Marvin Kirchhofer passes Matty Campbell. Pit stops a go go as the top ten points earners are Catsburg, Hesse, Juncadella, Fuoco. Martin, Olsen, Kirchhofer, Campbell, Grenier, and Gotz. Most teams have less than ten minutes left on the driver allowance. Doriane Pin in the lane. David Perel is out of Ferrari #21 and Alessandro Balzan is back into the car. No rear damage. Maybe David Perel finished his stint. Technical pit stops are now allowed for five minutes, and various cars being pushed into the garages. So, maybe it is time for brake changes. So far, a standard stop and everyone could get their five minute technical stops out of the way. Has the Porsche been moved? At the top of Les Combes, track limit warnings now all reset. Your slate has been cleaned. You have earned your biscuits and tea!
Game over for Arjun Maini with a shredded tire. Game over for Maini, Scholze, Haupt, and Piana. Marius Zug, Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen handing over to Miguel Molina. Marius Zug driving the Attempto Racing Audi. Five second time penalty for the #5 Mercedes for Arjun Maini. Ugh. Insult to injury. Max Hesse in the lane at Rowe Racing. No brake change for the #98 BMW and Max Hesse takes fuel and tires and no brake change this time. This is Full Course Yellow number nine of the motor race thus far. BMW's run first and second. We have not gone safety car yet and that might be why Rowe Racing haven't sprung for a tech stop.
Right now is better as everyone is crawling around on the road. The #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes got buried under the red flag earlier on. Safety car deployed. Safety car procedure and this is not the time to hit the lane and do your technical stop. You need everyone crawling around in Full Course Yellow. More speed is used under a safety car. Of the 66 cars that started, nine have retired just past the halfway mark and so, 57 remain. BMW, BMW, Mercedes, Aston Martin. Lamborghini and Audi have just not had a look in today. But for BMW and Mercedes, things are peachy. It is warm out there but it is dry and there is no wind.
Loads of gravel and rubber detritus all over the shop. Avoid that junk because hot tires are like picking up mud running cross country on your shoes. 50 of 66 csars still on track. 16 cars are out. Safety car in this lap and so we will go back to green soon. \Nicky Catsburg and Dani Juncadella both uncork the fastest laps of the motor race as we speak! Wow! This is amazing, just before the dawn comes! The #14 Lamborghini shoves the #93 Sky Tempesta Mercedes. Stuart White, the South African, or the Finn, Patrick Kujala, could have been in that car as they rattle through Jacky Ickx corner with gravel all over the shop.
Nicky Catsburg with a 4.6 second lead. It is 5:10 A.M. and the sun is coming up in a wee while. We won't finish until 4:45 P.M. local time. So there is a long, long way to go yet. Some cars have taken their technical stops for a brake change and others have yet to do that. Daniel Juncadella second and we see the first glow of light in the east as the skies over Spa will be lightening. Catsburg leads by 4.3 seconds. We have the top two, BMW #98 and Mercedes #88, that have the advantage. One of the Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini's is in the way.
The old circuit went straight on from the Masta Kink to Burnenville and more. So much gravel close to the circuit. It used to be all pavement but there are gravel traps on the outside of the circuit. Max Hesse in third place right now. Track limits pronounced at Raidillon and Blanchimont, and drivers getting pinged. It is regular pit time plus five seconds and accruing time instead of a drive through penalty. Three cars covered by nine seconds. Yellow flag at La Source and the #32 Audi gets a penalty for a short refueling time. Someone is off the road at La Source. There is a track vehicle and someone is being dragged out of the gravel under local yellow.
It is the #27 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Isaac Tutumlu Lopez. It is being dragged out of the gravel. He has gone wide sweeping around the hairpin at La Source. Nicky Catsburg the Dutchman, still leading. Cedric Sbirrazuoli, the Monagasque is next into the #21 AF Corse Ferrari for the stint transitioning between darkness and daylight. So, the daylight is coming very soon indeed. He started in open wheel racing a long while ago. For Lamborghini it is just not their race. So many of the Huracan's have had such trouble. The K-PAX Racing Lambo is still in 20th spot. They went to the lead, picked up a puncture, and are now climbing the mountain again.
We will get towards dawn soon. Jordan Love continues to lead the Silver class. Many races within the race, with all GT3 cars of course. Sarah Bovy in the all-female Iron Lynx Ferrari lead Gold Cup. The #24 Porsche leads Pro-Am and Nicky Catsburg's lead has now ballooned to 4.2 seconds over Dani Juncadella. All the cars from fourth on back are losing ground to the top three. Nicky Catsburg, the 2015 winner of this race driving the BMW Z4 GT3. Skies lightening at Spa. So, another half hour away from sunrise. There is more grip at Rivage/Bruxelles than we have seen in previous years.
This has been an amazing weather weekend for Spa with record heat in Europe weeks ago. Half an hour until dawn. The conditions are good for the first time in four or five years here at Spa. No morning fog. It is forecast to rain on Monday and we should not see any rain. We don't need it and I hope we don't see it. Visibility is starting to improve. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is the technical pit stop with a minimum time that allows for brake changes. Juncadella has passed Hesse and split the Rowe BMW's. The brake changes will take place within the next hour as it is the gorilla in the room.
Nothing on timing and scoring says whether drivers have hit the lane and the garage for a brake change. A gorgeous sunrise at Spa Francorchamps. Taking your technical pit stop during green flag conditions, what a bad deal that would be. We have 50 cars still running. The Heart of Racing are 36 laps down with Charlie Esstwood in their Aston Martin but he is still out there. Esstwood sharing with Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas. Rigon chasing Steijn Schothorst. No further action for the incident between Rowe Racing's junior team car and the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes. Russell Ward was clattered in a car that also got biffed while Jens Liebhauser was in the car.
Steijn Schothorst caught by Davide Rigon who has already done his technical pit stop. Purple sector three for Steijn Schothorst? Wow! Catsburg, Juncadella, Hesse, Martin, Buhk, Schothorst. David Rigon has already served it's technical pit stop and so has the #47 KCMG Porsche of Dennis Olsen. Neither Rowe Racing BMW's have done their tech pit stops while both Iron Lynx Ferrari's have but the Iron Dames car needs to yet. The Iron Dames have leeway because they are leading the Gold Cup by a comfortable margin. Sebastian Priaulx taking the Inception Racing McLaren around sharing with Brendon Iribe, Ollie Milroy, and Fredrik Schandorff.
The light begins to show through the sky and we can see the sapes and colors of the cars again after the last eight or so hours being dark as a dungeon. Burning off fuel has less effect than having fresh Pirelli P Zero tires. The #38 Jota Sport McLaren, they have done their technical pit stop as well. The gaps will begin closing up again very soon.
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