Pit
stops are imminent. 134 laps now in the
books. Pier Guidi leads Caldarelli. Sunrise is officially at 6:04 A.M. on Sunday
morning. It’s a wee bit late isn’t
it? It could be at 5:24 A.M. when
twilight comes. Racing at night, means
that once you’ve gotten through the night, it is a significant
achievement. From 6AM to 4:30PM is just
over ten hours. Daylight may mean you’ve
cracked the race, but not yet. We shall
see what tomorrow brings. The race ends
at 4:30. Some 24 hour races finish
earlier like the 24 Hours of Le Mans or the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Why not start at 2PM or 3PM. A few years ago, there was a political event
or election that happened. It could be
for track time for support events as well.
Support
races add value to the ticket for the race weekend. Alessandro Pier Guidi shall pit I three laps
or so. Down through Campus and into
Curve Paul Frere. Drivers are maximizing
the points they received at the end of six hours. Next time we see points, we’ll bag them at 12
hours. Cycle your fast drivers through
as fast as possible in the early section, the first half of the motor
race. These are points for the taking so
they ought to be incentivized. Of
course, they should be. For the teams,
they can score in eSports as well. Nico
Muller wriggles by David Fumanelli’s Ferrari followed by Jules Gounon. Gounon now in the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes
through Bruxelles. Nico Muller driving
the #37 WRT Audi.
Through
the Piff Paff they go as Alessandro Pier Guidi comes close to the end of his
stint. Ferrari continues to lead
Lamborghini with 17 hours left. Ben
Barnicoat pits the #38 McLaren from fourth.
Earl Bamber also brings the #22 Martini liveried GPX Porsche to the
lane. Nico Muller is right ahead of
Jules Gounon, and these two cars have been glued together for a few hours
now. Yes indeed, #38 and #77 are in the
pit lane now. It is amazing to see two
different brands with different engine combinations and design ideas, race
together.
Oliver
Wilkinson is now in the #38 Jota McLaren and Andrea Caldarelli brings the
Lamborghini in two laps early, the #163 car.
New tires and fuel into the tank while Andrea Caldarelli is actually
going to be the next driver into the car I believe. Yes.
He remains in the car. Maybe his
doing a double stint. The Ferrari is
still going a lap longer than the Lambo on the fuel strategy. The Ferrari will have an advantage as this
race goes on. The Ferrari ought to pit
on lap 138. That is their next
target. Meantime, Martin Tomczyk moves
the BMW M6 GT3 up to second and he has gotten up into the leading battle. You can win these 24-hour races, but you’ve
got to be metronomic in your performance.
Tomczyk will do a double stint, but he may have been exceeding the speed limit. Alessandro Pier Guidi continues, but he will be into the pit lane this time by. 138 laps. That is the expectation for putting together yet another 27-lap stint. Caldarelli is in a whole chunk of traffic, and he is flashing the lights at a competitor who is holding him up. The leader may be into the pit lane this time and yes, Pier Guidi is bang on schedule now. Alessandro Pier Guidi out of the car and who will be in next? We shall see. The steering column is adjustable for height and distance. The #51 Iron Lynx car is back on track. Who has he handed the car to? We’ll find out soon.
Charles
Weerts takes over the lead of this motor race and now, he is going to have to
come in as well to do a driver change, get tires and fuel. 139 laps now in the books as Weerts, through
Les Combes is closing up on a back marker.
He didn’t run flat through Eau Rouge.
The tire wears out and gets into a window of consistency at a given
time. Through Fangnes he goes and now,
onto the short run into Campus corner. You
start looking at the rear taillight of the car in front of you and it gets
larger and larger and larger. Weerts is
perhaps a tad too fast in the pit lane as Weerts disconnects the radio and loosens
his belts. A driver change, for the #32
Audi and it must be connected to the fuel hose for a long stop for 39 seconds.
New
tires and fuel. Now into the car it
should be Dries Vanthoor. Fred
Makowiecki, David Pittard, they pit.
Pierre-Alexander Jean is now the fastest through Eau Rouge. Oliver Wilkinson, Martin Tomczyk, Marco
Sorensen, and David Pittard. Headlights
piercing the darkness and the still air on this summer Saturday night in
Belgium. That’s very brave flying down
the hill in the daytime but especially at night. Goodness me.
Wow. Watch the transitions
through the corners. Hit your apex,
don’t clip the curbs. We’ve had a very
clean, calm race thus far. Is it a race? Or is it a parade? It’s been a very clean race tonight so far and
not a normal 24 Hours of Spa with cars flying off the road.
Martin Tomczyk, in fifth place, is closing in on a Porsche ahead. Not sure which one that is. He has made the move through Bruxelles and now he is moving in on one of the Mercedes’. Good, easy overtake into Pouhon and he is sailing along like an ocean liner. No additional corrections on the steering wheel. The car is performing just the way you’d like it to. Nico Muller now is back into the race lead in the #37 WRT Audi. The #51 Ferrari gets the points at 6 hours along with Lamborghini #63, BMW #35, McLaren, #38, and Porsche #3. So, the order at 6 Hours.
1. #51 Ledogar/Nielsen/Pier Guidi Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3
141 laps completed. 614 miles now in the books. Thundering up the Kemmel straight we go, into third gear. Balance the car on the throttle and the steering, get into a rhythm. Brussels is a 2nd gear turn. Squirt it into Speaker’s corner. Fifth gear down to Pouhon, lift, down to fourth gear. New Pirelli P Zero tires would allow you to lift and coast. Down to Fangnes, past a Mercedes, then into Campus. Martin Tomczyk is putting on a clinic about how to drive Spa at night. Into Blanchimont and through up into the Bus Stop and that’s part of a lap.
Nico
Muller leads Jules Gounon by merely half a second. If a car is catching you, is it one you are
running against or is it in a different driver category? Don’t get confused and open the door to a
principal competitor. Come Ledogar and
Nico Muller, these two chaps will be scrapping for the lead fairly soon. Muller will be in the lane in five more laps
and likewise for Jules Gounon. We are
coming up to the next clock hour but not the next race hour yet. Yours truly has not picked a winner yet. Interestingly, team bosses for Lamborghini
#63, and all three of the Garage 59 Aston Martin’s, and the Orange 1 FFF
Lamborghini. The stewards have
commanded, you’ve done something wrong.
Troubles
also for Vincent Abril in the #4 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3. We know the #5 sister entry has retired but
for reasons we are unclear about at this moment. The #5 Mercedes of team owner Hubert Haupt of
Germany, who was sharing with Michele Beretta from Italy, his countryman
Patrick Assenheimer, and Dutchman Indy Dontje, headed for the house with the
race barely into the darkness. #4 is
slow and in the lane. Was it a puncture
or a mechanical issue? Mercedes #4 has
been competitive for years. Maro Engel
and Luca Stolz are a competitive duo with Vincent Abril making it a trio.
144
laps into this race now. 625 miles. Why are the team bosses being summoned to the
stewards’ office? So, Jules Gounon is
now hot on the heels of Nico Muller and Come Ledogar is next up, although Jules
Gounon is being investigated, the last pit stop for that particular
automobile. Andrea Caldarelli is now
fourth on the road towards the La Source hairpin, chasing after Come
Ledogar. Caldarelli though, he is now
chasing the leader of this motor race and he is inspired to push. Audi, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lamborghini, as
Ledogar is getting caught in traffic.
Caldarelli reels in Ledogar. He
was formerly a McLaren driver and a champion back when this series was known as
the Blancpain Endurance Series and sponsored by a fancy and famous watch
company.
Nose
to tail through Brussels corner and Ledogar gets bottled up in traffic. Ledogar knows Caldarelli is right on his
six. Through Fangnes, Caldarelli is
showing the nose. He is right up to
Ledogar through Stavelot and Paul Frere corner. Ledogar has fallen back from this duo. Down to the chicane and no dice as they come
up to start another lap. They are third
on the road but will be first and second soon down to La Source. Ledogar will have to punch it to get away
from Caldarelli. Up and over Raidillon
they go. The Ferrari is pulling a gap on
Caldarelli who is playing catch up.
Caldarelli is still pushing, pushing, pushing. The Lamborghini will have more aerodynamics
while the Ferrari has straight line speed.
11:00
P.M. local time in Belgium. Nico Muller
will be pitting soon. The pendulum is
swinging on the pit stops and yes indeed, there is a long, long way still to
go. We have run 149 laps, 648 miles and
Andrea Caldarelli leads over Come Ledogar.
The gap is 2.8 seconds. Martin
Tomczyk next up followed by Kelvin van der Linde. We welcome the night shift. Bruce Jones, Charlie Butler-Henderson, and
pit lane reporter, Ben Constanduros. We
have split strategies going on right now.
The action is see sawing all over the shop right now.
At
the top of the tree, we still have six brands at the top of the pile right
now. It is a 24 hour race but the
drivers treat this thing as a sprint race.
We could see rain again before this race is out. Now, 150 laps on the board, so 652 miles give
or take. Martin Tomczyk is five and a
half seconds down on the leaders. Kelvin
van der Linde is still pushing. The
Schnabl Porsche is still in the fight, too.
The #90 Mad Panda Mercedes is still good in Am and Duncan Cameron in one
of the Ferrari’s is still pushing on in Pro-Am.
Andrea Calderelli is 2.5 seconds ahead of Come Ledogar. The drivers, and also, those of us who talk
about and write about the race, we are reveling about dry conditions because
sometimes it is very wet here at night at Spa.
This
circuit is designed to be very exciting.
Let’s have another look at the standings now with 150 laps on the board,
653 miles. We are going to do what might
be a full field rundown of the standings to this point. Bear with me ladies and gentlemen. Cue the SRO theme music, maestro.
1. #63 Bortolotti/Mapelli/Caldarelli Orange 1 FFF Racing Lamborghini
Huracan GT3
We
have an incredible variety of cars as you can see. There’s more of the running order
coming. Queue the second page, please,
mate.
25. #89 Auer/Boguslavskiy/Fraga AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3
Tomczyk will do a double stint, but he may have been exceeding the speed limit. Alessandro Pier Guidi continues, but he will be into the pit lane this time by. 138 laps. That is the expectation for putting together yet another 27-lap stint. Caldarelli is in a whole chunk of traffic, and he is flashing the lights at a competitor who is holding him up. The leader may be into the pit lane this time and yes, Pier Guidi is bang on schedule now. Alessandro Pier Guidi out of the car and who will be in next? We shall see. The steering column is adjustable for height and distance. The #51 Iron Lynx car is back on track. Who has he handed the car to? We’ll find out soon.
Martin Tomczyk, in fifth place, is closing in on a Porsche ahead. Not sure which one that is. He has made the move through Bruxelles and now he is moving in on one of the Mercedes’. Good, easy overtake into Pouhon and he is sailing along like an ocean liner. No additional corrections on the steering wheel. The car is performing just the way you’d like it to. Nico Muller now is back into the race lead in the #37 WRT Audi. The #51 Ferrari gets the points at 6 hours along with Lamborghini #63, BMW #35, McLaren, #38, and Porsche #3. So, the order at 6 Hours.
141 laps completed. 614 miles now in the books. Thundering up the Kemmel straight we go, into third gear. Balance the car on the throttle and the steering, get into a rhythm. Brussels is a 2nd gear turn. Squirt it into Speaker’s corner. Fifth gear down to Pouhon, lift, down to fourth gear. New Pirelli P Zero tires would allow you to lift and coast. Down to Fangnes, past a Mercedes, then into Campus. Martin Tomczyk is putting on a clinic about how to drive Spa at night. Into Blanchimont and through up into the Bus Stop and that’s part of a lap.
We
could go down to the 50s. But let’s stop
at the top 40. Rob Collard is the bloke
aboard the #69. Ricky Collard, it is his
birthday today. Happy Birthday to him,
and we only have 45 minutes of Saturday to go before we get to Sunday
morning. The ebb and flow is there
insofar as traffic goes. Drive through
penalty for the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes for a pit stop infringement. It is an easy place to screw up and drop the
ball. Team boss Jerome Policand, a
former driver, is tired of that. He
wants no more of that madness. #88 runs
sixth in the overall right now.
Maybe
a tire was dropped or was on the white line before getting out of the garage,
or a door being opened before the car stops in the lane. Yes, pit stops need to be practiced. Andrea Caldarelli runs clear of Come Ledogar,
and the margin has been building. It is
now five and a half seconds right on the nose.
Martin Tomczyk aboard the #35 BMW is now gaining back gobs of time as
well, look. Poor old Come Ledogar has
fallen into the clutches of Tomczyk. The
#26 Sainteloc Audi R8 is in the garage for service with Jamie Green, former DTM
racer, at the controls. Not all is well
with the car, but more mechanics can be put to work on the car in the garage.
You
may fuel the car while working on it which has not been the case in the
past. The #23 Porsche is still out there
pounding around, but the Huber Motorsport entry has had a star-crossed race
thus far, the Schell/Jacoma/Leutwiler/Menzel entry. There’s been a lot of tire pickup clumps and
maybe a strip of metal offline at Les Combes.
You can see a lot of debris on the road that you can’t see during the
daytime. So,
there could be a safety car and the track sweepers could be dispatched
too. When you go wide you pick up more
clag and more rubbish on your tires and it feels like a flat tire and your
hands, and arms are vibrating while trying to steer the car.
Someone
locks up in front of the Aston Martin of Chris Goodwin, giving him a bit of a
scare. Into the lights, past the two pit
lanes, and you go out of Eau Rouge and Raidillon, there’s no lighting in the
valley. You see pitch darkness
everywhere except for your headlights.
Yours truly was at the 24 Hours of Daytona for the IMSA cars a couple
years ago, and in that event, there’s ambient lighting all over the track so
you can at least see a lot of where you are on that shorter circuit that
combines most of the NASCAR high banks with the infield road circuit. But, at places like Spa, driving out in the
middle of the forest in the darkness, you only have your headlights to guide
you. It is like walking through a gaudy
haunted house with a flashlight. A dark
forest, if you will, which is exactly what it is.
At Le
Mans you could go out and hear the engines of the cars on the Mulsanne
straight. Now, the wall of the light is
so blinding it is amazing, but you can hear each car going by, and hear the
scuffing of the splitter on the tarmac, that whack, whack, whack sound you
sometimes hear. The scope of information
you can get for timing and scoring and driver penalties and so forth, it is
amazing. Martin Tomczyk into the lane
and now, Andrea Caldarelli leads and there is a driver change for the
Walkenhorst BMW team. Who will get into
the car? Will it be Thomas Neubauer’s
turn? Nope. It’s likely the second stint for Timo
Glock. Ah. The car is being put on the dollies and being
swung around into the garage.
It’s
only almost seven hours into the motor race, so it is too early for a brake
change by the look of it. Timo Glock
confirms with the team when he can get back out into the race. But he was frustrated about the brake issues. They have a technical stop to change brakes
but that is not until later in the race.
Was this planned or from an earlier incident. Timo Glock does not look happy. This was unplanned. He nodded to the crew in understanding that
something was necessary. This team has
won at Spa before, three years ago.
These cars have a lot more creature comforts than they did even a few
years ago.
Manfred
Winkelhock and James Weaver would battle together, in the ‘80s here at Spa in
the old BMW M6 635s. Drive through
penalty for car #88, the AKKA ASP Mercedes has been suspended. There is a try for something, but we don’t
have any brake components. The
windscreen is being cleaned, but we don’t know what else is going on with the
car as the hazard flashers are on as well at the bottom of the front end. How long will it be? Anticipation of getting back out there,
that’s what Timo Glock is hoping for. We
are being told that the left front suspension is being fixed. It looks like this will be buttoned up
shortly. You
cannot believe how hot the front of that car is even with protective gloves and
fireproof clothing on.
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