It is the pre-race show, for the 24 Hours of Spa. We welcome you to Southern Belgium, the pines of the Ardennes Forest and the Francorchamps, Malmedy, Stavelot triangle. Mighty, daunting, mythical, legendary. These are the adjectives used to describe this wonderful circuit. Seven kilometers that twist, climb, and dive through the mountains and the forest, in a true spectacle of speed. Once again, the Intercontinental GT Challenge meets here, this time, for the opening race of their abbreviated three race championship. A Triple Crown, if you will, and we kick it all off with the most bedazzled jewel. This is also a round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. We have one team that was supposed to be here but have withdrawn. The massive flooding in Europe during these months of summer, have forced Nurburgring and NLS stalwarts Frikadelli Racing, sponsored by their famous brand of meatballs and sausages, to withdraw from this motor race, and in exchange, their spot has been taken up by another Porsche 911 GT3R for Schnabl Engineering.
This is the biggest and best GT3 race in the world. We have a mighty 58 car entry for this
race. This s the third race of the
Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe. Fans
are back, trackside, albeit in limited numbers.
We have David Addison, Ryan Myrehn, and John Watson in the broadcast
booth. This event stands alone as one of
the great fixtures of endurance sports car racing. Track limits will be a major part of the race
and so will the weather. It is breezy
with a bone dry track. Just about ideal
conditions, but we have rain on the camera lens! Deary me!
We hope it won’t rain at the start of this wonderful motor race.
Let’s get a clean lap in as we see the cars working their
way ‘round the circuit and onto the grid.
Eau Rouge continues to be a daunting corner. One of the major crashes here was on Thursday
night in night practice with the #16 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini
Huracan GT3. Fortunately, the car was
repaired, and it will start with it’s four driver team including Alberto Maria
de Folco of Italy, Germany’s Tim Zimmermann, Kikko Galbiatti of Italy, and
Austrian Clemens Schmid. One of the
rival teams from another manufacturer, the Herberth Motorsports Porsche team,
pitched in to help with repairs on the #16 car so it is ready to race today.
We are looking at the 11th place starting #114
Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
This car is being started by British open wheel ace Jack Aitken who is
sharing with Konsta Lappalainen of Finland and Arthur Rougier of France. Maybe the challenge of Eau Rouge has
diminished, but that can’t possibly be.
We will come across several drivers and entries. A potential winner is going to be the #4
Mercedes AMG GT3 of Mercedes AMG Team HRT.
This is Vincent Abril of France and Maro Engel of Germany sharing with
the starting driver, another German, Luca Stolz. This is the vivid pink and blue BWT sponsored
Mercedes.
Abril is winning in DTM now also in GT3 cars. Engel and Stolz have been a duo to be
reckoned with as we also look at Kevin Estre aboard the #22 GPX Martini Racing
Porsche 911 GT3R. The rapid Frenchman
sharing that car with Porsche factory drivers Matthieu Jaminet of France, Matt
Campbell of Australia, and Earl Bamber of New Zealand, on the driver’s
strength. Pro Am and Silver Cup are two
other classes we will watch throughout the race, with different driver
ratings. The cars are all the same,
every single automobile out there, a fire breathing GT3 racer from several
different brands. Another top entry to
watch, Garage 59 with their Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Garage 59 carries the three digit #188 on the
Aston Martin.
Sweden’s Alexander West sharing with Marvin Kirchhofer of
Germany, and Irishmen Charlie Eastwood and Chris Goodwin. A mega pole lap in Super Pole for Raffaele
Marciello, the Italian. He will start on
pole for Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP aboard their #88 Mercedes AMG GT3. Marciello in a trio with Spaniard Daniel
Juncadella and Frenchman Jules Gounon.
His sub 2:18 pole lap was stonking, but he got pinged for track
limits. Track limits was a major deal
for qualifying and for Super Pole both.
Porsche have won the last two editions of this race but today they are
on the back foot a little bit. Earl
Bamber aboard the #22 car is the top qualified Porsche. We are seeing Aston Martin with a full Pro
entry. We have a fully professional
Aston Martin with Nicki Thiim, Ross Gunn, and Marco Sorensen. Two Dane’s and a Brit. This is a factory, Pro class Aston Martin for
Garage 59. Something we have waited to
see here at Spa for a long time and it is here today, and tomorrow, too,
assuming they are reliable and get through the race.
Mikael Grenier, the German born Canadian is ready and glad
to be here racing again at Spa, driving the #57 Winward Racing entry from the
United States. Grenier sharing with
American Russell Ward and German born British driver Philip Ellis. Grenier knows how to run endurance races and
how to keep the car in one piece. Super
Pole was difficult for everyone in the damp conditions, and we could see that
at the start. The black clouds loom and
the rain has passed for the moment. But
we will have mixed conditions. The #163
Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini, another fast car that has been a tad off
song. Spaniard Albert Costa will start
the car.
He says they are struggling but they believe that
Lamborghini can be in contention and focusing and having no mistakes is big,
big, big. Track limits are a bear as lap
times are deleted. Robin Frijns at Audi
WRT says that everything and anything is possible with the rain coming and
everyone is in the same boat. Frijns in
the #37 Audi R8 sharing with Dennis Lind and Nico Muller. So, a Dutchman sharing with a Swiss and a
Dane. Blue skies and then 300-400 meters
ahead, black clouds. The timing line is
next to the Formula 1 pits. We start
this race though on the run down to Eau Rouge past the old endurance racing pit
lane that is really only used for this race and maybe for the 6 hour World
Endurance race that runs here in springtime.
The pit procedure actually sees both the new pit lane and
the old endurance pit lane being used. The
cows in the green pastures are checking the action out here at Spa, but they
will be startled once this land rush of GT3 cars takes off into the race and
surely have their peace and grass munching disturbed by these men and their
flying machines. They will have a beef
about it, pun intended. Ricardo Feller
has qualified the Emil Frey Racing #14 Lamborghini fourth on the grid. Feller sharing with Alex Fontana and Rolf
Ineichen in an all-Swiss trio. The #163
car is a different chassis with the same engine and gearbox as this team has
run in other endurance and sprint events all season.
Great to see people in the grandstands here at Spa with the
circuit, the Belgian government and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium. This is the biggest, the best GT3 race in the
world. The best GT3 teams and drivers
are set to race. WRT Audi comes to Spa
with many cars, a great history, and a great entry. Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor are two of
the three drivers and they know each other and have chemistry with each
other. Mercedes has not won in the 24
Hours of Spa outright for a long time but Spaniard Daniel Juncadella believes
it is time for the Three Pointed Star to get back to victory lane. Another strong team is Haupt Racing Team also
in a Mercedes.
Porsche has an amazing pedigree and so many cars. They are stacked with talent and cars. Will they repeat as winners? They have a good chance, with eight separate
entries. One of the cars is the #22 GPX
entry with retro Martini livery harkening back to the days of the 908’s and
917’s at places like here at Spa, Le Mans, and the Targa Florio in Sicily. Matt Campbell, Matthieu Jaminet, and Earl
Bamber are the drivers in the trio. They
lead the points in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
Look out for the #54 machine for Dinamic Motorsport as
well. This Porsche 911 GT3R is shared by
Klaus Bachler from Austria, Christian Engelhart from Germany, and Italian ace
Matteo Cairoli. They have a team car,
#56 for veteran Frenchman Romain Dumas, Andrea Rizzoli of Italy, and Mikkel
Pedersen of Denmark. Also, watch for the
#47 Intercontinental GT Challenge entrant from KCMG. This trio is mega and features Belgian’s
Laurens Vanthoor and Maxime Martin (a former winner of this race), alongside
Nick Tandy and Vanthoor, who won last year.
Track limits is a huge deal here at Spa. Veteran drivers know when to hold and when to
fold. Timo Glock, former F1 driver and
former DTM standout, his experience will pay dividends as the German teams up
with countryman Martin Tomczyk and Frenchman Thomas Neubauer. Glock says that there should be no
mistakes. Be in control and trouble
free. Ferrari’s are fast but
fragile. They have not been able to seal
the deal in victory here at Spa yet.
Briton Callum Ilott coming from open wheel racing, is competing in his
first endurance race in the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3. Ilott sharing with Italian veteran Davide
Rigon, and Rigon’s fellow countryman, Antonio Fuoco.
Lamborghini are going to be tremendously strong as we
continue the race preview. They have
been short on luck in this race though.
Andrea Caldarelli is lead driver for the #63 Orange 1 FFF Racing
CAR. Also, for Lamborghini, Emil Frey
Racing Team. Ricardo Feller, the Swiss
driver, leads in the points in Silver Cup now.
He is ready to race today and tomorrow.
Simon Gachet, the rapid Frenchman, makes the move for 2021 from Audi to
Mercedes, from Ingolstadt to Stuttgart. Gachet
and his team want to finish. Pro Am,
will be hot and heavy. Garage 59 Aston
Martin with Alexander West know how to run well. West, the Swede, says the race should go well
despite all the traffic and that Aston will be at the sharp end.
Another car we must keep an eye on, the Orange 1 FFF
Lamborghini, the sister car #19. Hiroshi
Hamaguchi of Japan leads an international lineup of drivers including
Englishman Phil Keen, Belgian veteran Bertrand Baguette, and Italian Stefano
Constantini. Hamaguchi crashed out early
last year and wants to make amends and finish this race in 2021. Hamaguchi wants to finish, get a podium, and
win. Sky Tempesta Racing and the #93 car
carries Pro Am hopes for Ferrari with Britain’s Chris Froggatt leading the
charge. Froggatt set to share with Eddie
Cheever III., the Italian American, Jonathan Hui from Hong Kong, and Italy’s
Matteo Cressoni.
This team just had their first endurance win last time out
in the south of France at Paul Ricard in the 6-hour race. McLaren will be right up there, too. Inception Racing with team boss Bas Leinders,
a man who has won this race as a driver and team manager, is leading the team. The #70 McLaren 720S GT3 is stacked with driver
talent. Britain’s Oliver Milroy teaming
up with American’s Brendon Iribe and Kevin Madsen, and South African veteran as
well as former Bentley racer, Jordan Pepper.
Oliver Milroy has not been to Spa yet until this year but has raced GT3
seasons for almost a decade. GT World
Challenge Europe. All brands taking
points from all the continents.
Mercedes leads the manufacturer’s championship over
Lamborghini with Audi chasing them both down.
We look at the circuit. This
place is amazing. One of the world’s
best motor racing circuits. We start the
lap from the endurance pit lane, plunging downhill to Eau Rouge. The car compresses at the bottom of the hill
before the climbing blast up Raidillon as the speed increases. Horsepower makes or breaks a car’s
performance on the Kemmel straightaway.
Scream up the straight toward Les Combes into a left, right, left series
of corners. Through Brussels corner,
down the hill into Speaker’s corner, through the long, flowing left hand turn
at Pouhon in fourth gear in a GT3 car.
Down through Pouhon to Piff Paff and Campus, with the
technical college at the circuit next to that corner. Then you enter the Curve Paul Frere. Fourth gear, accelerating, to fifth gear,
then sixth gear, to the daunting Blanchimont corner. Flat out in sixth gear at nearly 160 miles an
hour. Slam on the brakes turning through
the right, left, right of the Bus Stop chicane.
Power over the start/finish line past the Formula 1 pit lane, slamming
on the brakes again through the La Source hairpin and starting down the hill
onto another lap of the circuit. La
Source is a slow first gear corner.
Repeat this process over 24 hours.
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