Kevin Estre, too, is making his last pit stop as we are within the final hour of this motor race. In the background, there was contact with another car that damaged the Manthey EMA Porsche's diffuser. The battle is for second and Gounon goes back ahead of the Audi and the Audi loses out to the Porsche as the race leading Rowe BMW is in the lane for the final time. Fuel and new tires, you can hear the rattle guns and get the windscreen tear off, full tank of petrol, a clean windscreen, and the car drops off the air jacks, serviced and sent.
Jules Gounon is second and Rowe Racing have kept the BMW M4 GT3 in the lead. Their job is finished. Phillipp Eng is the effective leader of the motor race in the final hour. Unless Jules Gounon can do anything, it will be a BMW master class. It is their race to lose. Flying through Blanchimont, and the best of the WRT BMW's is the #46 car of Maxime Martin. Fred Vervisch also needs to pit. 514 laps completed. 2,237 miles. Tom Gamble, Matteo Cairoli, Glenn van Berlo, and Matteo Cairoli will take the Bronze leading Porsche to the finish to win the class.
Weary pit crews finishing their work. Joel Sturm is second to Matteo Cairoli and then Eddie Cheever III. is in third place. Sky Tempesta Racing are going to get a good result with the McLaren. They tried Ferrari and that didn't work. They tried Mercedes and that didn't work, the best GT3 car to most people. For McLaren, it seems to be working somehow. Maxime Martin finishes his stint and is in the lane for his final pit stop of the race. Fred Vervisch should follow him in.
Martin will finish out the race and brng it home. No driver change. Ricardo Feller's Audi is way down to ninth place. He has fallen like a stone. #888 did not perform it's penalty. That is the Pro-Am car being invesitgated by the stewards for John Glorieux, Erwin Creed, Arthur Rougier, and Casper Stevenson. Gounon and Thiim nose to tail. Jules Gounon covering a dive from Thiim! Thiim wants second spot with just 43 minutes to go!
Thiim continuing to push. Clemens Schmid delayed these guys but they have gone around him. Some drivers are courteous, others are beligerent, and some are completely different than that. Pro-Am and second place overall need to be resolved. Nico Menzel chasing down Nicky Catsburg, a former overall winner of this race. Christopher Haase drops to ninth and Maxime Martin is now sixth and Ricardo Feller has tumbled to eighth. Nico Menzel has to try reeling in Kiern Jewiss. Nick Catsburg being held up but Nico Menzel does not have an answer to that riddle at all.
Nicky Catsburg is a touring car champion and he won this race in the days of the BMW Z4 GT3 which was over a decade ago. Porsche has a huge room full of engineers looking at data on laptop computers. In the Silver class, Clemens Schmid is clear of Lucas Legeret. Lucas Legeret, one of the taller drivers in the field. I wonder how he can fold himself into a GT3 car. Nico Menzel has traffic to go through and Nicky Catsburg is catching him. #3 has had a 110 second time penalty at the end of the race track limits. Oh no! I feel for Alex Peroni, Kenneth Heyer, Patrick Assenheimer, and Florian Scholze.
Fabian Schiller in seventh place in the Mercedes-AMG Team Al Manar car. Audi vs. Audi for eighth. Attempto vs. Comtoyou. Christopher Haase vs. Christopher Mies. Haase is trying hard to pass the Moden Motorsport Porsche and does so but the porsche claims the line the Christopher Haase denies it. The Porsche says "no you don't, sunshine", with Benny Simonsen, the younger brother of the late, great Allan Simonsen.
Haase flashes the lights. Benny Simonsen is getting blue flags and Simonsen is being uncourteous. He is not making it easy for Haase. They see each other in parc ferme and one says to the other, "gosh, you helped me a lot, you dingdong." We have a ceremonial checkered flag and an official checkered flag and lots and lots of podium ceremonies. I think I will recap the winners probably tomorrow. Or, perhaps later this afternoon. Going to need to catch up on ye olde sleep after this one.
Fabian Schiller back to the pit lane. Phillipp Eng in the meantime is looking for his third 24 Hours of Spa victory. Oh my! Estre goes ahead of Thiim and Estre gets off the road in the dust and gets stymied! Estre is giving Nikki Thiim the rough end of the pineapple. Thiim's car is fading fast! Oy yoy yoy yoy! Estre is not giving up and in the second sector, Nikki Thiim runs wide and now Estre can reel him back in!
Gounon is motoring away in second spot. Kevin Estre closing into Blanchimont with 25 minutes left on the board. We'll have about 12 laps to go. 527 completed and we should end this race with 539 laps in the record book. Now, Thiim slams the door on Estre. Estre is going for third place and will not be denied. Kevin Estre is seeing the red mist here, maybe, into Pouhon. No rear diffuser, and for the purposes of this week he is adapting back to GT3 from racing an LMDh Hypercar for Porsche. A 963 LMDh prototype.
Nikki Thiim remains ahead as we watch Eddie Cheever race through Courbe Paul Frere. Jules Gounon can break away. Kevin Estre continues to chase Nikki Thiim., The "Grello" Porsche is racing well. Grello is like something you put in your cereal. Grello? Jello? Oh my. I'm not even trying that one! Diwnhill through Eau Rouge they come. Nikki Thiim can continue answering Kevin Estre's riddle. On the back of the car we can see the diffuser which helps with aerodynamics on prototypes and GT cars these days.
Audi and Porsche on the wrong side of the white line. Phillipp Eng leads by 17 seconds with 528 laps in the book. Eng knows he does not need to push. Preserve the car, hit your marks, make your apexes, don't bound over curbs. The Team Parker Racing Porsche has had 75 seconds added to it's race time. We have 17 minutes left on the board. This could very well be BMW's day. Hopefully the commentator's curse does not strike. Less than 15 minutes to go. Eng is driving out of his skin at this pojnt as Clemens Schmid has passed Fred Makowiecki.
Lucas Legeret is going to be pursuing Makowiecki. Gounon and Thiim are second and third and now, Kevin Estre continues throwing everything at this podium possibility, Dean MacDonald leads the Gold Cup class in tenth overall. McLaren has had horrid luck at the 24 Hours of Spa, but that is about to change. 12 and a half minutes to go. The Silver class leader is Clemens Schmid, Benja Hites, and Glenn van Berlo. Lamborghini will have at least one entry that is going to win.
Second in Silver is the Audi of Lucas Legeret, Sam de Jonge, and Finlay Hutchison. In third it is the #26 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi. Erwan Bastard, Paul Evrard, Gregoire Demoustier, and Antoin Doquin. In Pro-Am, SunEnergy1 could win in class The #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 with Martin Konrad, Adam Oseika, Nicky Catsburg, and Chaz Mostert, who will celebrate tonight with their boss, Kenny Habul, at the hospital, if they win.
In the Bronze Cup, the winner is going to be the #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R of Antares Au, Tim Heinemann, Jannes Fittje, and Matteo Cairoli. We have five minutes left. Battles still to be resolved. But Phillipp Eng can cruise from here. Phillipp Eng headed for a third 24 Hours of Spa victory. Marco Wittmann will win his first 24 hour race and Nick Yelloly will win Spa after winning the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2020. This is the penultimate lap. We get two more. Dirt and grime but no tank tape and no dings or dents. This will be the 25th BMW win at the 24 Hours of Spa.
So, one lap to go in the 75th running of the 24 Hours of Spa. It sounds good to me. Rowe Racing and BMW have done a sterling job this weekend. You don't need to be on the front row or be quickest. Have a team and a car that can run and be reliable. Half a lap to go. Phillipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly are going to win the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Spa!
#98 Eng/Wittmann/Yelloly Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3
They win at the end of the 2023 edition of the race! Checkered flag! 537 laps in 24 Hours, 1 minute, and 15 seconds. 2,337 miles.
Overall/Pro: #98 Eng/Wittmann/Yelloly Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3
Pro-Am: #75 Konrad/Oseika/Catsburg/Mostert SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo
Silver: #85 Schmid/Hites/van Berlo GRT - Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan EVO2
Gold: #5 De Haan/Gamble/Fagg/MacDonald Optimum Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo
Bronze: #20 Au/Heinemann/Fittje/Cairoli Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Huber Motorsport earns the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap put in by Tim Heinemann. Of the 70 cars that started, only 44 finished and spare a thought for Kyle Washington, James Sofronas, Patrick Long, and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who never got to race. Maybe, just maybe, they will be back next year. Spa falls quiet for the first time in about four days as it is time for the podium ceremonies. The trophies presented including the giant, gorgeous race trophy, a golden cup.
It has been another fabulous edition of the 24 Hours of Spa again this year. We thank you for your company, joining us for the biggest GT3 race in the world. Tim Heinemann, 2:17.087, the Crowdstrike Fastest Lap award winner. Let the champagne fly! The podium celebrations are always a joy to watch after these massive endurance races. Five classes of course, all based on driver ratings for the 70 GT3 cars that raced this weekend.
Spare a thought for Lamborghini, winning in only one class after having much trouble. Something positive to hold onto, thankfully. Two more endurance races to go in 2023. We will have the Nurburgring for you when it comes, and, a bonus. Yours truly is working on highlighted coverage of the previous race, the 1,000 Kilometers of Paul Ricard and will post that one very soon. So, you won't want to miss it. You'll want to stay tuned for the race on the Cote d'Azur. Trust me on that.
For what GT3 cars can give back to the drivers and teams after racing them in endurance events like Spa, they are a worthy investment. Audi wins the King's Cup, the Coupe du Roi. Audi has a perfect return. So, this was a phenomenal race even with the wt road early yesterday. The racing action was thrilling the entire way as it always is in the 24 Hours of Spa. Especially the unbelievable scenes of the nighttime action, which also found a number of casualties.
Rowe Racing came back from a time penalty and a fuel hose issue. The BMW passed the Audi on the way to Eau Rouge before we sa a late Full Course Yellow, and the BMW's reliability was unbelievable. Elbows out driving from Nick Yelloly. That is what you do if you want to win. BMW #98 gives Bavarian Motorwerks their 25th overall 24 Hours of Spa victory from the touring car era and the GT3 era, both. A win for Rowe Racing, for Nick Yelloly, Phillipp Eng, and Marco Wittmann.
Thanks for being with us. We'll see you, in not quite 12 months, for the next edition of the 24 Hours of Spa. Bye bye.
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