Ferrari #51 will not roll over and play dead. It is a three-legged dog that won't give up the ghost. Marco Mapelli, Raffaele Marciello, Gilles Magnus and so forth. Raffaele Marciello will be in the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes up against the best GT3 drivers on the planet and we are ready with the safety car pulling onto the track. We remain in a Full Course Yellow procedure and the safety car may eventually be called for. Ferrari's race is now ruined as we go to safety car procedure with a closed pit lane and one of the cars is under investigation for improper pit time and drivers will be closing up on Marco Wittmann. We are into the closing hours of this motor race.
Ernst Moser, the boss of Phoenix Racing in DTM, at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, and here at the Spa 24 Hours. The BMW still leads albeit the opposition will be on a similar streategy. Cars get up on two wheels over the curbs in the final corner on the circuit here at Spa Francorchamps. The wave by is about to happen for cars in Bronze, Gold, Silver, and Pro-Am. Start the wave by procedure. The wave by is complete and the pit lane is now open. Matco Wittmann leads the motor race and so many other cars can make this race come to them with less than four hours left on the board. We are going to be getting down to crunch time really soon.
The wave by brigade has to catch up from Pouhon even though the safety car has been called in at the end of this lap. Watch for Marco Wittmann and for Daniel Serra and Serra needs to divebomb the BMW and get his lap back. Ferrari has to get their lap back if they want to win the endurance racing triple crown of Nurburgring, Le Mans, and Spa. Safety car lights off. Game over for the #99 Attempto Audi with broken suspension.
OK. Green flag! Let's go! We're back to acing with Marco Wittmann controlling the restart. They cross the timing line and Wittmann storms away and here comes Daniel Serra. Now then, the battle too is between Aud and Mercedes and a couple of Porsch'es. Dean MacDonald loses a place and Daniel Serra is going to get mugged. Ricardo Feller wants a move and he is getting attacked and trying to reel in van der Linde. Second, third, and fourth stuck in the traffic. Jules Gounon wants by Christopher Mies.
Dennis Olsen also wants to escape. Raffaele Marciello actually is trying to get around Mies. Out of Courbe Paul Frere and to Blanchimont the risk is high. Wow. This is spicy indeed. Marciello goes ahead of Christopher Mies. Marco Wittmann is five seconds to the good over Kelvin van der Linde. Ricardo Feller has the slipstream and Indy Dontje is in the way. Be careful. Rein it in. Feller side by side with Kelvin van der Linde! Feller personal best first sector and Dean MacDonald is getting after it as well. This is some absolutely wild GT3 racing! Through Campus and Courbe Paul Frere. Now, Feller is flying again.
Raffaele Marcieloo might have first crack. Feller will not wait. Feller is going to give van der Linde all he can handle. Tim Heinemann uncorks fastest lap of this motor race. They plunge through Eau Rouge and Marco Wittmann is whistling off into the distance. Tim Heinemann takes Crowdstrike Fastest Lap! Oh my! I will want to know that lap time if it sticks. Ricardo Feller will be fuming and now, Dennis Olsen is beginning to crank up the heat. van der Linde has Feller all over him. The BMW has more pace than the Audi does.
447 laps completed. 1,945 miles. Can the Audi boys keep it clean? Oh dear. Tresor Orange1 Audi now off the road in the dirt. The Rowe BMW is pushing hard. Heinemann has a new Spa 24 lap record at 2:17.087. Feller runs wide through Piff Paff (Fangnes), Campus, and the Courbe Paul Frere. Luca Stolz's pit stop was OK and he stays on the lead lap. van der Linde pulls the pin and gains the place over Indy Dontje. He is inching his way towards the race leaders. Wittmann is strong and he has a buffer for sure. Dennis Olsen is backing up and Indy Dontje wants to pass Andy Meyrick but Indy Dontje is nine laps down.
Feller beginning to reel in van der Linde and give the bloke fits. Ricardo Feller is pushing the track limits. Kelvin van der Linde has shown his cards to Feller. Dean MacDonald is leading in Gold over Max Hofer and Nicklas Kruetten. Akkodis ASP boss Jerome Policand is still positive that his team can succeed even though they did not have pace earlier in the race. They are going to try anything to get a podium and perhaps to win the race. The idea is to use Raffaele Marciello now and then Jules Gounon for the finish.
Timur Boguslavskiy has proven himself in this race as well. Don't count him out either. But don't make errors running wide or infringing on the speed limits. Renauer, Sturm, and Froggatt are. Froggatt, Sturm, and more are scrapping hard for the Bronze Cup. The #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Lewis Proctor, Tim Whale, and Adam Carroll. Tim Whale has a herniated disc in his back. 47 cars still running. The #60 VSR Lamborghini is out of the race. We have had at least two retirements in the last handful of moments for a total of 45-46 cars left on the track and a huge attrition rate.
The Porsche's are magnetized to each other it seems. We are wondering about (as the Hexis Porsche goes through), what the deal is with K-PAX making an early pit stop. I wonder about that. Are they throwing a different strategy or is something wrong with the Lamborghini? The Lamborghini's have been Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill all race weekend so far. We have only one Lamborghini that is in good shape. Glenn van Berlo in the #85 car is the one. He shares with Clemens Schmid and Benji Hites. The Lamborghini's had trouble in the previous race at Paul Ricard. We still have to talk about that one.
Marciello looks to be trying to get inside Ricardo Feller's mind. Rutronik vs. Manthey EMA. Dennis Olsen vs. Laurens Vanthoor I believe. You have two Audi's in the same situation. Vanthoor really wants to make a pass. It is circumstantial or traffic to faciliate an overtake. The eninge went bang on the #35 car. That is the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Are we going to see rain? This is a magnet for rain because of being in the forest in a microclimate.
Raffaele Marciello is in a good spot but Thomas Blam says there might be an alternator issue at K-PAX. They came a long way and got back on the lead lap. Something is wrong with the electronics on the car and try to finish the race. What a bear. What a nightmare. Nine of ten Lamborghini's are out of this race. Raffaele Marciello has to stay conservative at this moment. Raffaele Marciello, fourth currently. Trouble in paradise for the Bronze Cup leading #91 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Robert Renauer, Alfred Renauer, Ralf Bohn, and Kay van Berlo.
Ricardo Feller has to know his adversary and the same is true that van der Linde knows Feller's driving style. So, he is going to be strategic and calculating and here comes Feller. The Rowe BMW will pit a lap later. Mercedes to the lane and Akkodis ASP wants to leapfrog the Audi's. Car #88 in the lane and is the first of the big guns to get new and sticky Pirelli P Zero tires. Marciello stays on board. So, Manthey EMA respond and bring the #92 Porsche in. K-PAX Lamborghini with Sandy Mitchell at the controls will be sent out to try to make the finish, The Lamborghini teams have had a horrid race this weekend.
Raffaele Marciello will be on maximum attack. Nikki Thiim is now in the #17 Audi and Raffaele Marciello screams by and gets in front! What can Thiim do to respond? Feller is still second and what will they do for strategy? Dennis Olsen now finished driving the Rutronik Porsche #96 and I think Laurin Heinrich is going to go for it. At Herberth Motorsport they got hit by a Ferrari on the restart hurting part of the fuel tank. The engine hangs out over the back with the oil system and piping. If you cop a whack on the rear, the engine takes a hit. Alright, Nikki Thiim is up to speed and has caught up to Marciello.
Marco Wittmann is slower and needs to respond to the other two cars.
No comments:
Post a Comment