Wow! Team Manager summoned by the Race Director for a meeting, immediately! This could put the cat among the pigeons. There’s on track drama as well. Marco Mapelli is all over Maxime Martin like a cheap suit. There’s a new game. Track limit abuses will be penalized, mate. We look again at our AWS Race Vision speed trap. Marco Sorensen and Alex Aka, (Aston Martin and Audi), are tied for the top speed at 272 kilometers an hour (170 miles an hour, even). Close behind is the McLaren of Brendon Iribe (the #70 Inception Racing entry), running at 270 kilometers an hour (168 and ¾ miles an hour). Just behind him, both running 269 kilometers an hour (168.1 miles an hour), we have both Franco Colapinto in the #30 WRT Audi and Ben Barnicoat aboard the #38 Jota Sport McLaren.
Mirko Bortolotti talking about penalties, speeding in the pit lane is what they were pinged for. The speed readouts clearly exceeded the maximum speed allotted in the pit lane. We shall examine this more in a moment as we have another speed trap through Pouhon. Everyone is running the same speed through the turn (170 kilometers an hour, (106 miles an hour), slower of course, in the turn. Alex Fontana in Lamborghini #14 for Emil Frey Racing. Christopher Mies in the #66 Audi Sport Team Attempto Audi R8. Alex Aka in the sister #99 Audi Sport Team Attempto Audi R8. Lucas Auer in the sole remaining AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3, and last, but not least our leader, Alessandro Pier Guidi aboard the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3.
Maxime Martin runs just ahead of the Lamborghini by half a second. Martin will pit sooner because he is further on into a stint. KCMG had a false reading on their fuel rig and they were losing time early via shorter stints and more pit stops. As we were, for the last dozen laps, as the leaders dive through Bruxelles. Aston Martin will pit and then the top two. #32 team manager has been called to Race Control immediately. So, he is probably now being questioned by the stewards. The meeting is going on. The team boss for the #31 car as well, for another WRT Audi. It is two cars from the same team. So, the stewards want to check on a procedural infraction.
It’s possible they have made a pig’s breakfast of something related to their five-minute technical pit stops. In the meantime, Chris Froggatt at the wheel of the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari, has been given a drive through penalty as well. That car is fourth in the Pro-Am class. Marco Sorensen has been cutting some great lap times in the 2:22 range, but he also has traffic ahead and so he cannot run quite as fast as the leaders. Marco Sorensen is doing his best to pass but Manuel Lauck aboard the #166 Haegeli by T2 Racing, he slams the door in his face. There’s fight in that old dog, and he won’t take it lying down.
Alessio Rovera, in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3, the red car third in your picture, he is leading the Pro-Am class, still. As a racing driver you don’t want to lose places, but don’t get in other people’s scraps. Alessio Rovera, a champion in Italian GT and a driver in Italian Porsche Carrera Cup, was brought in as a sub due to some drivers not being able to take part in the race because of the pandemic. Some drivers have faced travel restrictions while others may have tested positive for the virus itself. We can see #52 has lost it’s left-hand door mirror. Wow. We hear now, too, Marco Mapelli in the #63 Lambroghini is on his last warning for track limits. We don’t know where on the track he has been transgressing. It isn’t down at Fangnes I don’t think. Through Stavelot he goes and Maxime Martin is scampering away from Mapelli right now. Mapelli is pressing hard but isn’t going for a biggie just yet.
Pit stops looming for the top three. Everyone is on different sequences and strategies by this stage of the race. They fly through Eau Rouge. Maxime Martin won this race for BMW in 2016, sharing that year with Phillipp Eng and Alexander Sims. We have another speed trap at Eau Rouge and three cars are tied at the top at 247 kilometers an hour (154 and 3/8ths miles an hour). Marco Sorensen in the #95 Aston Martin along with Alessio Rovera in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari, and once again, Ben Barnicoat in the #38 Jota Sport McLaren, while at the bottom of the list at 246 kilometers an hour (153 and 3/8ths miles an hour), it is once again the second McLaren in the race, the #70 Inception Racing entry of Brendon Iribe. Below him, is the #10 BMW M6 GT3 for Boutsen Ginion (back into the race), in the hands of German Jens Klingman, at 245 kilometers an hour (153.125 miles an hour).
Go to the website for GT World Challenge and go to the Race Vision dashboard, with different classes, brands, and sections of the track. So, check out the website for that cool feature. At Raidillon, the overall top speed change once more. Christopher Mies in the #66 Audi Sport Team Attempto Audi R8 is fastest at 240 kilometers an hour (150 miles an hour, even). Sorensen is up there again in second at 238 kilometers an hour (148 and ¾ miles an hour). Three drivers are tied in third through fifth at 237 clicks (148.125 miles an hour). Brendon Iribe followed by Alex Aka, and then comes Patrick Kujala, the Finn, who is at the wheel of the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes.
We wonder about radio comms between Marco Mapelli and the Lamborghini team is like. Be patient. The #166 Porsche has made a pit stop. Dennis Busch has finished his stint and we shall see who will step in. Manuel Lauck had the drive earlier. The transponder on that car is glitching. So, we think Marc Basseng or Pieder de Curtins could now be at the wheel of it. Mercedes #4 in the lane for HRT. Vincent Abril currently driving, but the car is five laps down to the leaders which is very surprising. A team that competitive in a race like this, or a series like this I should say, should not be five laps behind even in the crown jewel enduro which the Spa 24 is.
The top running Mercedes AMG GT3 is the #89 AKKA ASP entry currently in the hands of Lucas Auer. #4 has been losing ground and they just haven’t had the pace. They have the teams and drivers, but they are struggling. Now then, back to the lead of the motor race. Marco Mapelli is now right on Maxime Martin’s six in this battle for fourth spot. Martin tries passing the #61 EBM Giga Racing Porsche and through Pouhon, Wolfgang Triller is holding the battle up. Triller didn’t practice or qualify that car. He was a late addition to the lineup on race morning. They were a driver short.
Triller is 25th overall and entered in the Pro-Am class as well as being an entry within the Intercontinental GT Challenge itself. Vincent Abril is looking for a way by the lapped #31 WRT Audi of Valdemar Eriksen. The Dane is 23rd overall right now. Abril is 16th overall after his pit stop. Marco Mapelli is delayed through traffic and has lost ground to the #47 Porsche. As is always the case in endurance racing. Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. The traffic is getting more and more dense and Marco Mapelli has to drive very conservatively as they move through Eau Rouge. Vincent Abril has made his technical pit stop for the #4 Mercedes. So, that lost him laps, but the car and the team were late to do it as well.
Others did it during the Full Course Yellow we had earlier. So, the Mercedes is now a pick between Mapelli and Martin. Vincent Abril lets him go. Mapelli will have ten minutes more on his stint than Martin will on his. 35th overall, the #23 Am Cup Porsche of Nicky Leutwiler is still pounding around in 35th spot overall. This is the Huber Motorsport car we talked about earlier on. He is second in Am behind the #166 Porsche we saw in the lane. Leutwiler is from Switzerland, and he is not new to this game. He was in the German Porsche Cup back in the very early 1990s when that series was running the Porsche 944, the front engine Porsche you may remember.
Most recently, Leutwiler has driven GT4 cars. They are looking to finish this race. That’s all. They want to be there to take the checkered flag at the end. Lots of Porsche experience in this car as along with Leutwiler, his co-drivers have also driven Porsche’s a lot, and those drivers of course are Ivan Jacoma, Jacob Schell, and Nico Menzel. Leutwiler has driven GT4 spec McLaren’s and Porsche’s. So, the 570S GT4 and the Cayman GT4. Rubbing salt into the wounds of Vincent Abril and HRT, the #4 Mercedes is on it’s final warning for track limits abuse. Oh dear.
#23 runs a minute behind the #166 Porsche, and again, these two Porsche’s are the only entries in the Am class at Spa this year, in the 58-car field, or what started as a 58-car field. #166 has had recurring transponder trouble and we are told Dennis Busch is back behind the wheel. Leutwiler is faster in the first sector. So, the Busch and Leutwiler show continues. Another drive through penalty assessed to the #40 car, the SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes for Miklas Born, Jordan Love, Yannick Mettler, and Lance David Arnold. Mettler at the controls. Drive through penalty for track limits. Mettler is currently 21st while Chris Froggatt is next up in 22nd, fourth in the Pro-Am class. Oh my goodness! We have a fracas at the Bus Stop.
The Am leading Porsche #166, our pal Dennis Busch, has been collected with Valdemar Eriksen in the #31 WRT Audi! Oh dear! Well, well, well. You guessed it. It’s time for another well, well, well moment, and you just saw it. Local yellow. These two chaps are nose to nose and must get going before people think they are playing a game of chicken. #40 is headed for the lane as Dennis Busch is backing up. Phew! Drama is over. Dennis Busch and Valdemar Eriksen both get going in the right direction. Jeepers creepers! That was intense! Dennis Busch is still running slowly. The #11 Ferrari for Kessel Racing is also in this picture.
Francesco Zollo has to be completely confused because he is making no effort whatsoever to pass Dennis Busch, assuming that it is Full Course Yellow. Zollo pulls out to pass. He’s got the message, but dude, that was just strange. Busch in the Porsche was not running in limp home mode but poor old Francesco Zollo still got confused. Well, well, well. Nicky Leutwiler has just passed Dennis Busch for the Am class lead! Oh, my me my! Sometimes it’s better to be born lucky than rich. So, Leutwiler is good to go. But Dennis Busch, man oh man, this bloke is in a spot of bother. Again, as we said, he is in limp home mode. That should be my reminder for getting confused on who is where! Well, we have been racing now for the last 17 hours and 20 minutes.
Chris Froggatt is holding station just where he was when we checked his progress the last time. By this point in the race, offline at Eau Rouge is extremely dirty with all the junked tire debris over there. All the clag as we usually call it. Froggatt must get on terms with the Barwell #77 Lamborghini, but he is a lap down to where that car is. He has a tough road ahead. It will be hard to get a lap back without Full Course Yellows or rain. We had the heavy downpour in the first three hours and then everything has been dry. There was drizzle reported but it came to nothing. Through Pouhon down to Fangnes (also known as, Piff Paff). Of the 58 cars that started the race, 37 still running, and 21 retirements.
Mercifully,
Dennis Busch makes it to the pit lane, and we’ll just have to wait and see if
the berries and custard liveried Porsche makes it back out on track. Marco Sorensen will pit soon. 404 laps completed, 1,758 miles. How far will Sorensen stretch the fuel? Are all the Ferrari’s in the field running as
frugally on fuel as the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari?
We’ll have to see. Is it a
characteristic of the car? Or have Iron
Lynx been bish bash boshing it with their fuel?
Chris Froggatt makes the climb out of Raidillon. Back in the race now is the #10 Boutsen
Ginion BMW which had those suspension woes we spoke of earlier, in it’s Michel
Vaillante livery, the French cartoon superhero race car driver.
This is the last placed car in the field of those still running in 37th spot, 16 laps down. The gap between Alessandro Pier Guidi in the lead and Dries Vanthoor in second has come down to 20 seconds. No news yet on team management being summoned to the Race Control office. Porsche #166 that was in limp home mode, well, it has limped around the speedway and is now going to be pushed back into the garage for repairs. For the first time in this stint, Pier Guidi is being reeled in by Vanthoor. One is in cruise mode, the other is in the mode of drive it like you stole it. The race leader is now in traffic through Les Combes. He has to pass Fabian Schiller in the #69 Mercedes, the pink car, for Ram Racing.
Another drive through penalty for track limits, this time issued to the #30 WRT Audi. That’s the car of James Pull, Franco Colapinto, and Benjamine Goethe. Race Director Alain Adam sounds jaded on the radio and like he’s had more than enough of calling out these penalties as he clicks the mic. #69 has had a number of infractions and poor old Alain Adam is going to have laryngitis by the time this race is done and dusted. We have seen 26-27 lap fuel stints for the #52 AF Corse Ferrari as we continue to watch the gap between Pier Guidi and Vanthoor at the sharp end. Chris Froggatt and company have also been running 26-27 lap stints. The Ferrari 488 GT3 is a very efficient package.
We are still looking for a six hour endurance race still to go, a 1,000 kilometer event for the most part. The #166 Porsche has lost another lap as Marco Sorensen is indeed in the pit lane. Vanthoor now is behind only by 18.8 seconds. The #47 KCMG Porsche heads for the pit lane as we see another drive through penalty for track limits, this time to the #4 HRT Mercedes AMG GT3. This is Vincent Abril in 18th spot. Meantime, it is indeed pit stop time for Maxime Martin. Remember now, Maxime Martin and Nick Tandy need finish this race as a duo. Laurens Vanthoor is hurt after his accident in the paddock with an ATV during the night.
Nick Tandy, the 2020 winner of this race, is next into the car. WRT having the team manager summoned for a meeting, all has to do with… wait for it… track limits. Aye yaye yaye yaye yaye. Nick Tandy is behind the #99 Attempto Racing Audi. Fight on and keep pushing. That is the job now with six and a half hours left. Marco Mapelli runs fourth heading to Les Combes and clearing his way past more traffic. We are at 10:00 A.M. local time on this Sunday morning in Belgium. We continue to watch Marco Sorensen aboard the #95 Aston Martin, and indeed he has stayed at the wheel of it.
Through Pouhon he goes having lost some time through the Piff Paff. Now, Patric Niederhauser has made a pit stop in the #25 Audi changing drivers. Christopher Haase is now at the controls. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads as we watch Marco Mapelli moving through traffic. Mapelli is due a pit stop in the next ten minutes as we welcome Ryan Myrehn back to the broadcast this morning. Ferrari #51 has been leading for six to seven hours. The gap is down under 18 seconds now. Is the Ferrari armor beginning to crack relative to the Audi’s performance? The Ferrari can indeed stretch the fuel by a lap.
All of them have proven to be good on fuel. Are we looking at the probability of a Ferrari win here at Spa? We are still 27 minutes away from the start of a normal GTWC Europe Endurance Cup event. The weather forecast says we could see rain in the final few hours. We will have to see what happens and there still a long, long way to go. Dries Vanthoor has picked up another tenth on Pier Guidi. Oh my gracious! We have a huge accident up the hill out of Raidillon! Nicki Leutwiler has clobbered the wall and destroyed the back end of the #23 Am Cup Huber Motorsport Porsche!
This is a Full Course Yellow and the deck of cards will be shuffled. Ten seconds to Full Course Yellow. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow now. This was inevitable as we neutralize the race and we could very well see #51 and #32 in the lane, while Marco Mapelli already takes the opportunity to hit the lane. A little early, but with the field frozen behind the safety car, pitting early is advantageous as we see the beleaguered #20 Mercedes for SPS Automotive Performance come out of its garage. That’s the George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Valentin Pierburg, and Dominik Baumann automobile.
Orange 1 FFF still looks like a contending team. #32 and #51 will pit. #52 has just done their technical pit stop and again, that will cost them the lead in Pro Am. So, we can regroup. 409 laps, 1,780 miles completed. The amount of detritus offline is unbelievable. #32 is now going to be on even footing with the Ferrari. We watch a replay of Niki Leutwiler’s accident. He gets it all wrong through Eau Rouge up to Raidillon, and… smash! He piles into the barriers. Nick Tandy had a lucky escape with that one and thank goodness the marshals have collected that car. No Am cars left right now. #23 it’s game over and the #166 Porsche, the berries and custard special is languishing in Its garage with a litany of problems they’ve had in recent time.
#51 in for tires from the lead. No driver change on that car. We may see a driver change as Audi #32 pits now. Nicki Leutwiler was able to walk away from the crash. Both leaders matching each other on fuel. New boots on the Ferrari and we also see Nico Muller in the lane in the #37 WRT Audi from seventh spot. Estimated Full Course Yellow period 15 minutes. The debris will be cleaned up and the barriers repaired. So, Charles Weerts is going to take over from Nico Muller. Charles Weerts replaces Dries Vanthoor in Audi #32 as the team downloads data off the car. It is not normal for them to do that and the car takes time to be released.
We should see the safety car deployed. Pit exit sees the car being waved off the end of the pit lane as the Spa marshals are repairing the tire wall. They have loads of experience repairing these tire walls. Aston Martin #159 is in the lane for service. Alex MacDowall has been driving and they could be going for a driver change. Charles Weerts is now at the wheel of Audi #32 as we hear from Dries Vanthoor. He says the race has been very tough and the track limits are tricky. He says it is not the nicest way to race but it is something everybody must deal with. They are trying hard to catch the Ferrari, going all in for the last few hours. Something did go wrong on the last pit stop.
Yves Weerts looking on, is the father of Charles Weerts and is the W in WRT. Charles Weerts is not only fast but smart. He was studying economics in Liege just down the road from the track at university. Plan C would be a pro golfer. But he is indeed a racing driver. The safety car will be deployed soon. This is to keep the tire pressure and temperature up. Ferrari #51 has been back to pit lane but to reset the stint timer. That’s all. The way this works is there is a 65-minute maximum stint time, but by driving through the lane, you can reset the stint time. He has an extra nine minutes in hand. Ben Barnicoat and Jota McLaren have made this same move.
Nick Tandy did likewise, four minutes ago. This shuffles the strategy a wee bit. The safety car is on the road and imminently we will be under safety car conditions. Jack Aitken who was involved in that huge accident yesterday says he feels fine and lucky and is sorry for his teammates and other cars involved in the accident. He has ended up with a fractured vertebrae a broken collarbone, and a very small lung contusion. We look again (even under Full Course Yellow) at Eau Rouge top speeds. Marco Sorensen, Alessio Rovera, and Ben Barnicoat are all tied for top speed at 247 kilometers an hour (154 & 3/8ths miles an hour). Jordan Pepper tops out at 246 kilometers an hour (153 and ¾ miles an hour), and Karim Ojjeh (the Saudi Arabian driver), in the #10 Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW has a top speed at 245 kilometers an hour (153.125 miles an hour).
Safety car procedure is called for. Drivers will speed up to catch up to the safety car. So, once the crocodile gets packed up, we can turn everyone loose. #51 wants more points at the finish and they want a win. They are vaulted into the points lead for now. What will become of the final six hours? Christopher Mies in the #66 Attempto Racing Audi is fifth. It may or may not be Mies at the controls because of a glitching transponder. Mies sharing with Mattia Drudi and Dennis Marschall. We are on lap 413 and the gap now is 51 seconds between first and second. Speed up so that everyone can catch up. They are cleaning and heating their tires.
#51 has been hitting the jackpot on the points slot machine. Six hours… ka ching. 12 hours… ka ching. 24 hours and more points are what they want. Provisionally, they might just take the points lead. But if it goes pear shaped in the last six hours, Iron Lynx won’t be satisfied. They want a win. Here are the speeds through the traps at Raidillion. Chistopher Mies fastest at 240 kilometers an hour (150 miles an hour even). Marco Sorensen second fastest at 238 clicks (148 and ¾ miles an hour). Jordan Pepper at the wheel of the #70 Inception Racing McLaren, Alex Aka in the #99 Attempto Racing Audi, and Ricardo Sanchez in the Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes, all ring in with a top trap speed of 237 clicks (148.125 miles an hour).
Mad Panda leads in Silver with the #159 Aston Martin on the same lap. This battle in Silver is going to get spicy in these last six hours. Rino Mastronardi leads Pro-Am Cup in 14th place a lap up on Miguel Ramos in #77. We watch the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini, the surviving car from that team. Rolf Ineichen from Switzerland at the wheel, for a Swiss team. They are 30th overall. Rolf Ineichen has the fastest speed through the traps at Pouhon, and truth be told, there is no fastest speed through that portion because everyone in the top five speeds each running 170 clicks (106 and ¼ miles an hour), through that turn.
Rolf Ineichen in the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini followed by Christopher Mies in Attempto Racing Audi #66, Alex Aka in the sister Attempto Racing Audi #99, Timur Boguslavskiy in the #89 AKKA ASP Mercedes, and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the race leading Iron Lynx Ferrari, car #51. Safety car in this lap. Next time by we go racing again. Pouhon is a daunting turn. Blanchimont, Eau Rouge, Raidillon, those turns are always mentioned. Pouhon is just as challenging as any on this circuit. These GT3 cars are very aero dependent through traffic. Rely on the aero through Pouhon and Blanchimont, both. Some teams ask cars ahead to speed up to get ahead f the safety car before we go back to green. Aston Martin #159 for Garage 59 runs second in Silver Cup with Finland’s Tuomas Tujula at the controls presently. We will have a quick word with his co-driver Valentin Haase Clot before the race resumes in earnest.
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