Maxi Goetz and Dani Juncadella are still in their respective cars and poor old #57 of Jens Liebhauser spins and get tagged by another car! Sheesh! When it's not your day it's not your day. Rob Bell in the lane in the #38 Jota Sport McLaren and Richard Lietz stays on the road. Bentley in the lane as well. It continued after spinning and is now in the pits. Richard Lietz now second on the road. Mikael Grenier in the #55 car inherits the erstwhile lead. Laurens Vanthoor in the #47 KCMG Porsche also pits. Dean MacDonald in the #188 McLaren has to pit yet as well I believe. The race order shows Patric Niederhauser leading but now Mikael Grenier is ahead of Richard Lietz as well, and then comes Dean MacDonald. MacDonald is third. The #3 Mercedes is scrapping with Chris Froggatt. That is the second BWT Team Getspeed car of Jeff Kingsley, Valdemar Eriksen, and Sebastien Baud.
Valentino Rossi now fifth in the #46 Audi and Ralf Bohn relinquishes sixth place for a pit stop. Bohn sharing with Alfred and Robert Renauer. They are on top of their pit strategy and that is why they win so many races in the 24-Hour Series sanctioned by Creventic. Brenton Grove gets biffed again. That Grove Racing Porsche from Australia has been in the wars today. A short stop is a maximum of six seconds to top off the fuel tank. Drive through penalty to car #63 for overtaking under yellow. That is the Bortolotti/Costa/Aitken entry for Emil Frey Racing, the Lamborghini. We have had a boatload of retirements. Theo Nouet, out. Al Faisal Al Zubair, Alex Malykhin, Alex Riberas... wow! They are dropping like flies.
Richard Lietz is in striking distance of Mikael Grenier. Grenier in the #55 Mercedes for AMG Team GruppeM Racing. Dries Vanthoor, Audi #32 had a slow puncture and had to hit the lane. #32 now back on track but 26th in the order half a second behind Marco Sorensen. Grenier sharing with Maro Engel and Maximilian Buhk. Dries Vanthoor is making up places as the leaders have now run 74 laps. Audi are creeping back into the fight. A left rear puncture and a broken suspension for the Mercedes of Tim Muller, the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes that has a broken wheel. Maybe the wheel is not tightened down. Something has collapsed.
Lorenzo Ferrari in the #57 Mercedes is harrying Valentino Rossi. Rossi off the road and back on again. For Rossi, it is like a car driver trying to race mototrbikes and a car off in the gravel at Jacky Ickx curve. Karim Ojjeh in the #10 Boutsen Ginion Audi. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow now. In replay, the car spun but a car in front hooked a ditch and recovered. Ojjeh hitting the dust. He is sharing with Benjamin Lessennes, Antoine Leclerc, and Adam Eteki. So, we welcome Bruce Jones and John Watson to the booth and we've got the lot this evening thus far. Man, do we ever. Valentino Rossi has done a great stint being at the sharp end. He will get out of the car soon. Loosen your belts but don't take the buckle out before you stop. Frederic Vervisch taking over the #46 Audi.
The Belgian in his home race, Vervisch is Rossi's mentor. Vervisch on track. He will debrief with the engineers, have a light meal, and top up on fluids. You never came to Spa without rain gear. But it has been dry as a bone so far. Safety car now deployed as we have had the fourth Full Course Yellow so far. The gravel traps near the edge of the circuit causing track debris and the other element is some teams have taken negative camber out of the rear wheels. It puts a higher load on the inside of the Pirelli P Zero tire. Mikael Grenier continues to lead the motor race overall and we have had five dry days here at Spa.
We had the celebratory GT races and a bunch more. Grenier is your race leader. The #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes had a left rear shock break. We are preparing to go back to green and this race is going to get spicy in a wee while, I am sure. The soft golden glow of the Ardennes evening is beginning to show here at Spa Francorchamps. We are looking at sim racer now turned full on racer, James Baldwin. Baldwin in the #159 Garage 59 McLaren sharing with Manuel Maldonado, Ethan Simioni, and Nicolai Kjaergaard. A fabulous shot between Eau Rouge and Raidillon and the new grandstand. We continue under the safety car for now.
Maldonado had a late pit stop where he took over from Baldwin. Freddie Vervisch and Maximilian Gotz move up and so does Daniel Juncadella. Valentino Rossi says that the #46 Audi has gained a lot of track position and the car has always been in the battle, all day so far. In his second stint, the tires came into their sweet spot and they were jolly lucky with their strategy, but there's a long way to go. The Full Course Yellow made things difficult as the tires were getting cold. Stop and go driving like on the road. It is important to remember it is still a steep learning curve for Valentino. Green flag back out. The druvers laps down move aside for the leaders. The light is absolutely gorgeous right now.
This is definitely, as Rossi said, "racing in the jungle". The initial lead group will be working their way back to the top four on the road. Michael Christensen is chasing Mikael Grenier who is in lapped traffic. Christensen will relish that. Ryuchiro Tomita of Japan is the lapped car, one of the Audi's. Christensen is being harried by Yelloly who has the Porsche in his crosshairs. Flashing the lights. Mikael Grenier still in the lead of the motor race. Through Les Combes and downhill to Malmedy as Michael Christensen hooks the curbs. That is Arnold Robin in one of the Audi's. Drive through penalties for running the red lights, the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW and the #56 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche as well as speeding in the lane for the #32 WRT Audi.
#34 has Michael Dinan, Robby Foley, Richard Heistand, and Jens Klingman on the driver's strength while #56 is being shared by Marius Nakken, Mauro Calamia, Giorgio Roda, and Mikkel Pedersen. Christensen and Yelloly are closing the gap. Fred Vervisch is really pushing as Lewis Proctor is in the lane with clutch troubles for the #31 WRT Audi sharing the car with Diego Menchaca and Finlay Hutchinson. Adding time to pit stops for a penalty works better than a drive through penalty. Maxi Gotz and Dani Juncadella are battling each other through the lapped traffic up the hill through Eau Rouge and Raidillon. Uphill on the Kemmel straightaway. Antonio Fuoco now eighth in the #71 Ferrari chasing down Thomas Preining in the #54 Porsche for Dinamic Motorsports.
Daniel Juncadella is caught behind one of the Audi's trying to catch Maxi Gotz. Arnold Robin is laps down. Juncadella wants to make his way through and now, he will be able to make a move on the Audi and files right back into the position. Andrea Caldarelli is now up to tenth place in the K-PAX Racing Lamborghini. Fuoco is giving Thomas Preining a real run for his money through Les Combes. Fuoco just cannot keep up with the Porsche which is washing out through the slower turns. Juncadella has cleared away from this gaggle of cars. Preining tries the undercut on Fuoco and Andrea Caldarelli moves around Antonio De Falco. Sven Mueller has Patric Niederhauser all over him and he makes a move and more woe for the #107 CMR Racing Bentley now with Antonin Borga at the controls. Borga sharing with Nigel Bailly, Stephane Lemeret, and Maxime Soulet.
We do not know why the Bentley is stopped. Ryuchiro Tomita cuts across one of the Porsche's as Andrea Caldarelli hits the pit lane after running directly behind Antonio Fuoco as we have gradually fading light here at Spa Francorchamps and we are almost to the fourth hour being completed. Fuoco uncorks his fastest first sector time. More trouble for the #31 Audi than we first thought. It has not been retired yet, but it does not look good. Nick Yelloly continues monstering Michael Christensen and this scrap has not let up by any means. Kevin Estre says that the traffic is truly complicated because of the safety cars and the yellow flags.
The tire pressure management for the Pirelli P Zero tires have been tough to manage and such a short stint time. No punctures for Porsche yet but it could be inevitable. Other brands have already suffered punctures. Honestly, maybe the drivers are mindful of overuse and abuse of the racetrack is a major problem. The lap times are identical for the leaders as Mikael Grenier leads. Gotz was balked by the #9 Porsche allowing the sister car to close in. Poor Antares Au in one of the Herberth Porsche's was the cork in the bottle and now, Ryuchiro Tomita is being penalized for causing a collision and being in the way of other drivers.
Sven Muller is pressing Alberto Di Folco. That is the #11 Tresor by Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 in the Silver division lead. Di Folco sharing with Daniele Di Amato, Lorenzo Patrese, and Pierre-Alexandre Jean. Sandy Mitchell's car is coming back to the fore. That is the #77 Barwell Racing Lamborghini now driven by Alex MacDowall, Sam De Haan, and Ahmad Al Harthy. Drive through penalty for the #33 Audi. That is the WRT car of Ryuichi Tomita sharing with Arnold Robin, Maxime Robin, and Ulysse De Pauw. Dean MacDonald is chasing the #90 MadPanda Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Sean Walkinshaw, sharing with Oscar Tunjo, Patrick Kujala, and Ezequiel Perez-Companc.
The gaps are closing up and between first and second it is now only a second and a half. Daniel Juncadella has to move past one of the Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3's. Juncadella will have some difficulty trying to pass the Audi of Fred Vervisch. Coming to the end of yet another racing hour as Vervisch sinks into the seats under load through Pouhon and into Fangnes corner. Vervisch looking to the mirror to find Juncadella. Four hours bang on the money, completed.
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