Pro-Am driver, and he is running ahead of the Silver’s and some of the professional drivers in the race!  Good onya, mate.

Mark Lemmer and the team at Barwell do very well in these endurance races.  It is a well-run team even though it is Pro-Am.  Lamborghini #63 of Andrea Caldarelli, he is catching Alessandro Pier Guidi little by little.  In seven laps or so, we shall see pit stops.  We have been clean and green since that one large accident we saw earlier on.  Caldarelli is three seconds behind Pier Guidi.  Pier Guidi flies through Blanchimont again.  The Lamborghini really, really wants to press ahead of the Ferrari, for the pride and passion of Italy.  We will be done with six hours and go into the seventh hour soon.

When will dawn appear?  Probably around 5:00 A.M.  That’s the best guess.  133 laps into the race.  We will have a lot less nighttime running today than we did in the 2020 edition of the Spa 24 Hours which ran in October when the days are far longer.  The temperatures are cooler.  The magic of endurance racing is at night, but it is sometimes hard for drivers to race at night.  Again, you just can’t have a sirloin steak and a bottle of wine as you are racing.  Of course, currently mostly for health reasons, lots of people are reducing their consumption of red meat.  A little red wine occasionally never hurt anybody.  A good Bordeaux or Cab Sav is fine.