Winward Racing Mercedes #57 hit the pit lane while it was closed, and the marshals will have to be told by the team that they came in for emergency service to top up on fuel. Full Course Yellow with the #70 Lamborghini sitting at the exit of Les Combes with Kerong Li and Reema Juffali and Yannick Mettler (in the car now) also off at Theeba Motorsport. That is the corner too that used to be called Beau Rivage I believe. A lot of corner names at Spa have changed over the years. The Lamborghini looked to have spun off track first and then the Theeba Mercedes tagged the Lambo's tail! Neither party was guilty. Goodness me. I think the Lamborghini is done. The gearbox is gone, tearing the transmission away from it's moorings.
So, it is game over for the #81 Theeba Motorsport Mercedes and the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini. That is the #70 car of Brendon Leitch, Kerog Li, Jean Francois Brunot, and Gerhard Watzinger, out of it. I think the same is true with the #81. Pit stops underway again under yellow. Manthey EMA leading Pro, the #92, into the pit lane. Laurens Vanthoor I believe will stay aboard. Now, Ayhacan Guven also has just pitted the #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche as well. How long will the safety car remain out? Estre, Vanthoor stayed out. Both Dinamic Porsche's double stacked because they were half a lap apart. Half a car length apart, you don't want to stop and double stack. Safety Car dispatched, picking up Kevin Estre at Blanchimont.
#81 is Reema Juffali, Ralf Aron, Yannick Metler, and Alain Valente. Fans in the grandstand seem to be asleep at least for a while. I mean, it is almost 2:00 on Sunday morning. Garage 59 are in the garage and they have shattered a brake disc on that car as we are preparing to go back to green. Vincent Vosse says that the race has been extremely hectic with five safety cars and they know they have to stay on track, make the right decisions, and be in the fight in the last two or three hours. No surprises that it is a tough race and many cars are all on equal pace presently.
Four cars can gather lots of information for the team and help the strategy. Safety car lights off. We are back to green now. Kevin Estre leads this motor race and now we see that Thomas Preining has passed Dries Vanthoor. Kevin Estre is clearing away and there is much less gravel on course now. Game over for the #70 Lamborghini but also game over for the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes out of the race and Dennis Lind and company at Barwell are still in trouble, 37 laps down. Barwell Motorsports will keep going for it. Andrzej Lewandowski, Lance Bergstein, Aaron Walker, and Lewis Williamson, game over. They are out.
Thomas Preining and Patric Niederhauser both have eschewed the pit lane for fuel. Ditto for Anton De Pasquale in the #4 Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. Kierin Jewiss is in the #62 Team Parker Porsche 911 GT3R, the car that Derek Pierce spun like a top earlier on. Jules Gounon in the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes is now the meat in an Audi sandwich as Valentino Rossi also gets divebombed by Fabian Schiller and loses a place. Nikki Thiim is keeping Dries Vanthoor honest currently. 14 and a half hours to go.
Antonio Fuoco is in the pit lane after doing only 16 minutes. Ferrari #71 might very well have had a puncture. Oh, wait. A whole change of the front nose of the car. Maybe there was some argy bargy and some damage. Phillip Eng is monstering Kevin Estre, or he was, but Estre is really pouring on the steam. Eng actually has Thomas Preining ahead. Patric Niederhauser #25 for the Sainteloc Junior Team, they are a lap down but pushing hard. Simon Gachet, Patric Niederhauser, and Christopher Mies. More gravel down the hill? Someone went deep up the escape road at Les Combes. Could it be Nikki Thiim?
Black and orange meatball flag for the #71 Ferrari for headlights being turned off. 14 and a half hours now left in the race. Thomas Laurent in the #9 Audi leading the Gold division, is not leading anymore and has lost five spots, to 18th overall. He lost four seconds and four places on the road. Marco Mapelli, Jean Baptiste Simmenauer, and others and others, flew past him. Final warning for track limits for the #60 car, the VSR Lamborghini. That is Baptiste Moulin, Artem Petrov, Michael Dorrbecker, and Marcus Paverud.
Pit stops and driver changes will be coming up again soon. This is the 75th 24 Hours of Spa and the 75th anniversary of Porsche. Estre and Preining run 1-2 and then we see Phillip Eng and Dries Vanthoor. Game over for the #81 Theeba Motorsports Mercedes and the #159 Garage 59 McLaren of Nicolai Kjaergaard and company. That was crash damage and not just a busted, exploded brake disc. Thomas Preining gets smoked by Patric Niederhauser trying to get caught up to Kevin Estre I want to say. Thomas Preining now finds himself behind with Phillip Eng, Dries Vanthoor, Nikki Thiim, Max Hesse, and Jules Gounon. Jules Gounon ought to pull the old finger out of the spigot and get going.
Kevin Estre leads Thomas Preining by 8.3 secodns and ought to be in the lane in a lap or so. So, Phillipp Eng assumes the lead and Kevin Estre is in and then the #25 Sainteloc Audi should get back on the lead lap I want to say. Eng now leads just barely over the rest of the pack of hungry wolves following him. Julien Andlauer is next into the #92 Manthey EMA "Grello" Porsche. #96 to the lane too for Rutronik Racing. Thomas Preining could have stayed in the car. No tires I don't think. Fuel takes longer than tires and drivers.
Maybe Laurens Vanthoor has taken over the #92 car. Will we have the Vanthoor brothers fighting each other, as opposed to the van der Linde brothers? Wow. Laurin Heinrich has taken over from Thomas Preining as Julien Andlauer is back on track as well. Heinrich a star of Porsche Super Cup and Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. Ayhacan Guven, the Turkish driver in the #54 Huber Racing/Dinamic Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is now the top rated Porsche I believe. Phillipp Eng leads Dries Vanthoor.
Rowe Racing vs. WRT. BMW at the top of the shop with two M4 GT3's. Rowe are back in the frame it appears. Kevin Estre did a double stint but did not do as much driving in the stint as he would have liked. The team knows they have a good car and they are executing just the way they are supposed to as we have Ben Constanduros now looking after things on the night shift in the pit lane. A golden moon over Spa Francorchamps and Francorchamps village. It is not quite a full moon but it is lovely. So many races coming up. We will have to backtrack and cover a few things and then, get all set for future events in series like IMSA and FIA WEC as well.
Plus we have more coverage coming from SRO America and from SRO Europe and the race that happened before this one at Paul Ricard. After green flag stops, if there is a Full Course Yellow in the next half hour even for one lap, the rest of the field can get a faster pit stop and lose less time than they would under green. Outliers don't survive. For 30 minutes you just hope the field is packed together like sardines in a can. Phillipp Eng leads overall. Bronze led by #188 McLaren. Then the #30 BMW in Gold and Kay van Berlo in the #85 leads in Gold. The Pro-Am leader is Jean Glorieux in the #888 CSA Audi.
Nicky Leutwiler is also in contention in one of the Porsche's but I have to double check and see which one it is. Colin Braun and one other car currently in the pit lane. The ambient temperature is 13 degrees Celsius with a 16 degrees Celsius track temperature. Ferrari #50 in the pit lane. Simon Mann just brought the car in from 58th in the overall in this legendary livery of Francorchamps Motors. Samantha Tan in the #38 Ferrari is in the lane for damage repair. Ricky Capo, too, has been stuck in the lane for an hour. Then comes the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Dennis Lind and the #10 Boutsen VDS Audi with Andrea Cola, and he could be out of the race, perhaps. We are not quite sure.
I believe we have 58 of the 70 cars that started. Nico Varrone won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Corvette Racing with Ben Keating of course. Simon Mann, Ulysse De Pauw, Nico Varrone, and Julien Piguet. Eng leading over Dries Vanthoor, Nikki Thiim, Max Hesse, and Jules Gounon, the top five. Nikki Thiim is reeling in Dries Vanthoor and fast. The #4 Grove Motorsports Porsche is holding up the leaders it seems up over the rise at Raidillon, arcing to the right up the Kemmel straightaway. Trouble for the #60 VSR Lamborghini of Markus Paverud, is overheating. That car is a steam locomotive.
Paverud in the lane. #58 and #63 also out of the event. Ricky Capo, game over.
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