Rob Bell is in the lane in the #38 McLaren for Jota Sport. He is fueling up. Dan Harper and Nick Yelloly also need to pit yet. Nicklas Nielsen has made a pass on Felipe Nasr I believe. They are in traffic or so it seems. Marvin Kirchhofer takes over the #38 McLaren from Rob Bell I believe. Antonio Fuoco is now moving in on Mikael Grenier and Marco Sorensen. Dani Juncadella is ahead and Grenier tries to make a move but it is too close as Maxime Oosten is in the lane but way down in 53rd spot. The #95 Aston Martin is in "Grello", the greenish yellow color we attribute to the Manthey Porsche that races at the Nurburgring. We are close to 4AM on Sunday morning at Spa. After his crash that caused the red flag, Matt Payne has been checked by the medics and is A OK.
A great relief! Meanwhile, it is a BMW 1-2. It is pitch dark here at Spa of course. BMW #50 has made it's scheduled stop. Felipe Nasr and Nicklas Nielsen next in the queue as Nasr is in the lane. Yelloly needs fuel soon. Marco Sorensen came in and has now handed the Aston Martin over to Nicki Thiim, the #95 car. Consistency counts. Stay away from mistakes, penalties, and contact with other cars out on the circuit. We are coming up to the halfway mark. If you get a break, don't squander it. Yelloly leads as Matt Campbell pits from second in the #74 EMA Porsche followed by the #4 Mercedes AMG GT3 for Haupt Racing Team. Finally, amd mercifully, Nick Yelloly is in! They were half a stint out of kilter with everyone else, somehow.
I believe Nicky Catsburg gets into the car. Hopefully he got enough sleep. Dorian Pin has finished a double stint and Nicklas Nielsen is really pushing in the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari. Maxime Martin, Antonio Fuoco, and Dennis Olsen have all set their best laps of the race so far as Matt Campbell is in the pit lane. It is now Happy Hour where the air is cool and the air temperature is cooler. That was an erroneous track temperature and ambient temperature reading we got earlier. Nicky Catsburg has taken over the #98 BMW and Jannes Fittje, he will not gain the lead before he comes in. Antonio Fuoco now in sixth place in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.
Fittje leads the motor race now that Nicky Catsburg has stopped and we have Ferderic Vervisch in the #46 WRT Audi in the pit lane. Now, maybe a Lamborghini has hit a Mercedes at the red light at pit out. It is a steep, downhill pit lane. These things happened. Racing drivers are absolutely human. Fred Vervisch stays in the #46 Audi and we are seeing triple stints in the dark. They are limited to 65 minutes. 195 minutes is three and a quarter hours at the wheel. It will go from pitch black to broad daylight. At 5AM we will be awakened by the light here at Spa of course.
Official sunrise at 6:02 A.M. Jannes Fittje should pit in another 20 minutes. Nicky Catsburg has set his fastest lap of the motor race. There is debris on the outside of the circuit and the track temp is fairly stable now. Max Hesse has now taken over the #50 BMW. Nicky Catsburg has raced for Corvette Racing in IMSA, for Hyundai in Electric touring cars, and now, for BMW in GT3. TCR touring cars with electric power and rear wheel drive. Jannes Fittje leading overall and Silver. Hubert Haupt, Arjun Maini and company lead Gold. Alessio Picariello leading Silver and in Bronze, the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 with Don Yount, the American, driving.
George Kurtz a lap back in the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3. George Kurtz's company, Crowdstrike, will sponsor this race next year. Jannes Fittje is the leader now and he will have to pit in about 13 minutes or so. He will stay on the lead lap at the tail end of it in 12th spot. He will be in the top ten or so I would think. By the time that car gets to the next stint, they could cycle back to the top of the shop once again. A different class does not mean a speed differential with all the cars being GT3s.
Fittje sharing with Alain Valente, Frank Bird, and Jordan Love. Having a lap in hand, if something goes pear shaped, you will lose a lap. t is just a wee bit of breathing room is all. Jannes Fittje is alone on the circuit with a clear lap on a track night. Nicky Catsburg is in a purple patch in his career. Now then, both of the AF Corse Ferrari's are in the lane. Stefano Constantini in the #52 and #21 is the problem child, in last on the road, almost. Alex Riberas and The Heart of Racing Aston Martin are still trying to play catch up with Alex Riberas. Nicky Catsburg will resume in the race lead very soon. It does not matter about the other car, honestly.
Keep on doing the dew. Catsburg is doing a triple stint right now and he is right on it, just now catching the traffic as we are going to get to the dawn fairly soon or so it seems. Hard to tell. Still dark right now but it is going to be lightening up soon. He di pass soemone in Blanchimont. Catsburg leads and now, Nick Yelloly has finished his stint and the #98 Rowe Racing BMW is finely tuned indeed. Nick Yelloly will get a few hours of sleep. Patience is a virtue especially in an endurance race with all the gravel traps here at Spa.
A mistimed lunge means game over. Ryuichiro Tomita is still in it but they are 48th and he stalls the car, and finally gets it started. So, Jannes Fittje leads the motor race. They are comfortably in the lead of their category. Fittje has to pit but then, Rowe Racing, they will take the points at halfway. By which time, the sky will be lightening. Top speeds at Eau Rouge are between 247-248 kilometers an hour. That is the speed into Eau Rouge like a tarmac wave. You are heading into a massive wave in the ocean like Nazary, Portugal. Jannes Fittje into the lane and here come both Dries Vanthoor in Audi #32 and Marco Mapelli in the #6 K-PAX Lamborghini to come in. Arjun Maini, Stuart White, a number of cars coming to the lane.
Nicky Catsburg and Max Hesse can stay out. Markus Winkelhock, Chris Froggatt, and others are pitting. Markus Winkelhock has now made 15 stops. Jordan Love leading Silver at Haupt Racing Team taking over from Jannes Fittje on his out lap and he will drop down the order. The #30 ROFGO Audi is in with Jean Baptiste Simmenauer, third in Silver Cup. Nicky Catsburg ekes out another second to 12 seconds over Max Hesse. That is a second a lap. Maxime Martin, Dennis Olsen, Matt Campbell, and Marvin Kirchhofer are covered by a second and a half. Nicky Catsburg comes around the corner, leading as Patrick Kujala and Sven Mueller both hit the pit lane and so does Philip Ellis in the #75 Mercedes, the SunEnergy1 by SPS Mercedes AMG GT3.
Ellis sharing with Dominik Baumann, Martin Konrad, and Kenny Habul. Daniel Juncadella in third. Dries Vanthoor says things are not going the way Audi Sport Team WRT wants them to. They are just trying to survive, honestly. Nicky Catsburg, cruising, feeling no pain. Dries Vanthoor, my gosh, he has not won his home race yet and you know he wants it. You know he wants that trophy. Dries Vanthoor thought he had an Audi LMDh program ready to go, but no. Audi switched to Formula 1 instead of top flight prototype racing. The car was testing and everything else and they were going to be ahead of the curve compared to Porsche.
Arjun Maini, second place in Gold under investigation for speeding in the lane, the #5 car. Maini will have to serve a penalty at the next pit stop as Max Hesse is now second overall of course. Juncadella catching Max Hesse. 16 seconds now covers the top three. Daniel Juncadella has space over Antonio Fuoco in the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari. Even on the pit stops, you are still chasing. Rattle off the laps and it is a long, drawn out process for these 24-hour races. We have now run 255 laps with eight Full Course Yellows so far and one red flag as Matt Payne should be fine. He will have had his bell rung. So he will be sore tomorrow indeed.
Aston Martin vs. Porsche and Dennis Olsen is all over Maxime Martin. Dennis Olsen will try making a move into Eau Rouge as Olsen is balked through La Source. Down the hill and up over Eau Rouge. Marvin Kirchofer in the McLaren is now closing up on Campbell. Gosh. I need a Beechdean ice cream. Hardy har har. Sponsor plug. 12 seconds ahead of these chaps is the scrap between Max Hesse and Daniel Juncadella. You have four cars battling for fourth just before we award yet another slice of the points pie.
Nicky Catsburg should be in front, 17 and a half seconds clear of Max Hesse who has Daniel Juncadella right on his six as Arjun Maini and David Perel may have locked horns. Arjun Maini needs to get going if he does not want Jens Klingman to catch him. Poor old David Perel is limping away. This is through Les Combes at the top of the Kemmel straight. Does Maini have right front damage? Doriane Pin leads Silver. In replay, oh! Maini went right up the inside and poor old David Perel languishing in 46th place got sideswiped! Full Course Yellow for sure is about to come out. The points will be forzen. Race Director Alain Adam can't give him any more time. Deary me.
The gap opens into Eau Rouge climbing up the Kemmel straight. Full Course Yellow in ten seconds and this means Dani Juncadella slows. Full Course Yellow declared. Pressing the speed limiter button at 160 miles hour ain't gonna work, sunbeam. Fred Vervisch, Marco Mapell, and others into the lane. No one really needs a stop as we are halfway home.
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