Yelloly is jumping his way over Raidillon and now, the gap between Serra and Yelloly is growing as Harper is moving in on Yelloly. Harper has 15 minutes before he has to think of pitting. Stolz and Gounon are miles apart and Stolz is catching James Calado in the Ferrari. Calado could be the cork in the bottle if he isn't careful. Valentino Rossi will run the final stint of the 24 Hours of Spa in the #46 Audi R8. Valentino Rossi off the road on his out lap. Oh dear. Don't move the steering wheel or mess with it. In the Group C prototypes, a sliding sea was used. But now, a sliding seat would be unsafe. Rossi has his hands full! Wow! Dear me! That was unreal and he got right to the edge of the gravel trap!
Pit stop time for the #71 and the sister car #51, Iron Lynx the defending champions are double stacked in the pit lane! Not good. Calado's car had to be pushed back as the fuel hose would not stretch and now Yelloly's right rear tire is gone! Puncture for the Rowe Racing BMW! The right rear tire is flat and the bead between the tire and the rim broke! The tire was losing pressure into Pouhon! My gosh! It is not the end of the world, but he is losing time trundling around slowly. Now the tire is shredding all over the track, offline. Is it attacking the bodywork? Gosh, I hope not. 19 seconds lost for #71 and 47 seconds lost for #51. The damage is to the tire and we hope the bodywork on that BMW is not damaged.
They checked the wheel arch and now Jules Gounon is making up time over the Rowe Racing BMW. It seems like it is game over for the BMW boys. Unreal. Then again, the hot temperatures for ambient and track temperatures are destroying these tires. The heat causes the tires to explode and so Pirelli engineers will be looking at everything. Three top ten contenders have had drama and we need to see at least a few more pit stops for some of the top contenders. Augusto Farfus is standing by at Rowe BMW. The Audi kicking up dust on the road. Can't tell which one it is.
Ah. That is the #30. Watch for debris that could cut down the inside shoulder of the tire, down to the lowest point of the Spa circuit. Thomas Neubauer, Jean Baptiste Simmenauer, and Benjamin Goethe. Top speeds at Blanchimont, three BMW's in the top four at 259, 257, 256, and 255 kilometers an hour with Ross Gunn's Aston Martin also fast. Harper extends his advantage. That puncture came out of nowhere. Andrea Bertolini still has the Pro-Am lead in the AF Corse #52 Ferrari. The podium is now in the fan village for this race, not up above the track. 39 cars of 66 starters remain in the race. 27 cars out. Unreal. Technical and mechanical issues of attrition.
We have not seen as many large accidents. We are into the final hour and 45 minutes. 496 laps completed as Dan Harper and Raffaele Marciello have both pitted. Marciello has one more pit stop to go before the checkers. Maro Engel leads the motor race now in the #55 GruppeM Mercedes, but he is due a pit stop. The order reshuffles like a deck of cards. Marciello in #88 has just started a stint. Maro Engel has 3-4 laps to go yet. James Calado delayed after that double stack at Iron Lynx. Last year's race winners will not repeat in 2022. Marciello vs. Luca Stolz. This will be the lead battle. Wheel to wheel down to La Source! Stolz forces Marciello off the road! Yikes! That was not too fair, giving racing room.
Same brand at Mercedes-AMG but no love lost between two different teams. Marciello is now pushing. He is driving angry. A riled up Raffaele Marciello, he will be something to watch. Release the beast! Done deal and now the message is, "stop fooling around." Race Control may issue a penalty as well. An hour and a half to go. Marciello runs ahead of Luca Stolz. Marvin Kirchhofer, Nick Tandy, and Dan Harper are next up. Nicky Catsburg has fallen to eighth place in the #98 BMW. Reema Juffali is now leading Gold Cup, the only female racer from Saudi Arabia. Excuse me. Bronze Cup. Not Gold Cup. Juffali sharing with Valentin Pierburg, George Kurtz, and Tim Muller.
Andrea Bertolini, a double Spa 24 overall winner and a class winner multiple times sharing with Stefano Constantini, Alessio Rovera, and Louis Machiels. Michelle Gatting for the Iron Dames leads the Gold Cup. 494 laps, three laps ahead of Sky Tempesta Mercedes #93. The Ferrari is in showroom condition more or less. Fredrik Schandorff has third for McLaren in Gold. In Silver, Audi leads with the #30 WRT ROFGO car. Alex Aka is coming fast as is Tuomas Tujula. The Audi family at Ingolstadt will e disappointed about not having a chance to win another Spa cup.
Maro Engel in the lane for his penultimate stop. He will see saw back and forth. He will need a late race pit stop. The later they pit, the less chance they have of being the winners. Raffaele Marciello will take the lead on the road, ahead of Luca Stolz. Stolz is losing time. Working lap 500. #55 in and out of the pit lane. Marvin Kirchhofer pits the McLaren as well. I wonder if another driver got into the #55 Mercedes. Maro Engel raced with Mercedes in GT and in Australian Supercars when they entered there for a season or two.
Raffaele Marciello continues to lead the race ahead. Marvin Kirchhofer is in the pit lane and now, Dan Harper passes Nick Tandy. BMW M4 GT3 over Porsche 911 GT3R. Give me a rearview mirror instead of a rearview camera. Marciello runs ahead of Luca Stolz. Fredrik Schandorff pits from third in Gold Cup. The Iron Dames Ferrari pits now. Driver change, tires, and fuel. Michelle Gatting brought the car in. Alessio Rovera still has the fastest lap. Harper is reeling in Luca Stolz. Harper has fresher tires and has not been in the car as long as Stolz.
502 laps now on the board. The BMW M4 GT3 for the BMW Junior Team has had relatively few issues and has had a good, solid race. The Junior Team colors does not have a distinct paint scheme unfortunately. Behind the BMW is the Attempto Racing Audi as Marvin Kirchhofer is in the last sector. Nicky Catsburg has taken over the #98 Rowe Racing BMW but stay on the lead lap. Dan Harper in third spot accelerating towards Fangnes. Through Campus he goes. Harper is matching the pace and exceeding the pace of Raffaele Marciello. He is third, equaling the race leader. He has lapped traffic ahead.
The gap second to third is 28.5 seconds. The #8 AGS Events Lamborghini and the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, both are pushing. Nick Tandy, too, he has been a great Porsche servant and has won big races. Le Mans, Nurburgring, Spa, and Kyalami to name a few. Antonio Fuoco is fifth in the Ferrari. Marco Sorensen a lap down has a pit stop in his future. The Ferrari is chipping away the gap between it and the Porsche. There are not many surviving Porsche's left. The gap is closing at 3.1 seconds through Blanchimont. Fuoco reeling in Nick Tandy ahead. Fuoco on a mission to be sure. I don't know if Nick Tandy has anything left in the locker that he can use.
Tandy pushing like no tomorrow. Keep your gun for hire fresh for the end of the race. Less than 75 minutes to go. Fuoco knows he has Tandy covered. Through Blanchimont another time. Tandy covers the line. Fuoco is going to fire the bullet. Tandy chops across the front. The undercut isn't working. Tandy won't roll over and play dead. Fuoco is pushing. This is a proper boxing match between these two drivers. The Porsche oversteers and gets twitchy. Clear as gin, that was Fuoco's opportunity, and he makes the pass. Piece of cake. The Porsche's tires are definitely slimy and need to be changed. Alex Aka in the #99 Audi pits. No incident investigation necessary for the Stolz and Marciello incident. Racing deal.
Nicholas Scholl takes over #99. Now, Tandy has Engel all over him like a rash. Maro Engel applying the blowtorch right here right now. He wants to give Tandy the rough end of the pineapple. Tandy consolidates into Jacky Ickx curve. Engel is harrying Tandy into an error. Through Pouhon, some argy bargy? Whoa! He has done it. That was the rough end of the pineapple indeed! All top speeds led by Casper Stevenson are at 170 clicks. That is through Pouhon. Fuoco runs through but Engel is catching him hand over fist.
Marciello is 15 seconds to the good. Stolz gives the place back to Marciello. Marciello leads Luca Stolz, Dan Harper, Antonio Fuoco, Maro Engel, and Nick Tandy followed by Nick Catsburg, Marvin Kirchhofer in eighth. Engel is trying to reel in the Ferrari. Marciello will lap Valentino Rossi who will take the #46 to the flag. The podium will be in the fan village of course. The cars will park in front of it. Rossi hads learned a boatload of how to race endurance GT cars. Rossi totally focused. He isn't blinking. His depth of concentration is unreal. Ooh. Rossi wriggles the car in a tad of oversteer. Ride 'em cowboy! Valentino has had a bunch of those on a motorbike.
Raffaele Marciello still leading, the Swiss driver. He deserves and is overdue a win in this event. Luca Stolz to the lane soon. He will do a driver change and then Dan Harper will move up a place. We've not had a Full Course Yellow for a while. Marciello leads Luca Stolz by 16.8 seconds. #88 is due a stop with 39 minutes remaining while Stolz's final stop is imminent. Luca Stolz has preservation to keep in mind as we see Marco Mapelli still a lap behind. We thought the K-PAX Lambo would be a dark horse, but it has been down and out a lap down the whole race. K-PAX will finish 11th in the overall, probably.
They won't give up though. That is for sure. Ryuichiro Tomita, second in Gold Cup, they have been in the gravel trap and lost three laps. So they will not catch the Iron Dames. Chris Froggatt third in the Gold division. Pit stop time now for Nick Tandy for his final stop and he may stay in the car with a new set of boots. Stolz in the lane as well. Marciello leads. Another racing hour coming to an end. The last hour starts now.
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