Be very careful overtaking with all the marbles on the road as Nicky Catsburg leads by 5.4 seconds as the light continues to increase across the valley and to the pit lane. Visibility is getting better. The air is cool. The engine is crisp, the brakes are grabbing just fine. This is happy hour. Your visibility improves too. Jordan Love to the pit lane for service in the #4 Mercedes for Haupt Racing Team as the Audi is in, the #33 entry for Team WRT. Daniel Juncadella to the lane and now Augusto Farfus is getting set to take over the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3. Sarah Bovy in the lane for Iron Dames leading the Gold Cup is pitting as well. Unreal compression and no lifting in Eau Rouge! This is a steep hill indeed. It looks easy on camera. Not a chance.
Daniel Juncadella will be coming to the lane as well in the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes. He is not in traffic. Those tires are getting wriggly and squirmy. Max Hesse has not pitted but here comes Catsburg followed by Juncadella. They are both into the lane as Max Hesse takes the lead of the motor race. Maxime Martin Maxi Buhk, Davide Rigon, and so on. The red flag erased and rewrote the strategy. The level of light is increasing at a good rate. Light cloud but a bright morning ahead. Akkodis ASP in the endurance pit lane at the bottom of the hill. Clean the windscreen and now, the Rowe BMW is at the top of the hill, 2/3rds of the way down the road.
The #28 ST Racing BMW is down the order, with Harry Gottsacker at the controls. Just ride your luck and hope it continues, for Rowe Racing. Max Hesse now in the lane and Maximilian Buhk is the erstwhile leader passing Nicki Thiim in the Aston Martin. Augusto Farfus leads Jules Gounon and Neil Verhagen. BMW, Mercedes, BMW, with Aston Martin running in fourth place as the skies are certainly lightening well. Drivers will keep their headlamps on. Jules Gounon 5.1 seconds behind but taking time out of Augusto Farfus for sure.
The drivers are running to just below their 65-minute maximum stint time as Norway's Markus Paverud spins out and then recovers. So, Augusto Farfus is leading as Jules Gounon is reeling him in as we are well into the second half of the race. Neil Verhagen and Jules Gounon as well as Maxime Martin an Maximilian Buhk have not done their technical pit stops as of yet. Nicky Catsburgs says Rowe Racing, they are waiting for a yellow so they can do their technical stop without losing time. The BMW's are hoping for cloud cover and cooler temperatures. Could we see raindrops before this motor race is done and dusted? We hope not.
K-PAX Racing have had a fraught, abysmal race. They now have a breach of the refueling rules, 18th in the overall, with South African Jordan Pepper driving. Alessio Rovera in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari is flying, but he is way down the order. 13 degrees Celsius on the temperature gauge. All the cars look and sound different and have body shapes and different engine notes, making speed slightly differently all the time. BMW feels they have been better with a cooler track. They are now at the front, at the top of the shop. The teams are checking track temperatures, not so much the technicians from Pirelli tires. Track temp is lowest it has been at 17.5 degrees Celsius.
The track temperature is still low, but when the sun comes up entirely and it will start reaching a warmer temperature, however, it will not be anywhere near as warm as we saw yesterday at the start of the race. The BMW's have to capitalize is sneak away from everybody else if they want to stay at the top of the tree. Jules Gounon has now closed up on the leader, now driving the #88 Mercedes. Augusto Farfus continues to lead the race overall. Of the 66 starters, 49 cars are still in it, with 17 retirements. Charlie Eastwood still 36 laps down, but The Heart of Racing are back in the motor race. The gap is coming down as Augusto Farfus leads. But in second spot, the #88 Mercedes of Jules Gounon, he is catching up.
Jules Gounon won this race on debut and he is now preparing to lap Alexander West again in the McLaren. 3,3 seconds now separate Augsuto Farfus and Jules Gounon. Ten and a half hours to go. Rowe Racing led at the six-hour mark. The #32 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi is stopped and guess what, the #46 WRT car is also crunched! Full Course Yellow! Is this the end of WRT's race? That #32 car has one drive wheel and a broken left rear corner. Clear the garage and get to work. All hands on deck. Full Course Yellow followed by safety car.
Jules Gounon in the pit lane. Now, other teams can do the technical stop and get their brake changes done. Nico Muller was in the #46. Augusto Farfus will have to come in from the race lead. Rossi will keep enjoying things if the #46 car is out of this thing. Lefr front damage to that car and Muller went up the inside and biffed Charles Weerts. Weerts' car has to be hoisted onto a flatbed truck. Rossi is getting strapped in to the Audi #46.
Teams are doing their technical stops for brake changes and everything else. Rowe Eacing has done their brake change but the #50 has not yet, with Neil Verhagen at the controls. The safety car is scrambled. Any time lost will be in seconds only. We are at 6:30 A.M. at Spa Francorchamps. A long, long way to go yet. 10 hours and 17 minutes left. The marshals can see more cleaning up the track now that daylight is back. This is easier to do track cleanup at Full Course Yellow instead of safety car speed. Augusto Farfus will be at the top of the shop. The Heart of Racing Team is stone last, with Charlie Eastwood in the Aston Martin.
These guys, on the speed limiter, are doing six-minute laps and we cannot dispatch the safety car yet. Oliver Wiljinson on the lead lap in eighth overall. The #38 Jota McLaren is being deemed to be responsible for the #46 car being mixed up and hitting the #32, from 150 miles an hour decelerating all the way down to 35 miles an hour. Braking like mad, you hit the front car from behind. Over and out for the #32 car. Jordan Pepper in the lane in the #6 Lamborghini for K-PAX Racing. They are fighting their way back. Daytona, Le Mans, Spa, Nurburgring, Sebring, Petit Le Mans, you need a huge slice of luck to be able to win.
Nico Muller is distraught about this accident between the two WRT cars that was a total accident with a McLaren stopping and Charles Weerts having to slam on the brakes and Muller crunching into the back of Weerts' automobile. Muller says "it's absolutely disgusting" and I agree. This is devastating for the team, but they did a heck of a job, the crew, to fix the damage as best as possible. The #46 will keep going but it is game over for the #32 boys. Nico Menzel has been passed for the Pro-Am lead by Alexander West in the McLaren. Morning is here as Valentino Rossi is now 21st in the overall with the damage to the left front corner of that motorcar.
A change at the top of the shop as Davide Rigon leads Neil Verhagen and Nick Tandy. Felipe Nasr is next followed by Miguel Molina and Augusto Farfus, and then comes Jules Gounon. Those two were 1-2. The safety car will pick up the leader and everyone should be able to get the technical stop done. You have had 20 minutes. No more excuses. Davide Rigon gets pointed by the safety car for some reason. Neil Verhagen leads the motor race, the American BMW junior driver. Davide Rigon is just two minutes into his next stint. Neil Verhagen ought to be the leader of the motor race as the safety car is waiting to pick up the leader.
Alain Valente, the Swiss driver leading for Haupt Racing Team in Silver. Only immediately ahead of second place in the #99 Audi followed by Jean Baptiste Simmenauer as yours truly reenergizes himself with energy biscuits and a mocha iced coffee at 20 past midnight Central Standard U.S. time. Michelle Gatting says things are going very well for the Iorn Dames with ten hours remaining. Don't make mistakes if that's possible. We have seen a red flag and boatloads of safety car time. People are getting tired by now. It is a true endurance race in these final hours. We have more than 1/3rd of the race to go yet.
Rahel Frey is currently driving for the Iron Dames along with their European Le Mans Series driver Dorian Pin. The #51 Ferrari of Miguel Molina has spun in trying to catch the safety car. Less than ideal for sure. They are in eighth spot. Davide Rigon leads.
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