24 Hours of Spa: Hour 8

The left front tire takes a pasting through Eau Rouge, Raidillon, and Les Combes.  The Walkenhorst Motorsports mechanics have a tangible idea of what they need to service.  Drivers are going stir crazy thinking, “we’re losing time!  I’m dropping through the order like a stone!  Get me back on the track!”  A driver is thinking too, “how can I go faster?  Where can I gain time back?”  The team now knows what to fix, but you can never tell what happens until the car is wheeled back into the garage.  Kelvin van der Linde is uncorking some good laps, getting to the end of his stint.

Andrea Caldarelli and Come Ledogar are still scrapping for the overall lead of this motor race.  Kelvin van der Linde is turning up the wick.  Further down the order, we look at the Silver division.  Ricardo Sanchez of Mexico has the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 in the lead of the division.  That is the car being shared by Sanchez, Ezequiel Perez Companc, Patrick Kujala, and Rik Breukers, from Mexico, Argentina, Finland, and Holland respectively.  Pierre Alexandre Jean in the #107 CMR Racing Bentley Continental GT3 is second in the division, sharing that car with Stuart White, Nelson Panciatici, and Ulysse de Pauw.  Then comes the car currently driven by Benjamin Hites of Chile, the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. 
 
Hites shares that automobile alongside South African David Perel and Italian Fabrizio Crestani.  They are third in Silver Cup, 18^th in the overall.  Chris Froggatt in the #93 Sky Tempesta Ferrari, leads Pro Am over the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage in the hands of Chris Goodwin who has been racing for a long time and being a development driver for McLaren.  He’s been around a long time and is surely a legend.  He backflipped a McLaren supercar at the massive Nardo bowl test track banked oval in Italy.  If you are unfamiliar with Nardo, look it up.  Quite the track.  Saw it on VHS videotapes years and years ago.  The BMW #35 is still in the garage being repaired.
 
Did the car break on the lap that it was brought into the pits?  We just don’t know.  A new suspension for the BMW and new boots, new Pirelli P Zero’s.  The #88 Mercedes, the AKKA ASP car, will have to take a penalty.  Raffaele Marciello, the Italian, is at the controls right now.  Take your medicine and get back after it.  You can’t freak out about a penalty.  Just take it and move forward.  Raffaele Marciello is catching up to Robin Frijns.  So, it is the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes and the #37 WRT Audi.  Frijns is a Formula E driver with the electric racing cars, so it must be fun for him to be back in GT3 sports car, and he loves this track.  Being a Dutchman, he was born close to Belgium.
 
The late, great, Jim Clark, was one of the drivers who pioneered driving different race cars whenever the opportunity came up.  He’d drive Formula 1 and Formula 2 on the open wheel side of things, and then, he’d switch over and drive a sports car, or he drive a touring car race in a Lotus Cortina.  He was an adaptable driver and that adaptability to different cars is something we see now in the modern motor racing era, too.  Robin Frijns, having raced Formula E on city streets, he ought to know track limits and where they are.  Last fall, track limits were blasé here at Spa back in October.  This year, the SRO marshals are saying, “no more nonsense.  No more excuses.  If you got outside track limits, we’re going to penalize you.”
 
We watch the Pro-Am class leader at work and that is Alessio Rovera driving the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.  Rovera sharing with Louis Machiels, John Wartique, and Andrea Bertolini, as we discussed earlier on in the race.  Now, we thought Chris Froggatt was ahead.  No way.  Alessio Rovera is the man who is leading Pro-Am by a country mile.  Both he and Mr. Froggatt have both made around ten pit stops in the race so far, and trust me, we have a long, long, long way to go.  We are looking for Christopher Mies.  We are trying to find his spot.  But, first, more news.  The #35 BMW for Walkenhorst Motorsports, these guys are going to get back into the race.
 
Things are looking ship shape for the car as it is down off the air jacks and onto the deck ready to get back into the fight.  They roll the car out on the dollies and have the bring it back down.  No mistakes.  Get the car moving.  Mirko Bortolotti has just taken over the Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini after pit stops.  He is changing the air conditioning and getting back into the race.  The pit exit here at Spa is right uphill into Raidillon.  It took 18 and a half minutes to fix the BMW and they are back on track.
 
Timo Glock might be driving it now even though our timing screens say Thomas Neubauer.  It is Neubauer at the controls, and the Frenchman with the German sounding surname is now 49^th in the overall and he will press his way forward.  A broken left front wishbone in the suspension was what was repaired on the BMW as we watch the leader, Come Ledogar aboard the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3.  Once again, he shares that automobile with Nicklas Nielsen and Alessandro Pier Guidi.  So, the Frenchman, the Dane, and the Italian.  Bortolotti is now fourth and Iron Lynx will need to pit soon, and we should see Caldarelli come to the fore.
 
A good scrap is brewing down the order in the back half of the top ten with Earl Bamber in the #22 GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, the Martini liveried tribute car and ahead of him is the Audi R8 of Markus Winkelhock.  Winkelhock aboard the #25, the first of the cars for Audi Sport Team Sainteloc, sharing that automobile with fellow German Christopher Haase and Switzerland’s Patric Niederhauser who was close to winning this race last fall in an incredibly dramatic finish.  #25 vs. #22 as they run through La Source.  Bamber is coming in a hurry.  We are 162 laps into the race as Bamber moves by.  We have a dry track in the pitch darkness of night here at Spa.  162 laps, 705 miles on the board already, and we still have 2/3rds of the race left to run.
 
Come Ledogar leads Kelvin van der Linde by a minute, and van der Linde, remember, started this motor race way down in 54^th place and he has exercised incredible patience to get back up to the top.  Full Course Yellow in 20 seconds.  We need to know why.  Full Course Yellow in ten seconds.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow now.  Everyone in the pit lane is fine, but you must now drop to 80 kilometers an hour, 50 miles an hour.  This stop is for the #52 Ferrari.  Someone is stranded, a couple of cars and it’s Benjamin Hites in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari stopped dead stick in the forest.
 
One has spun and one spun in avoidance and/or sympathy, spinning the wrong way ‘round.  #51 has now made a pit stop and here comes the #93 Sky Tempesta Ferrari to the pit lane as well.  It is very hard for a driver to select reverse gear in a modern race car.  They don’t want to drive backwards they want to drive forwards.  You cannot become the world champion of driving backwards, as the legend Hans Stuck once said of his equally legendary teammate Derek Bell at a Group C race in the 1980s, perhaps even here at Spa Francorchamps, when the legendary Porsche 962 was the car to rule them all in endurance racing back in the day.  Good times.  Good times.
Look at the brake dust coming off the cars!  Unreal!  That’s horrendous.  The seatbelts have elastic binders on them to yank them out of the way before the next driver enters the car and as soon as the car is off the air jacks, it can stall if you are not cautious.  #33 is back on the road with the tractor pulling it out, but other drivers must be very, very careful.  It’s squeaky, squeaky time here, boys.  Stay alert.  The Ferrari has fallen to 23^rd and will keep dropping down, but he’s back on the button again out of Stavelot.  There’s a puncture or some flapping bodywork on the car and he’s scattered dirt on the road, too.
 
Mercedes #4 is in the lane.  This is the first of the Mercedes AMG Team HRT cars.  Full service but no driver change.  It looks like Luca Stolz will do a double stint.  Good call to get the windscreen cleaned off as well.  Make the most of the moment and hit the pit lane.  That rumbling Mercedes V8 is amazing.  Mercedes #7 is also in the lane, the Toksport WRT entry.  Venezuelan driver Oscar Tunjo at the wheel of it.  They are not where they want to be in the overall but in a good position in the Silver Cup division right now, and keep in mind, with every car out there being in GT3 trim, the classes are for drivers and their respective rankings only.  The mechanics are spot on and of course the SRO marshals are watching the teams like hawks to make sure the pit stops comply to the rules.
 
At Spa, Le Mans, and other 24-hour races, there are armies of marshals especially with fewer mechanics around the cars.  Orange 1 FFF has the #19 Lamborghini in the lane.  The cars come screaming into the pit lane and it is hot and smells of burning racing fuel and oil, burning rubber from the tires, and brake dust.  It is intense down there.  This is the #19 Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini being shared by Bertrand Baguette, Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Stefano Constantini, and Phil Keen.  There was some coolant or water coming out of the overflow, and the puddle looks like the map of the track here at Spa!  Hardy har har.  The team is mopping it up with towels right now.
 
Strange.  It looks like water, but it very well could be coolant.  We are under Full Course Yellow and could go to safety car.  Come Ledogar in the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari was a minute ahead of the #32 Team WRT Audi, Kelvin van der Linde at the wheel of it.  Kelvin van der Linde could catch up to and pass Come Ledogar and after starting in 54^th place, that could be a gift of manna from heaven for that team.  But will their three wishes be granted?  That remains to be seen yet.  How many cars will be between Come Ledogar and Kelvin van der Linde.  We have to wonder how the BMW is holding out after we saw the team changing the front suspension in the garage earlier on, and whatever is leaking out of that Lamborghini, that was a mystery.
 
As a car is driving away, you might expect some dribble from the fuel overflow or the water overflow after a pit stop, but not something where liquid is just pouring out of the thing.  We’ll have to see what on earth is going on for Lamborghini #19.  It was fuel overflow, no fire, no nothing.  Thankfully it isn’t on the circuit and the other drivers will be relieved.  What a waste of petrol!  Sheesh!  The organizers have changed the fuel tank sizes and tweaked them as we are now under safety car conditions.  Safety car boards and flags.  How long will we be behind the safety car?  That is a question teams are asking.  The massive downpour we saw at the start of the race, has jumbled the strategy, big style.  Spa tosses a curveball all the time and now we have seen that.
 
It’s like a game of poker as we are approaching midnight, the witching hour.  Currently we have Come Ledogar for Ferrari leading the #63 Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti, the second car and very much the quicker car for Orange 1 FFF Racing Team.  The order keeps shuffling and we will see the safety car duck for pit lane this time by.  Robin Frijns is fourth followed by Marco Wittmann.  Raffaele Marciello holds sixth spot ahead of Nikki Thiim, Earl Bamber, Ollie Wilkinson, and Rik Breukers.  That’s your top ten in the running order at the present time.
The #22 Martini retro liveried GPX Porsche is in the pit lane and will be exiting.  It was just let down off the air jacks.  That team is pitting in the heritage pits.  So, they won’t have far to go to get back on track.  That Martini paint scheme is phenomenal.  Come Ledogar leads Mirko Bortolotti, Kelvin van der Linde, Robin Frijns, Marco Wittman, Raffaele Marciello, and more.  Marciello needs to serve a drive through penalty.  We’re at midnight in Spa.  Good morning.  It’s Sunday morning, and it is time to enjoy more racing as we wait for the safety car to put out the lights and return to the pit lane.
 
There’s a debris field offline with lumps of tire rubber (clag) all over.  Don’t run off onto it because it’s slick as ice.  We can see Bentley #107 with brake discs glowing a fiery orange in the darkness.  Pierre Alexandre Jean handed the #107 CMR Bentley to Nelson Panciatici, but he will be down the order on this restart for dead sure.  Cinch down the belts, check with the team on the radio, and press on the chap in front of you to get moving.  Bad news for fans of Sainteloc Racing.  It is game over for the #26 car.  That Audi is retired as the car cover is draped over it.  Jamie Green and team are out.  Game over for Jamie Green, Finlay Hutchinson, and Adrien Tambay.          
 
Come Ledogar mashes the gas and is still in the lead.  It looks like he has about 24 seconds worth of an advantage over Mirko Bortolotti.  How many cars are in between them?  Bortolotti is going to push, push, push.  This is scramble time.  Wow!  That fixed position camera at Eau Rouge is unbelievable!  Harry flatters up that hill in fifth or sixth gear.  No wonder we don’t have a human being operating the camera at Eau Rouge and moved to a fixed camera, because if you are out there with a GT3 car whizzing by, you’d be in real danger.  We hear of an announcement of a drive through penalty for the #87 car.  That is one of the AKKA ASP Mercedes’.  Simon Gachet sharing with Konstantin Tereschenko, Petru Umbrarescu, and Thomas Drouet.
 
The drive through penalty for Come Ledogar has caused him to drop from the lead to sixth spot.  It is for a refueling violation.  In a 24-hour race that is very competitive, one slip up can cause a drive through penalty and then it takes hours to catch up again.  The cars sweep through the uphill corners.  Drivers are beginning to understand the deal with track limits to be honest.  The cars all have GPS trackers on them.  Many of these drivers raced here at Spa last weekend in British GT and the Barwell team won that with their Lamborghini in the hands of Dennis Lind and Leo Machitski.  They get four chances for track limits and if they go all four wheels off the circuit for a fifth time, that’s a penalty.
 
Racing purists like yours truly say, get rid of the asphalt runoff areas and bring back grass and gravel traps.  But in some cases that just can’t be done.  Drivers may be behaving themselves more in the dark.  We haven’t seen more rain since earlier this afternoon.  At the top of the shop, Kelvin van der Linde is 1.6 seconds behind the leading Ferrari.  Bortolotti and van der Linde are on totally different pit sequences.  Now, the margin is closing.  Bortolotti is leading the motor race and van der Linde, the South African, might be on the Italian’s six, very soon.
 
The Schnabl Engineering Porsche is lapped traffic.  Interesting, because the trio of drivers in that car, they are very capable Porsche factory drivers.  Dennis Olsen from Norway, Michael Christensen from Denmark, and Fred Makowiecki of France.  Names we have seen in recent years in several sports car racing disciplines.  Braking into Bruxelles (Brussels corner) is a bear.  The brakes were redone on the BMW M6 GT3 #35, and there was fuel that came out of the Lamborghini we saw earlier.  Makowiecki is at the wheel of the Schnabl Porsche, #3, 11^th in the overall, a lap behind.  He is fortunately not delaying Mirko Bortolotti at all.
 
Bortolotti again, look, is right on Christensen’s six there.  This is close racing action through the dark of night here at Spa.  Hard to tell if there is black car up the road in the dark of night, but it was Fred Makowiecki at the controls of the Schnabl entry.  Confirmed, the #35 BMW did undergo a brake change while in the garage making other repairs.  Bortolotti is still really pressing Christensen and he ought to move out of the way as he is surely a lapped automobile.  Flashing the lights, with a button on the steering wheel.  This tells the other driver, “I’m faster than you!  Use your mirrors!  Move it, Mister!”  The gap is now 6/10ths of a second and it is funny that Makowiecki is faster than Bortolotti.
 
Again, van der Linde and Frijns are pushing hard, both WRT Audi R8’s.  Whoa!  Bortolotti gets passed by van der Linde!  Yikes!  This is remarkable stuff, look.  Epic.  Absolutely epic!  This is splendiferous!  That was indeed a bullish move!  That said, van der Linde could have had all four wheels on the road, but, we cannot be sure in the darkness as they thunder into La Source, shifting down to first gear and then flying flat out back up Eau Rouge again, the bottom of the car sparking like crazy!  Eau Rouge still gives you a heart palpitation if you are a fan.  Plant the car, gain the traction.
 
Kelvin van der Linde is hustled into a mistake and here comes Robin Frijns who also has the traffic ahead.  That was some top shelf onboard footage.  Never take it for granted.  We are spoiled with the great onboard cameras these days.  These camera lenses are amazing, and the drivers also have a rearview camera which can be fussy in the darkness and better in the daytime hours of these long races.  Now, Mirko Bortolotti could have another Lamborghini to contend with right in front of him.  Kelvin van der Linde and Mirko Bortolotti, these two are pushing each other hard and sadly we have lost the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes which has tumbled to seventh overall after their penalty.
 
Endurance racing means it is a test of man and machine both.  Drivers, teams, and cars, all, are tested to their absolute limits.  The driver pays attention to the lights on his steering wheel telling him when to shift.  Up the outside, Bortolotti wants to make the move and yes, he does.  Bish, bash, bosh.  He’s made it stick.  Maybe, according to an astute Twitter follower, we saw a slow BMW just before the Walkenhorst #35 with Martin Tomczyk driving at the time, came to the pit lane for service.  So, he had to be running slowly before he could pit and the crew eventually got to work on the repairs. 
 
Through Bruxelles and Speaker’s corner they go.  The battle is still raging and the leader are still pressing that lapped #3 Schnabl Racing Porsche.  Now, we have another car off the road or facing the wrong way.  Once again, the #19 Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini has made a pig’s breakfast out of one of the corners.  Phil Keen is off the road and trying his best to get back on.  Strange for Phil to make a mistake but maybe he was caught out.  Ah.  He spun all by his lonesome.  The car just snapped around entering Bruxelles, going into Brussels corner.  Strange, because Mr. Keen is not a bloke who would throw it off the road by accident.  We have one of those moments.  So, I’ll just say it.  Well, well, well.
 
We are approaching the end of another racing hour.  We cannot blame Phil Keen for that shemozzle.  That had to be something going awry on the Lamborghini.  Strange stuff.  Hard to tell what on earth could have happened.  Nothing has changed at the sharp end.  Bortolotti leads van der Linde by 8/10ths of a second with Frijns running in third spot.  Wittman and Thiim complete the top five.  Six through ten it is Come Ledogar, Raffaele Marciello, Ollie Wilkinson, Rik Breukers, and Markus Winkelhock, and so on down the order.
 
The top three runners are covered by less than a tenth of a second.  Six cars flying through Raidillon, up the Kemmel straight and into Les Combes.  The battles continue to rage.  We ride onboard with Oliver Milroy in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren and get a driver’s eye view of this frantic motor race through his windscreen.  You will notice all of these cars have rearview cameras for safety and that was pioneered at Le Mans by Corvette Racing at first.  Now, everyone in sports car racing ought to have them.  Mind you, still some cars might just have the mirrors.  The cameras help to know what cars are behind you and how fast they are coming.