We remain under Full Course Yellow, headed towards midnight local time at Spa Francorchamps as Daniel Serra takes over the Ferrari, and the leaders have all pitted. James Calado has also taken over the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari, the sister car. Again, we have yet to go to safety car conditions. Lorenzo Patrese's Audi is not as damaged as we thought it would be. Nikki Thiim and Felipe Nasr have both hit the lane as has Hubert Haupt who has a tad less than 20 minutes to go in his stint. It used to be you could drive through the pit lane to reset the timer, but now you have to service the car as we see the track sweeper cleaning up the road. It's got to be garbage day, so put out the bins and the barrels.
Daniel Serra has replaced Davide Rigon. Two Brazilian drivers at the top of the shop. Safety car on track. Some of the drivers will need to come to the lane for service. Audi Sport Team WRT, #32, Kelvin van der Linde stays out. Jordan Pepper, Marius Nakken, and others are waiting out the Full Course Yellow, praying for the safety car can be a big deal and for Jordan Pepper that will be a blessing. It will be able to come back. K-PAX with their earlier woes have to roll the dice. They have absolutely no choice. The field is lined up behind the safety car with Augusto Farfus leading Daniel Serra by 9/10tjs of a second.
Safety car in this lap. Nico Muller did not pit. Nicky Leutwiler did and Kelvin van der Linde did not pit either. You know, coming out of a safety car queue, you might be in good shape. Benjamin Lessennes stops and starts the #10 Audi for Boutsen Ginion Racing. Three of the four drivers have had issues and Antoine Leclerc has not as I don't believe he has driven. Now, that is the Damocles sword if there ever was! Now then, we will see the green flag. Safety car lights ofF. The #188 Garage 59 has been pinged for speeding in the lane and so they have earned the Royal Flush of penalties! Aye yaye yaye. Green flag. Do not pass until after the start/finish line.
For Daniel Serra, he has clear road. Raffaele Marciello is working lapped traffic in the Merceede. Five makes in the top five. Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Audi. Balance of Performance can be a real bugaboo but then again, it can also provide close and competitive motor racing. There are a couple Lamborghini's in this queue. Even after the safety car scramble, only 19 of the 66 starters are on the lead lap. Augusto Farfus, Daniel Serra, Raffaele Marciello, and so much more, there are some top name drivers in this race at this stage. That brand new grandstand allows fans to really see well. Alessio Picariello sets new fastest lap in one of the two Herberth Motorsports Porsche, at 2:18.193. 168 laps into the race.
That is the outright fastest lap of the motor race so far! Holy smokes! Luca Stolz uncorked a very quick lap, early doors. Picariello has gone a full second faster than the leader! Unbelievable stuff. Absolutely spellbinding. Picariello is trying to unlap himself and does not give a fig that Marciello and everyone else is in front. Marciello dropping Kevin Estre down the order. Farfus, Serra, Marciello, they are dropping the rest of the top five, the top ten. Daniel Serra is getting stymied by Giacomo Altoe.
Daniel Serra is losing time to Augusto Farfus and Nick Yelloly says that passing through traffic at Spa is hard to do. They have had a good strategy plan through the race so far. Keeping it clean is the way to go and keeping the car on the blacktop as well. Nick Yelloly will be getting a bit of a nap I think. A speaker next to the motorhome is not a good thing. Use eyeshades and earplugs plus clean underwear and a lot of it. Mentally, you are fatigued enough to go for it. 40 minutes of a catnap is what you might just need with about 15 minutes with your eyes closed. 16 and a half hours to go and in an hour and a half we will have the next pie slice of points offered, and of course an hour and a half is a standard duration of a GT World Challenge America race.
The best placed Lamborghini is the #14 Emil Frey Racing Huracan GT3 with Stuart White, the South African driver, at the controls. Farfus leads Serra by 1.1 seconds and is now 1.4 seconds. Giacomo Altoe is in the other Emil Frey Racing Lambo. Kelvin van der Linde finally pitted after 64 minutes and change of the 65 minutes in the full stint. Suddenly, there's a massive side by side battle as the night continues! Is it a full moon? Cars are developing magnetism and drawn together according to our pal from Radio Show Limited, Paul Truswell. It is not magnetism, but it is human need to penetrate the darkness for a wee while.
The #93 Sky Tempesta Racing entry, Chris Froggatt went wide into Eau Rouge and Eddie Cheever III. has also had his moments in that car. Ahead is the #5 Gold Cup Haupt Racing Team Mercedes as Miguel Ramos leads the class in the McLaren for Garage 59. Eddie Cheever III., in the Sky Tempesta Racing Mercedes as Nick Wittmer has spun the #28 Samantha Tan Racing BMW M4 GT3 going into that 20 car bunch. That candy dish of cars are doing all the same speed though. You have different shapes and different sounding engines, but the cars are so evenly matched!
Incident at La Source, the #911 Herberth Porsche, the #83 Iron Dames Ferrari, and the #55 GruppeM Mercedes. Michelle Gatting 25th in the overall sharing with Doraine Pin, Rahel Frey, and Sarah Bovy. Michael Dinan also has the #34 Team Walkenhorst BMW M4 GT3. Giacomo Altoe being chased by Raffaele Marciello. Marciello chasing Altoe who is a lap down. 175 laps now completed. Thomas Preining in the pit lane in the #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche, and he is only halfway into his stint and that is a pain in the neck. Alfred Renauer, he has been stuck in the lane for ten minutes for numerous track off course excursions and damage. He wasn't the cue ball but he definitely got crunched.
Maxime Soulet's Bentley was a lap up on Benjamin Lessennes but he is in a spot of bother as we speak. Valentino Rossi is ready to take over the #46 WRT VR46 Audi for a stint followed by Frederic Vervisch. Vervisch is also a great driver coach. Stuart White in the #14 Lamborghini leading Silver, but he went off the road and so did the #4 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 of Jordan Love who is sharing with Jannes Fittje, Alain Valente, and Frank Bird. Car #911, ten second penalty for four track limits violations. They have just served said penalty and now, Nico Muller is into the lane to hand over the #46 Team WRT Audi to Valentino Rossi.
For "The Doctor", he is a Silver. He has done some rallying and a couple of races. His motorcycle championships don't really count. He is a Silver driver and cannot lose time for the car. Thomas Neubauer s getting ready to do another stint in the #30 ROFGO Audi. The Frenchman says he has been able to keep his nose clean and so has the rest of the team. This is actually one of the WRT cars in the Silver class. The track changes drastically between the daytime and the nighttime of course. Alessio Picariello is 25th on the road as Thomas Preining has had a puncture and he has dropped out of the top 35 in the running order.
Maxime Soulet has the #107 Bentley for CMR in the lane with trouble. Hubert Haupt, 28th overall leading the Gold Cup from Michelle Gatting, Mike Dinan, Eddie Cheever III., and Alex MacDowall. Hubert Haupt is 20th in the overall while Michelle Gatting is just a tick under 30 seconds behind. Michelle Gatting and the Iron Dames are now leading the Gold Cup division. Two cars in the pit lane. Bentley #107 and Porsche #54. So, CMR and Dinamic are having their problems. Daniel Serra is losing time to Augusto Farfus who is five seconds ahead. Giacomo Altoe has been the bloke who is the cork in the bottle and has been keeping Daniel Serra honest.
Nico Muller's mom and dad are here watching their son race and they were stunned by their son's chosen profession. He says straight line speed is not a strength for the Audi, but they are going for it in the #46 team. Valentino Rossi's progression, he has really been improving. Rossi in the Pro class runs 17th in the overall. He wants to be competitive but also to have tons of fun. Next year, the world is your oyster as GT3 will be in SRO, ACO, and IMSA. Fred Vervisch has won the Nurburgring 24 Hours twice and the Dubai 24 Hours as well. By just keeping the car on the island, in another hour, we are going to see a lot of chopping and changing.
We ride onboard with "The Doctor", the one and only Valentino Rossi. Rossi definitely in a rhythm. Porsche #54 got hit and had a tire puncture. The bad news, it is game over for #54. Klaus Bachler, Come Ledogar, and Thomas Preining, out of race. The steering rack is damaged and the car had to be retired. A tough break for the early leaders of the race. Raffaele Marciello has passed Daniel Serra but where has Giacomo Altoe gone. Raffaele Marciello has moved to second as a penalty was just called for speeding in the lane but I don't know which car it was. We are coming up to the end of another racing hour and we'll be at 1/3rd distance.
So, Kevin Estre is now chasing Daniel Serra. We have been clean and green now for an hour or so. Lorenzo Patrese now is out of the race, and so is the #11 Tresor by Car Collection Audi. Both Car Collection Audi's have now retired. Lorenzo Patrese will be back in the future for sure.
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