Kay van Berlo has also been in the fight. Now, the pit stop for the #55 Porsche is running a wee bit long. Sheldon van der Linde still right on Maxime Martin's six. Marco Wittmann heads for the lane and get out of the traffic with the other Rowe Racing BMW. Fred Vervisch and Dennis Lind also pit their Audi's. Track limits penalty for the #52 Ferrari of Lilou Wadoux, Louis Machiels, Jef Machiels, and Andrea Bertolini. Louis Machiels is very experienced, and I wonder why he is being pinged for track limits even though he is an Am driver. Dan Harper remains 18th. Baptiste Moulin in the #60 VSR Lamborghini went to the wrong pit box. His team will be looking for him at Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. Moulin sharing with Artem Petrov, Michael Dorrbecker, and Markus Paverud.
We have a very busy pit lane at Spa. 21 of 23 cars have stopped and we have smoke billowing out of one of the cars. It is a Lamborghini with smoke billowing from the tailpipe. Stephen Grove will take over the Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. That is the #23 car. Stephen Grove the team owner is sharing with Brenton Gorve, Anton de Pasquale, and Earl Bamber, an all-Australian effort in Intercontinental GT Challenge.
AF Corse cued up for stops and a fire in the back of the #50! Aye yaye yaye! Simon Mann at the controls. Goodness! Is that a fuel spillage? This is bonkers. Get that car away from the sister car as we have more cars in the lane, in the endurance pit lane. Gracious! That happened a lot in the good old days. Porsche #20 also in for service and a driver change from Matteo Cairoli to one of the other chaps on the driver's strength. Lamborghini #63 of Jordan Pepper is the new leader. Alessio Rovera also back on the track. Pepper pitted out of sequence and the race will ebb and flow from here on out. Maro Engel entered the lane early doors as well.
Janus Fittje now driving he #20 Porsche. Ferrari #50 undergoing repairs. They have taken and removed the rear bonnet. They've addressed the source of the fire. Jordan Pepper has now gone from 61st up to the lead. Dennis "The Menace" Lind uncorks fastest lap of the race at 2:19.074! Woohoo! Pepper is 4.8 seconds to the good over Maro Engel in the Mercedes. Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Kieran Jewiss for Team Parker Racing is up to fifth place. Car #62 is running well. We'll talk about it in a minute.
At AF Corse, Simon Mann was in the #50 and there was a fuel fire but everything is OK. Unusual for a dry break fuel connector to have a fire. #50, that is the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Simon Mannn, Julien Piguet, Nicolas Varrone, and Ulysse De Pauw. Jannes Fittje is really putting the welly down currently. The battle is beginning to heat up for second place and the track is drying out quickly. Maro Engel being harried by Daniel Serra. Good pass through the final turj there from Maro Engel on the Bullitt Racing Aston Martin.
We have a spin, and another one for Gerhard Watzinger! He has been on the whirligig and he is hemorrhaging time. He is good in Lamborghini Super Trofeo but getting used to the GT3 Lambo. Pit lane speed penalty for one of the Mercedes'. We are indeed looking at the #62 Team Parker Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. Kiern Jewiss is at the wheel of it sharing alongside Derek Pierce, Xavier Maassen, and Andy Meyrick. If I were a driver I would be categorized as Tin! I would extremely slow! Go kart style stuff, and in an amusement park! We've got a spin and poor old Gerhard Watzinger is having a tough old time f it. He has spun, what? Four, maybe five times now.
Yikes! He almost gets clattered by Dennis Lind and one of the BMW's! Stick to it, Gerhard. By criminy! Sam Neary has now taken over from Fabrizio Crestani in the #58 Lamborghini for GRT - Grasser Racing Team. Neary sharing with Crestani, Gerhard Tweraser, and Ricky Capo. Laurens Vanthoor in the "Grello" (green and yellow) #92 Porsche 911 GT3R for Manthey EMA. He is now behind the Audi with Adam Eteki at the controls. Dennis Lind leading Pro-Am currently in 19th overall.
Pit stop time for Maro Engel and for Daniel Serra, pitting early and out of sequence. Engel in the lane and Serra exits. Maro Engel will do a double stint in the #999 GruppeM Mercedes. The Ferrari trundling down the lane and will be beaten out of the lane by the Mercedes. Okie dokie. No significant advantage in the F1 pits or the endurance pits down the hill. 31 laps now on the board but this race is by time and mileage, not by laps. The Lamborghini Huracan Evo 2, the Porsche 911 (992) GT3R, the McLaren 720S Evo, and the Ferrari 296 GT3 are all debuting GT3 cars in the 24 Hours of Spa na d there's big trouble at Iron Lynx #63 in the lead! Goodness!
Trouble in paradise for Iron Lynx! Are they in trouble? They very well could be. Oy yoy yoy! Janus Fittje gets the lead back. Bodywork off the front of the Lamborghini and they are going to the front of the car with furrowed brows and frustrated mechanics. Brake master cylinder might be the part they are examining at this stage. Dennis Lind is being monstered now by Marco Wittmann for 16th spot and now Alessio Rovera moves into the lead past Jannes Fittje. The Lamborghini is now back on track. Pepper and company are now a lap down.
Henrique Chaves, the Portuguese driver is beginning to make inroads. Raffaele Marciello chasing down Sam Neary, the British GT driver. The #2 Mercedes has been penalized for track limits. We'll get back to that car in a wee while. Currently we see Raffaele Marciello pressing Sam Neary up to Eau Rouge and we have the McLaren of Henrique Chaves probing, going for it. Marciello makes the move up the Kemmel straightaway and job done into Les Combes. Bish, bash, bosh. Easy peasy, like taking candy from a baby. Chaves though has to back out of it and Sam Neary walks right through that open door but Chaves akes the move back into Pouhon corner.
Know when to concede, keep your powder dry early doors. Raffaele Marciello now moving in on Martin Konrad. Marciello into Speaker's Corner, he has the power over the McLaren but maybe not speed. Jannes Fittje and Maro Engel have been reported to the stewards for refueling time which is 43 seconds. Chaves sets fastest lap at 2:18.576. Chaves dives past Marciello into the final turn! Wowzers! That is manna from heaven for Chaves. Marciello knows he does not have the steam to deal with the McLaren. They've lapped the purple #16 Audi driven by pseudonym named Japanese driver, "Rio". Rio sharing with Junlin Pan, Xiaole He, and Adderley Fong.
Mattia Drudi wants by Jannes Fittje and does so into La Source. Stephen Grove gets run out wide as Maxime Martin is doing all he can to move forward and now Marco Wittmann and Maxime Martin are right up behind Dennis Lind! It is a feeding frenzy and a game of sharks and minnows! Wow! The BMW's ganging up on the Lamborghini. What on earth happened to Jordan Pepper. One lap down in 65th place. Four BMW M4 GT3's queued up beind this battle we have been talking about. Lind and Martin may have brushed each other.
Dennis Lind fighting Maxime Martin into the final turn. Lind has the point and squirt ability from the Lambo. van der Linde monstering Wittmann. Lind whistling off into the distance having won titles in GT World Challenge Asia and British GT. Wittmann, van der Linde, Harper, the battle of the BMW's. What a race this is. They have cleared the SunEnergy1 #75 Mercedes AMG GT3. The car that Kenny Habul wrecked has indeed gone to the scrapheap. Out of Blanchimont they come to the chicane to complete another lap. Dennis Lind has also moved past GRT - Grasser as Sam Neary was demoted and now, van der Linde tries to make the pass on Neary but has to know discretion once again is the better part of valor.
Up the Kemmel straightaway, van der Linde might make the move at Les Combes and does so. Dan Harper, too, is pushing hard to get past the Lamborghini as well. Sam Neary is in his own category, he is an interloper in this battle. Alessio Rovera five seconds to the good over Mattia Drudi. Rovera, Drudi, Fittje, van der Linde, Fagg, the tpp five. Gilles Magnus is pushing and Kelvin van der Linde now fourth. Marco Seefried has Henrique Chaves on his six now too. Raffaele Marciello now running in tenth overall. Down through Pouhon they go. Raffaele Marciello closing in on Franck Perera, running nose to tail.
More passing as one of the Mercedes goes way off the road into Raidillon! Now, into Les Combes, brave stuff! This is iffy between the Mercedes and the Ferrari. James Cottingham way off the road and goes for a rodeo ride! Matt Bell, actually, in the DK Mercedes. 41 laps done. Ferrari #50 recovering from 67th place with Nico Varrone after the pit fire. Jordan Pepper remains a lap down in 65th spot. Ollie Milroy has made up 31 spots taking the Inception Racing McLaren over from Fredrik Schandorff. Jordan Pepper did indeed have a braking issue. Top speeds through Eau Rouge between 248-249 clicks. 155 miles an hour. Wittmann gets his nosed chopped off as Gilles Magnus gets his elbows out. Yikes!
That was all through Pouhon corner. Franck Perera wants by Marco Seefried. This is out of the Piff Paff, (Fangnes). Now into Stavelot (Courbe Paul Frere), they continue to push. Seefried, Perera, and the lapped Nico Varrone Ferrari. Marciello goes inside Marco Seefried, making his point, maybe not quite being ruthless, but almost. Jannes Fittje is being harried again by Kelvin fvan der Linde whole Laurens Vanthoor is giving the same treatment to Charlie Fagg. Mattia Drudi inching towards Alessio Rovera. Rovera is losing pace hand over fist! Maybe he has a cut down Pirelli tire and he does. Left rear Pirelli P Zero is flat as a pancake! The diffuser is scraping the track. Oh dear! He has run wide throug Blanchimont. Get to the pit lane now.
e's sideways with no steering! A puncture for the former leader! Good gracious! Mattia Drudi has cycled to the lead. That is the #40 Orange1 Audi. Car #20, 15 second penalty for short refueling and Kelvin van der Linde has moved to second as Jannes Fittje serves a penalty. #2, 12 track limits infringements! That is the GetSpeed Mercedes AMG GT3 of Lance Bergstein, Andrezj Lewandowski, Aaron Walker, and Lewis Williamson. I think Lewis Williamson is at the wheel. Everyone's resets at six hours, 12 hours, and 18 hours. But we harp on it and bang on it all the time. Do not exceed track limits. Ferrari #51 now has Robert Shwartzmann at the wheel of it.
Gilles Magnus passes at least four cars. That was a move that was sweet as a nut. Sheldon van der Linde passes Gilles Magnus now for 14th place. Simon Gachet, Patric Niederhauser, and Christopher Mies also gts a track limits penalty as Robert Shwartzmann is now at the wheel of the Ferrari that had the puncture. Rovera says debris surely caused the puncture and he had to be careful with no tire pressure sensor alarm or light in the cockpit. Fittje passes Chaves as Laurens Vanthoor has leapfrogged them both. Drudi, van der Linde, Vanthoor, Chaves, and the rest.
A brave move as Vanthoor moves into the Blanchimont and makes the pass on the #52 Machiels family Ferrari. Vanthoor now 7/10ths of a second ahead of Chaves who has gone by Fittje. Be sensible, stay clean. What can Vanthoor do about Kelvin van der Linde? Vanthoor is a second a lpa quicker than the South African driver.
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