We have lost now about a dozen cars. We are getting closer and closer to the halfway mark in the race. Max Hesse makes a bold move on Dries Vanthoor. He'd be the billiard ball powered into the pocket either through Pouhon or Blanchimont. Markus Paverud in the #60 Lamborghini in the garage and the team is trying to fix the overheating problems. It is still steaming away. The radiator is at the front and of course the heat source with the motor is at the rear. The engine is running. So, VSR could be back on track here and we'll see if it holds together. #58 and #63 are not officially retired, the #78 car of Dennis Lind I think is still being worked on with Dennis Lind at the wheel, or maybe they just threw in the towel without letting the stewards know.
Let's see if #60 holds together and doesn't start boiling like a kettle again. There's gravel all over the shop and that's why the radiator got a hole in it. That gravel is sharp. Nico Varrone is now on the same lap and that will be a change for last position in the field with the leaders covered by just over a second. Max Hesse in third place through Rivage corner. He is chasing Nikki Thiim and Phillipp Eng. Dries Vanthoor has now dropped down to 16th place I believe. 15th, excuse me. Rowe Racing in the pit lane and so is K-PAX Lamborghini, the #6 car. The BMW Hypercar program will be in the FIA World Endurance Championship and WRT will also be running a couple of GT3 BMW M4's in WEC next year too.
Julien Andlauer and Lorin Heinrich go back to the top of the pile. Phillip Eng is in the #99 and Raffaele Marciello has now taken over the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes and Dennis Marschall hands off to Ricard Feller in the #40 Tresor Orange1 Audi. Dries Vanthoor has leapfrogged Eng, Hesse, and Thiim. Antonio Fuoco is now up into the top ten after pitting off sequence. Raffaele Marciello is reeling in Nikki Thiim for sixth place I want to say. We have an hour and 40 minutes until the next set of points is on offer. We will see some cars making one pit stop and others making two, and it sounds like some teams have been exposed to making a pig's breakfast out of things if a Full Course Yellow appears. Raffaele Marciello is giving Nikki Thiim all he can handle.
In GT3 there is just one Aston Martin in this whole race. We have seen more GT3 Aston Martin's in IMSA and now we have the new GT3 Ford Mustang coming for next year for many GT3 platforms stateside and around the world. Bullitt Racing have the only Aston Martin in the field and of course remember the BMW M6 and M8 and the Bentley Continental GT3. Sports car racing is booming right now with the manufacturer involvement. Davide Rigon is set to take over the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich are 1-2 for Porsche. Pit stop time now at AF Corse. The vagueries of fate will choose who are going to win this race, the track, chooses the winner, honestly. Racing is like life. It is not always fair. Thirteen and a half hours to go. Porsche being predicted as a possible winner as we have a new Pro-Am leader, the #24 Car Collection Porsche of Alex Fontana sharing with Niki Leutwiler, Ivan Jacoma, and Nico Menzel. We are more than halfway through the hours of darkness.
We might have a dry race for the remainder of this event. Knock on wood. Antonio Fuoco had no lights on the car, because of contact at the start with another car it seems. They are doing all they can torecover with the Ferrari 296 GT3. Maybe they are missing something but they have pace currently. The Spa 24 is different from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, The cars are so different and of course the blue flag procedure can be confusing. Colin Braun spun the #4 Crowdstrike Mercedes and this will be a short yellow as pit stops are being made by the frontrunners.
We are into the last quarter of this hour before we reach hour 12 and the halfway mark of the motor race. So we have the safety car on the road to clean up the gravel off the circuit. Luca Engstler is back on track but has now gone up to second behind the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes. We are going to likely go back to green flag racing. Chaz Mostert now leads Pro-Am in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes as they begin the wave by. The #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 is in the pit lane and not moving,
That is the car of Magnus Gustavsen, Ezequiel Perez Companc, Alexey Nesov, and Jesse Salmenautio. The pit lane is open but the safety car lights remain on. Anyone who stops now could be in good shape. It takes two minutes to do a stop and then you don't need to stop at the 12 hour mark I don't think. An oil leak for the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes, looking for the oil leak and perhaps an oil cooler has been damaged with the engine overheating.
Safety car lights off. Back to green flag racing, now. Eng hangs on over Andlauer and now, the battle is on as there could be something flapping on the left hand side of the bonnet on the Porsche. Or it is Julien Andlauer gesticulating saying, "move it!" Andlauer flashing the lights. He is trying to distract Phillip Eng and it can't be helping him and here comes Laurin Heinrich and Raffaele Marciello has been fired from a cannon and is beginning to push. Last year's winner is coming to the fore. Eng vs. Andlauer is the battle to watch.
Andlauer losing grip falling into the clutches of more cars including another Porsche and four BMW's. Marciello is a second and a half clear and he will have to hit the pit lane before everybody else. We are now one hour away from the halfway mark of the race to get the second scoop of points. You can only get one scoop of ice cream at a time I guess.
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