Marco Wittmann is now quicker than the top two through Pouhon. Audi could be fading away as a brand in Fanatec GT but they are here with a greater presence than ever, 40 years after Audi Sport was formed. BMW are looking for win number 25 and won tons of these races, in the 24 Hours of Spa in the halcyon days of the European Touring Car Championship. The traffic here at Spa is so much tougher to deal with because of all the cars being the same specification compared to other races such as Daytona or Le Mans. Robert Shwartzman and Nicklas Nielsen will keep going as Alessio Rovera got sick. They are on the fine line between being diplomatic and throwing the team under the bus. You have to cut them some slack while they are doing development.
Klaus Abbelen of course, won with a Ferrari 296 GT3 at the Nurburgring in mid May. Laurin Heinrich trying his best to catch Laurens Vanthoor and we have an Audi with a flat right rear tire. It is Arthur Rougier in the #888 CSA Audi! This will benefit into third the #4 Crowdstrike Riley Motorsports Mercedes of George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Ian James, and Felipe Fraga. The tire carcass loosens itsself and it lands in the gravel trap. Rougier is pulling off the circuit. The #51 Ferrari has tumbled down to 42nd place, nine laps down.
The #71 sister car of Antonio Fuoco will have to keep pushing. Driving around Spa for long stints is very tough. The #33 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin is under investigation for speeding in the pit lane. That car being driven by Jeff Kingsley, Jacob Riegel, Romain Leroux, and Ruben del Sarte. Dennis Marschall has been reeled in by Marco Wittmann and Wittmann has more laps in hand before he has to pit than Marschall does. Oh no. Well, the #88 CSA Audi is more damaged than they first thought it would be. Oh my. Raffaele Marciello will get back into the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes.
Dennis Marschall to the lane for service. Jules Gounon has won races for Audi, Bentley, and Mercedes. He has won in multiple brands in GT3. What will we see when Estre and Heinrich hit the pit lane? Antonio Fuoco is also set to pit and now Marco Wittmann has had six track limits transgressions and so has Antonio Fuoco. Both could have penalties in their future. Car #98, 30 second penalty for track limits.
Marco Wittmann in the pit lane now and he is taking his time penalty and then will fuel up but the car is going to go down, down, down the order, plummeting to 13th or 14th place. Phillipp Eng and Nick Yelloly cannot be happy about this. It is the car, not the driver necessarily. Christopher Haase racing Maxime Martin. Phillipp Eng has taken over the #98 Rowe Racing BMW and now, Valentino Rossi and his team are really beginning to put the pieces together here with over seven hours remaining in the race.
Maxime Martin won this race in 2016. Christopher Haase and Jules Gounon won this race together in 2017 for Audi. Maxime Martin to the lane, to the top end of the Formula 1 pit lane and Valentino Rossi will take over. Rossi is dropping down the order, but he gains the place back ahead of the Audi! He has jumped ahead of Gilles Magnus! Wow! Top speeds through Eau Rouge are 251-254 kilometers an hour. Magnus is intimidating "The Doctor". Does Rossi have any medicine to try and hold Gilles Magnus at bay? Sandy Mitchell too, is closing in the #6 K-PAX Lamborghini. Game over for Daniel Juncadella, one of last year's race winners, with wheel bearing failure.
Rossi has so much smoothness now in his driving which he did not have originally. Nikki Thiimnow in the pit lane at the beginning of the endurance/heritage pit lane. Laurin Heinrich is taking the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche to the lead as Charlie Fagg moves to second in the #5 Optimum Motorsports McLaren as well. Robert Renauerand Eddie Cheever III.. battling for victory in the Bronze class. Ricardo Feller too is chasing down Nikki Thiim. Kay van Berlo and Jonathan Hui get into their respective cars.
Raffaele Marciello now in the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes followed by a Ferrari and another Mercedes. We could still indeed see incidents before this race is all over. Nikki Thiim is the Energizer Bunny. Ricardo Feller just cannot stay with him. 352 laps now in the bag. Of the 70 cars that started, 20 have now officially retired leaving 50 out on track. Nikki Thiim is not held up by Pro-Am leader Alex Fontana. Joel Sturm ahead of Kay van Berlo in Bronze. Nikki Thiim is really pressing hard. He and his team really want this and so does Audi.
Fontana and Catsburg in Pro-Am are going to be on the same lap in the class. So, Nikki Thiim remains your race leader. Welcome Jon Watson to the broadcast booth. Charlie Fagg in the #5 Optimum Motorsports McLaren is running extremely well, too. Joel Sturm has been running well and so is Jonathan Hui. There is bodywork damage on the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing car is running strongly. Sky Tempesta Racing has run Ferrari, Mercedes, and now McLaren, and they have stuck with McLaren for GT World Challenge Europe and British GT. Estre vs. Heinrich, a battle of the Porsche's and Laurin Heinrich passes Kevin Estre! Holy cow!
Estre makes an honest mistake. Well, that's fascinating isn't it. Heinrich now in third spot. Estre on the tail of Laurin Heinrich. They go uphill to Les Combes. Estre is looking to recover. Heinrich, consolidating the third position. Estre and Vanthoor and Andlauer have all had errors. Heinrich, Olsen, and Preining though have done everything right. Porsche, if they can be 1-2 at the end of this race that will be a huge help for the Intercontinental GT Challenge points championship chase. K-PAX Racing are still in the race according to them.
Will Sandy Mitchell do a double? Marco Mapelli will be in the car if not. Sandy Mitchell passes Valentino Rossi, the Lamborghini factory driver as the team are catching some Z's. Lamborghini has had torrid luck in the 24 Hours of Spa. Maybe a Full Course Yellow or safety car can give them a reset. Heinrich tries the Mercedes and now we see Kevin Estre really going for it. Estre needed no second ivnitation to get right on Heinrich's tail.
A car is stationary on the run to Eau Rouge and we could be calling for a Full Course Yellow. We see smoke coming from the back of the car and why did he not stop at the corner station? He could get the car refired and back to the lane. The driver's door is open. Julien Andlauer is set to get aboard the #92 Manthey EMA Porsche. They are setting up, anticipating a Full Course Yellow or a tire issue perhaps that we saw last night with pickup on a tire causing a vibration.
Maybe Estre feels something is wrong. Hard to say. Jonathan Hui chasing Fred Makowiecki who is farther down the order. That Mercedes parked on the left side of the track, we wonder if it is a dangerous spot. Can marshals and a recovery vehicle get to it? Phillipp Eng is also in the fight, out of sequence though. Fabian Schiller heads for the lane and now Valentino Rossi will be trying hard to reel in Sandy Mitchell. Full Course Yellow in 20 seconds. 10 seconds. Full Course Yellow, now.Porsche #92 holds station.
Wow. We are now back to green. That was extremely brief. Not even sure which Mercedes was off course there. Phillip Eng is now in pit lane under green. That's weird.
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