James Baldwin has handed one of the Garage 59 McLaren's to Nicolai Kjaergaard. But as we just observed, it is game over for the #11 Tresor by Car Collection Audi R8 for Lorenzo Patrese, Daniele Di Amato, Alberto Di Folco, and Pierre Alexandre Jean. Pit stop time for Luca Stolz and for several others. Stolz and company have to serve a penalty. The leaders will be in the lane soon as right now, they are indeed. Farfus, Marciello, Estre. Kevin Estre will hand the Porsche over. Farfus and Serra will do double stints. It will be Richard Lietz into the GPX Porsche, the #221 Porsche 911 GT3R. Lietz comes out just ahead of the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
Valentino Rossi in the #46 Audi should be moving up the order to fifth or sixth spot as Nick Tandy is in the lane. Maxi Buhk and James Calado both stay on track. They are 1-2 at this juncture. Patric Niederhauser in the #25 Audi is ahead of the #95 Aston Martin, Maxime Martin, Nicki Thiim, and Marco Sorensen. Maxime Martin's dad and uncle won this race together in the touring car days. More pit work for the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari of James Calado and he stays aboard. Where did the #55 GruppeM Mercedes end up? Maximilian Buhk is currently at the controls. It is not too warm and the fans are in jackets. It's a tad nippy but not freezing cold. This is not Daytona Beach in late January like yours truly experienced a few years ago.
But the temperature will allow the engines to be charged up and the tires will be a wee bit grippier. We've been in darkness now for the last couple of hours. More marbles and more gravel on the road. Daniel Serra even on new tires, he is still encountering not just traffic but also all the junk on the road that we have spoken about. Matt Campbell to the pit lane from the lead and now Maximilian Buhk leads James Calado and Patric Niederhauser as Matt Campbell does pit from the lead in the #74 EMA Porsche with Campbell, Felipe Nasr, and Mathieu Jaminet. The #50 Rowe Racing BMW of Dan Harper, Neil Verhagen, and Max Hesse should get to the top ten soon as long as the car does not go in the kitty litter.
Neil Verhagen at the controls. Augusto Farfus leading Raffaele Marciello and Richard Lietz followed by Daniel Serra and trouble way off the road as Albert Costa has crunched the front right corner! In replay, he is in sight and has already walloped someone or something. That is a car that is going to be severely compromised. Albert Costa, the Spaniard in a world of pain. The front right hand corner is gone and the right front wheel is about 40 degrees off center. That's going to be a major rebuild and that car, it is game over for one of the Emil Frey Racing entries. Albert Costa, Mirko Bortolotti, and Jack Aitken, game over.
Kevin Estre says it is very dark at Les Combes and Pouhon but you can see generally where you are going. Blanchimont, too, dark as a dungeon. Not easy but it is fun to race at Spa at night. GPX has the same team and drivers that won this race three years ago in 2019. Will they move up? Poor Jack Aitken. That is two times in a row that he has fallen out of this motor race in big accdients and in replay, that Lambo at Fangnes, goodness me, what a bear! Mirko Bortolotti is crushed. He still wants to win this race and has not had the chance yet! Alessio Picariello and Jim Pla both pit.
Jeff Kingsley from Canada in the #3 GetSpeed Performance Mercedes, is he or is he not in the lane? Augusto Farfus still leading. Second place, Raffaele Marciello. He is losing time to the leaders, the BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus. Maybe the Ready light is when you are ready for a driver change. I wonder what that means? I have seen it in GT3 cars in many endurance races. Will the #63 Emil Frey Racing Lambo stay in the fight? Or is it game over? They are 41st in the overall. The car is covered up and Albert Costa "I have no words to tell what happened and it is the first time I crashed alone in a race. I think I touched oil and went over the curb, I landed, and I went to the wall."
He says "I am so sorry for everybody and I have no idea what happened. I don't understand. It has the black car cover on it which means it is over." They have another race to run next weekend and Costa is absolutely distraught. He bounces over the curb landing in the gravel trap and got cannoned back into the center of the track. Albert Costa has raced Lamborghini's for years and is great battling but he was totally on his own, pushing at 100% the whole time. Of the 66 cars that started the race, ten have retired and so we have about 56 left in the field. Valentino Rossi is 3/4 of the way through his stint. He has climbed his way from 17th spot to eighth spot.
With the good weather, seize the moment. It can be savagely hot in Belgium in the summertime, lice, frogs, four horsemen, and/or steaming hot. Augusto Farfus still leading and Raffaele Marciello is more than two seconds down on the Brazilian driver. He has latitude about where he can put the car save for Eau Rouge, probably. The gaps grow and shrink depending on how you catch traffic. If Farfus is held up, Marciello can pounce. Alessio Rovera is in the Pro-Am AF Corse Ferrari, the #52 entry I believe. Yes. He shares with Stefano Constantini, Louis Machiels, and Andrea Bertolini. We have about 18 cars on the lead lap as Alessio Picariello leads Pro-Am, 26th in the overall and half a minute up on Dean MacDonald in the #188 Garage 59 McLaren.
Nicky Leutwiler has been running well, too, sharing with Stefan Aust, Alessio Picariello, and Nico Menzel in the #24 Herberth Motorsport entry. Dean MacDonald second in Pro-Am aboard the Garage 59 McLaren #188. Alessio Rovera has to stay out of the way. Farfus only 1.6 seconds ahead of Marciello. Rovera is being told by the team who is ahead or behind and has to be told who it is. He will be told if the leaders are behind him. Someone in the barriers at Blanchimont. It is a Porsche. Who could it be? Oh man! Alfred Renauer has crashed! The #911 Porsche maybe he stopped. He did not wreck. There is power. Full Course Yellow. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow, now.
The Ready message is on the Race Control message, indicating the system is working. Out of Blanchimont, Renauer tagged from behind by the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari. Massive lose, unbalanced out of Blanchimont, at high speed, and, ker-runch! Off on the exit curb, and Renauer got spat out into the barrier. That was an unforced error and now, the leaders are in the lane, halfway through a stint. Valentino Rossi has run 54 minutes. Kelvin van der Linde has almost done his whole stint. Augusto Farfus has come to the pit lane. The BWT Mercedes of Luca Stolz ought to pit as well and there will be a driver change to Maxi Gotz.
Alex MacDowall, Dominik Baumann, and many more. Jeff Kingsley, David Perel, Antonin Borga, and more. AF Corse's #21 Ferrari to the garage. They need to do something to the car for service as Nick Yelloly takes over the #98 BMW, or does he? Dan Harper in the lane. Dries Vanthoor, Caldarelli, Rossi, Maini. Valentino Rossi, adjusting his drink straw, and now, he is staying in the car as the fuel is added and the tires are changed. Marciello in the lead as we are in the seventh Full Course Yellow of this event so far.
Nine cars have officially retired and now, it is indeed ten. So, 56 on the road. 11, 12. Blimey! #10, game over for Benjamin Lessennes. The Herberth Porsche is on a flatbed being towed in. It is jsut before the Bus Stop and going down the access road to the pit lane. That will go to the outside. A dozen cars? 9, 10, 11, 12, 26, 54, 63, 91, 97, 777. That's nine, ten. 56 cars and it will be 55 as the #911 is also going to be a retirement. So, the #911 has pasted the wall and will be removed soon. This is our seventh Full Course Yellow. Five safety cars so far. Maxime Oosten at the wheel of the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 trundling around under yellow.
We are going to the safety car conditions now. In a number of hours, we will see teams needing to make brake changes but I don't think you can do a brake change under a safety car and every championship is different. I don't think the Nurburgring 24 Hours has a mandatory brake change like Spa does. Marciello, Lietz, Serra, Yelloly, and more. Daniel Juncadella is readying for his next stint as the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes at the top of the shop. Daniel Juncadella slept and now is ready for a triple stint which should be his longest stint of the motor race. Save energy for the morning, for Sunday morning.
Akkodis ASP have been knocking on the door year after year at this race and this year they feel very good about their chances. All systems go. When that caution light is ready, it is, if a yellow comes out. It is the driver safety system. Under safety car, tire pressure and heat is built up for safety and for grip. The safety car will duck to the lane at the end of this lap and you do not pass before the start/finish line. Matt Howson from KCMG says they are surely going to keep pushing after Nick Tandy's marathon drive to move up the field from being buried down in the 40s, down in the never never. Green flag. Marciello leads Richard Lietz as we are coming to the end of this hour soon.
Daniel Serra is moving in and fast. A clear gap between Marciello and Serra as well as Lietz. Nick Yelloly is fourth. Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, Audi. Patric Niederhauser is the best Audi thus far. He will move up, no question. James Calado sixth followed by Maximilian Buhk and by Patric Niederhauser as Raffaele Marciello is gaining and mvoing ahead of Richard Lietz and Daniel Serra as they fly through Eau Rouge and into Raidillon. Much of the trees have been moved or cut down. An advantage of clearing the forestry will be in wet weather so you won't have the mist hanging in the air during a rainy race.
Daniel Serra is just under a second down on Kevin Estre as we are to the end of another hour.
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