Sebastien Bourdais is off the road yet another time. Oh dear. He is back in it now. Pit stop time for one of the Ferrari's. WRT lead LMP2 and are on the overall podium. It is the final hour of the race, but the action has not stopped and it won't. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed. Green flag. Jota Sport #28 is off the road, and... bang! Into the barrier and Full Course Yellow. Too much speed for Jonathan Aberdein in the downhill at Pouhon I believe. Going too fast in the wet. He could have damaged the left front suspension. Aberdein will be kicking himself for that fowl up. Alex Lynn says in respect to the door, it just plainly won't open. It is a real shame. Full Course Yellow. Another one. Yours truly is shaking his head.
Left front suspension and bodywork damage for #28. That was a definite crunch. Game over. #23 under investigation for the driver change they did. Aberdein is being rescued by the Manitou crane to terra firma. Toyota lead Alpine in Hypercar. Ferrari 1-2 in GTE Pro as #51 moves by #52. #33 and #98 Aston Martin's ahead in GTE Am. Can they win the race? WRT lead LMP2 over their sister RealTeam entry. #31 in and out. Rene Rast will finish out the race at WRT. Robin Frijns says that things were a surprise for them to be leading overall ahead of the Hypercars in the wet. Things are going smoothly for WRT even with the two red flags because of the torrential rain and the soaking circuit.
It was easy to make a mistake aquaplaning off the road. It is less about skill and more about luck in those kinds of conditions. #5, the Penske Oreca wanted to hit the lane but could not do it. Actually, the #83 AF Corse car tagged the #5 Penske Oreca of Felipe Nasr and spun. Nasr wanted the pit lane and grazed the #83 or vice versa. Nasr and Oliver Jarvis have both been in the lane. Jarvis is gambling on another Full Course Yellow. #31 in trouble, under investigation for violating Full Course Yellow procedure. Aberdein, with damage, is back to the lane even with damage and a missing fender. Back to green in ten seconds.
The GTE Pro scrum is heating up. The Porsche has the speed in the dry over the Ferrari's. Through Pouhon, the Ferrari is sideways and the Porsche is moving in. Antonio Fuoco vs. Michael Christensen. Toyota passing the United car and here comes the Glickenhaus, but the Glickenhaus is a lap down. Ferrari #21, Simon Mann, off the road another time. He was a lucky chap to stay out of the gravel. Mann was caught there between the devil and the deep blue sea. He is gone. He has disappeared somehow. Traffic here between the #51 and #92. Second place LMP2 battle between Ferdinand Habsburg and Phil Hanson. #31 for violating Full Course Yellow procedure has the damocles sword hanging overhead.
United Autosport, through Pouhon in the #22, wriggling around in the wet. Giancarlo Fisichella, seventh in the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari in GTE Am has a three-minute stop and go penalty ahead. Harry Tincknell in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche leads the TF Sport #33 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen. Nikki Thiim is coming in the #98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin. Blue skies behind the grandstands but dark rain clouds loom in other directions. Frank Dezoteux in the #71 Spirit of Race Ferrari balks the GTE Pro leaders! Harry Tincknell took over the Dempsey Proton Porsche from Sebastian Priaulx as Antonio Fuoco is being harried by the Porsche. Michael Christensen has to focus on Eau Rouge and be careful.
Christensen, still looking to make a move on Fuoco. Phil Hanson passes Ferdinand Habsburg. Toyota are slipping with intermediate tires and there's a touch between the Toyota and Habsburg! Yikes! Race Director wants to see the #21 AF Corse team manager. Romain Dumas on intermediate tires is falling away from the LMP2 scrum as well as Jose Maria Lopez and Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Toyota and the Alpine as well as the top two LMP2's. Phil Hanson now caught behind Ferdinand Habsburg with the Toyota's being the cork in the bottle not just for the LMP2's but also for the GTE Am leading Aston Martin's!
Habsburg and Hanson move past the Aston's in the kink before Blanchimont and Hanson is off the road and back on. Harry Tincknell is gapping the Toyota! Oh my! Jose Maria Lopez, on the wet part of Eau Rouge throwing caution to the wind! Hanson back through as well, look. Fuoco and Christensen, round two. Contact between the Porsche and the Ferrari and Fuoco sticks it into Eau Rouge! Christensen thinks he has Fuoco beat and Fuoco says, "forget it!" Hanson off the road at the Bus Stop. Sheesh! Hanson tagged into a spin by Jota and Will Stevens! Stevens goes up a place. Filipe Albuquerque is gutted.
Alpine to the lane for fresh tires, slicks I bet. Toyota weighing the odds. Alpine still; needs a splash and a dash for fuel? No. They can go for it. Romain Dumas around Phil Hanson and the Porsche off and on. That was outside into Blanchimont! A diabolical turn. Toyota lead by five seconds on intermediate tires as Dane Cameron sweeps past Phil Hanson. Felipe Nasr, excuse me. Nasr alongside and gets chopped at the top of Eau Rouge! Hanson and Nasr were wheel to wheel! Filipe Albuquerque is stymied by the Glickenhaus. Get your wretched Hypercar out of the way! Poor old Albuquerque was dying the death of a thousand cuts for a wee while!
I don't know what they've done with their tires, but that Glickenhaus is back into it's Jekyll & Hyde pattern of being an evil handling race car. Felipe Nasr all over Olivier Pla like a cheap suit. The Alpine changed and the Glickenhaus are back on intermediate tires. Antonio Fuoco continues to hang on over Michael Christensen who must be seeing red, literally and figuratively. Christensen needs to dispense with Fuoco. Fuoco playing the team game, playing blocker to the Porsche. Tommy Milner and Corvette are out of contention. In the race, but a lap down. They have nothing to fight with against Ferrari and Porsche in GTE Pro.
James Calado leads GTE Pro. Alessandro Pier Guidi says that it has been really difficult and they din't know how much rain was coming. They did not get the wave by on the most recent safety car. They didn't get the lead after the second red flag either and they know the Porsche is extremely quick. It will be a long 20 minutes for AF Corse and Ferrari. AF Corse are now in the lead or they want to be there and stay there. The Porsche moves to second in GTE Pro. Fuoco ran onto the damp patch and Christensen made his move. Car #9, the Prema Oreca LMP2 passes. James Calado 1.1 seconds ahead of the Porsche as the Alpine is 25 seconds behind. Algarve Pro are slow.
WRT have their two cars in the top two and a big wiggle for Rene Rast across the water on the outside of the track! That was a get out of jail card moment! Three-way battle for GTE Am for the lead. Nikki Thiim outbrakes himself and Marco Sorensen will expand his margin as Harry Tincknell leads in GTE Am. 23 minutes left. Lead GTE Pro battle separated by half a second. Two second gap for GTE Am. Oh no! The Inception Racing Porsche is off the road, car #56, Brendan Iribe! Oh dear. That's plowed backwards into the fence. So, Full Course Yellow and the Ferrari gets a run out of La Source. porsche trying to pass but it isn't going to work.
No dice at Les Combes. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow. Glickenhaus in the lane. Toyota may or may not need fuel. Alpine sure does. No worries for Toyota. Yes for Glickenhaus. No fuel needed for Alpine either. Glickenhaus will not be on the overall podium though. GTE Pro and GTE Am are wide open. Harry Tincknell and Marco Sorensen will scrap for GTE Am and the gap not much bigger in GTE Pro. Warning flag for the #52 and #92 contact at the exit of La Source. #31 in and out of the lane from the LMP2 lead. Prema in the lane as well. AF Corse lead in GTE Pro.
RealTeam WRT #41 pits. GTE Pro nose to tail with 17 minutes to go. LMP2 frontrunners into the lane. Jota in as well. Stevens was thought to be leapfrogged by Hanson but no. Hanson pits after a dozen laps. Stevens ran for 20 laps! Oh my! Something not quite right for the United Autosport car and they did not touch the tires. Fuel pickup could be a concern. Hanson will be ruing his mistake. Brendon Iribe has made it back to the lane in the Inception Racing/Project 1 Porsche. The whole rear end of that Porsche is destroyed. He needs a new tail or a new rear bumper at the very least.
In replay, we can see that the Ferrari loses control, comes back, and tags the Porsche. No harm done. James Calado does not want to get jumped when it goes green. Repairs continue on the #56 Porsche. New tires going on. Maybe they will get back out. Marco Sorensen meanwhile is second to Harry Tincknell in GTE Am. The last time Harry Tincknell won in WEC was, when? We have to find out. Traffic jam under Full Course Yellow out of the lane as the #1 Richard Mille Racing LMP2 is across the road blocking the exit for the #56 Project 1 Porsche. Oh dear. That is on track. Lilou Wadoux, stopped on the road. How on earth did she get down there? How on earth did she block the path of the Porsche with Brendon Iribe at the controls?
Wadoux spun all on her own coming out of what looks like the Bus Stop. She ended up in the pit lane exit. She is back on the road now. Antonio Fuoco is gaining on James Calado, the AF Corse team mates will be scrappy. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed. Green. Wow! Calado with no drive and Christensen makes his move. Calado back in front, saved by the bell! Now then, yellows at the Bus Stop. Ferrari #21 off the road in the Bus Stop. Antonio Fuoco is being left for dead. Mano e mano battles in GTE Pro and GTE Am both. Tincknell moves ahead of Sorensen and Nikki Thiim will be all by his lonesome.
Michael Christensen wants by James Calado. Christensen way wide onto the wet patch at the top of Eau Rouge! Yikes! Christensen will be right on Calado's six as Felipe Nasr is being harried by Phil Hanson, looking for the slingshot pass around Nasr. Nasr is OK while Hanson slides off the road and can't stop! He has to give the place back to Nasr. Goodness gracious! Seven minutes to go. GTE Pro lead battle, and Christensen wants it. Calado has traction out of the Bus Stop. Watch the inside in the braking zone at La Source. It i wet. Christensen tries it but no. Christensen airborne over Eau Rouge on the curb! No dice in Blanchimont either!
Darkness is coming. Franck Dezoteux wisely moves out of the way. Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche in GTE Pro. Christensen has the Porsche 911 RSR-19 on the ragged edge! The LMP2 overtakes the Porsche into Blanchimont and will he catch the Ferrari? Yes. Porsche creeping up under braking. Harry Tincknell is pulling away by two seconds over Sorensen who in turn is moving away from Nikki Thiim. Christensen not fast enough to catch the Ferrari with a couple laps to go. Where is the overall leader? Yellows are out and the Inception Porsche is cooked. Radiator busted. Ferrari running wide and slams the door in the Porsche's face. Christensen's front end is twitchy. Fluid on the road from the exploded #56 with a blown motor and the #31 WRT slams the Ultimate entry of Jean Baptiste Lahaye!
RealTeam #41 splits the GTE Pro battle. Habsburg blocks Calado. He moves out of the way. We seen the leaden skies that could produce rain. Overall leader in the final turn with two minutes left on the baord. Two laps to go. Christensen all over the curbs. Don't get pinged for track limits. Calado can focus forward. Final lap. What will happen out of Rivage? Down through Pouhon one more time, dry online. Calado slithering all over the road. Christensen is at it, hammer and tongs, applying the blowtorch.
Jota #38 splits the GTE Pro battle. He is compromising the Ferrari's line and the Porsche. Even Steven there. Even Will Stevens, hardy har har. Toyota will win their sixth straight 6 Hours of Spa! #7 wins it! Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez. Sebring winners Alpine in second. GTE Am will be won by Dempsey Proton Porsche with Harry Tincknell, Sebastian Priaulx, and Christian Ried. A 1-2 for WRT in LMP2. Sean Gelael, Robin Frijns, and Rene Rast lead home a 1-2 for WRT. GTE Pro, it is on. Two world champions. Calado vs. Christensen. Christensen tries it but can't make it. Ferrari win it! Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari, 1-2-3, covered by a blanket, by 1.2 seconds!
Overall/Le Mans Hypercar: #7 Kobayashi/Conway/Lopez Toyota GR010 Hybrid
LMP2: #31 Frijns/Gelael/Rast WRT Oreca 07
LM GTE Pro: #51 Pier Guidi/Calado AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE
LM GTE Am: #77 Priaulx/Ried/Tincknell Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19
Wow! Spa Francorchamps delivers again! What a motor race! What a motor race! Alpine and Toyota have split the wins in Hypercar one apiece. Next stop, the greatest, grandest, most prestigious endurance race on the planet, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 90th running, the year before the event's centenary. We will see you in northwest France at Circuit de la Sarthe, next month, for wall-to-wall coverage! Can't wait. So long for now, from the Ardennes Forest of Belgium, everybody. Take care.
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