We begin the next chapter of this race. This is like a great novel you just don't want to put down. That is usually how these endurance races work. Luca Engstler is learning a lot and there is a long way to go. He will be into that #17 car for the first time in an hour. His dad, Franz Engstler is a great touring car racer and Luca Engstler started in touring cars, too. Kevin Estre now leading the motor race becoming a part of the DNA of Porsche Motorsports for the better part of the last decade. He is always at the front whether it is Porsche Carrera Cup, Porsche Super Cup, FIA World Endurance Championship, or SRO Endurance. Colin Braun now at the controls of the #4 CrowdStrike Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 with CrowdStrike boss George Kurtz, Felipe Fraga, and Ian James.
Jef Machiels has gone off the road and recovered. I wonder. He went over the curb and had the runoff to work with. That was a get out of jail free card. Colin Braun running 30th in the overall in the CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes. We see this car all the time in Fanatec GT World Challenge America, and it is a top contender that is usually in the winner's circle. Casper Stevenson second in Pro-Am aboard the #888 CSA Racing Audi R8 he shares with Erwan Creed, Jean Glorieux, and Arthur Rougier. Timur Boguslavskiy is pressing on hard. Garage 59 and McLaren lead the Bronze class. Akkodis ASP have their game plan and the defending champions from last year are starting to go for it. Jules Gounon has not been inserted into the car yet.
They are looking for class points. Working lap 73. Ramos chasing Bougslavskiy. Laurin Heinrich, Nicklas Kjaergaard, Sam De Haan, and Jean Baptiste Simmenauer all pitting. Nikki Thiim in the meantime is still leading. Dries Vanthoor on a slow burn to try and get back up the order and Valentino Rossi is getting back into the picture. This is only his second full year in GT World Challenge Europe. Anything he learned last year was on reset because it is a new car, swapping from Audi to BMW. Pit stop time for three of these cars including a penalty for the #92 Porsche.
Top ten all in the lane. 11, 12, 13, and more. Anyone else? Antonio Fuoco stays out and takes the race lead. He is out of sequence. Sven Mueller second in the #54 Dinamic Huber Motorsports Porsche he shares with Ayhancan Guven and Christian Engelhart. The F1 pits on the top end are busy and now, we have a whole queue of cars exiting the lane. Nikki Thiim trying now to pass the #64 DK Engineering Mercedes. That is the Haupt Racing Team car of Naveen Rao, Matt Bell, Frank Bird, and James Cottingham.
Now then, we have Jules Gounon in the #888 Akkodis ASP Mercedes who will light up the scoreboard and we have Dinamic, both AF Corse Ferrari's and others pitting. Through the final turn and still leading is second as Phillipp Eng will take the race lead in the #98 Rowe Racing BMW. Kevin Estre stays at the wheel of the #92 Manthey EMA Porsche. Eng leads on the road and now the Ferrari is exiting the pit lane. Robert Shwartzmann had a longer stop than he'd wanted. Eng, Thiim, Estre, Marschall, Louis Prette, and others. Prette looks to be fourth by now.
Estre is delayed in traffic, look, by the #16 Uno Racing Team Audi. But that is a quick move for Estre and he is through. Phillipp Eng now leads out of La Source. I wonder who will be in second place. Rowe Racing won round one of the Endurance Cup at Monza in April. Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, and now BMW have all led the race so far here at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. We have a slow McLaren in limp home mode through Bruxelles. That is the #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 crawling to the pit lane. Brendon Iribe, Ollie Milroy, Fran Rueda, and Frederik Schandorff. Now then, a good battle.
Aurelien Panis and David Schumacher scrapping. Two sons of ex-F1 drivers. Mikael Grenier has to go inside as David Schumacher and Nicolai Kjaergaard going for it and Loris Hezemans is now in the #12 Audi. The power is in the car in the McLaren but he is not moving. Cars all over the shop and Nicolai Kjaergaard screaming to the front of the pack! They scream down to Courbe Paul Frere and then up to Blanchimont as Aurelien Panis has cleared Jean Baptiste Simmenauer and Louis Prette has uncorked the fastest lap of the race at 2:18 dead. 2:18.031! Holy cow! He has Dries Vanthoor right on his six.
The McLaren stops again down to Double Gauche. Race Control will have to work on that incident. Vanthoor is steaming along and catching the McLaren through Paul Frere corner again. This is up to Blanchimont, reeling in the McLaren and not yet. He's just not close enough. A late dive through the final turn. Well, that's wild stuff indeed. How about La Source? He will have a look but no dice. Take your brave pills. Raidillon might be a good place as they zing through Eau Rouge. This is the move. Prette defends to the outside. Late on the brakes, and ka ching! Vanthoor to fifth place!
Wow! That was wicked! Brenton Grove back in the #23 Porsche and now Dries Vanthoor can't just sit there. Laurin Heinrich passes Clement Mateu. Mateu in the #44 Porsche for CLRT (Come Ledogar Racing Team). The Porsche has great straight line speed around Spa. They seem to outclass everyone else at BMW, Audi, Mercedes, McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, you name it. Hezemans, Neary, and Glenn van Berlo are the top three in the Silver class thus far.
In Bronze, you have a great scrap as well with Clement Mateu and more. Eng to the lane from the lead and Nikki Thiim gets the lead back. Lamborghin have had a torrid race so far and a torrid season in both endurance and sprint races. Marco Mapelli in the #6 K-PAX car have lost oodles of time. Louis Prette laps past Naveen Rao and now Brenton Grove is the cork in the bottle for Laurens Vanthoor and Jules Gounon is going to have some assistance but Dries Vanthoor finally has passed Brenton Grove. I am going to skedaddle and get away from you, slappy.
Poor Fran Rueda is losing steam in that stricken #7 McLaren. Nicolai Kjaergaard puts two wheels off the road and through the gravel is Joel Sturm in the #911 Pure Racing Porsche and now Jean Baptiste Simmenauer will be rumbling up behind him. What is the scoop at Inception Racing? Team boss Bas Leinders says there is an electrical problem on that automobile. He is stopped dead stick and now it is raining. It is drizzling here in the Ardennes Forest. Aurelien Panis, thundering through Eau Rouge leading Gold over David Schumacher. Sturm does the switcheroo and makes the move on the McLaren and we have a spin at La Source. That is the Audi #10. Get out of the way. Cesar Gazeau, the Frenchman, has to find reverse.
Local Yellow in sector two as Jules Gounon dives past the McLaren. Cue the "Jaws" music and now, Jules Gounon is right on top of Brenton Grove like a rat up a drainpipe. We are going Full Course Yellow and a snatch vehicle to rescue the McLaren. This is the second Full Course Yellow of the day. That McLaren continues losing steam. A short yellow called while yours truly was on break and now, we are back to green, and the battle resumes between Thiim and Estre. More fun and games in the chicane. We have Glenn van Berlo getting roughed up and Robert Shwartzmann bravely dives outside of Andrea Caldarelli.
Ferrari does not have the straight line speed, so they are praying for rain. They seemingly do have the pace and after the brake problem, poor old Andrea Caldarelli is four laps down and he just has not had the luck at Spa. Drive through penalty for a dozen times disrespecting track limits for the #8 AGS Events Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Nicolas Jamin, Antonin Borga, and Leandro Gorini, are the trio of drivers in that automobile as Nikki Thiim is still booking it. 30 second stop and go penalty to the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes. Three lots of six on the track limits offense tally. Deary me. Nikki Thiim leading the motor race by 5.9 seconds.
Dries Vanthoor is up to third spot in the #32 WRT BMW M4 GT3. WRT are doing what they know how to do at Spa and a BMW in trouble with a right rear tire flat on the Kemmel straight! Adam Carroll is the poor chap with a flat right rear Pirelli tire. Slow it down, bud. Slow it down. He is buried in 49th place. Two BMW's nose to tail in eighth and ninth. Max Hesse over Valentino Rossi. The BMW M4 GT3 seems very strong at Spa Francorchamps. We did not see the BMW's run too well at Paul Ricard last time. But, we are not there yet with Paul Ricard. I am still working on the race report on that one.
You'll have to stay tuned to find out what happened, in the next week, to find out how things worked out at Paul Ricard on the Cote d'Azur, the previous event of the championship before this one. Fabian Schiller being chased down by the McLaren. That is the Garage 59 car I believe. Incident between cars #26 and #10 noted by the stewards. That must have been something I missed when I stepped out for a moment. Valentino Rossi is really showing himself and now is wheel to wheel! The Doctor is in the house! Adam Carroll has finally made it to the lane and Rossi lost out on a place to Laurin Heinrich in the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche.
Rossi might have Antonio Fuoco looming large in his mirrors soon. Rossi is motivated. He has the carrot on the end of the string. Thomas Drouet in one of the Mercedes' is also in this fight. Drouet in the #87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes he shares with Lorenzo Ferrari and Maximilian Gotz. Adam Carroll has limped back to the lane with three wheels on the wagon. Fortunately he was able to get back. He said he had an instant tire deflation and hopefully did not do any damage. Suspension, brake lines, and other parts of the car can be damaged by a flailing tire.
Meanwhile, Jules Gounon is monstering Dennis Marschall and absolutely going for it, going for points at the six-hour mark. Be patient. Don't do anything rash that could jeopardize your race. Sam De Haan is up front of these blokes in the #5 McLaren and Patric Niederhauser in the Audi wants to get into this fight as well. Flat out through Eau Rouge and up the hill. Gounon is gaining on Marschall as Kevin Estre runs second but just a second now behind Nikki Thiim leading the motor race and Thiim has lapped traffic ahead. Where he catches the cars is important so they don't balk him. Three races within this race for the six hour points, 12 hour points, and the final points at the end of 24 hours.
Thiim is held up. Estre wants it and Estre is nearly bumber to bumper with Thiim!
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