Maxime Martin is indeed into the pit lane. Well done, 16 seconds of leeway. That's how WRT win these long-distance races like Le Mans and Spa. Keep it simple. 2:17.618, a new fast lap from Sheldon van der Linde. It is Happy Hour at Spa and now, the fastest laps are coming in thick and quick. Maxime Martin stays onboard the #46 WRT BMW. Christian Engelhart for Porsche in the #54 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is the erstwhile leader. Engelhart pits now and Maximilian Gotz and Maro Engel pit as well. Dinamic GT Huber Racing, coming from Carrera Cup Deutchsland, Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup, and Nurburgring Langstrecken Series as well.
Trouble on the left rear fender, somehow or other. That's odd. They were using spray to clean the surface of brake dust and other junk off the car. Christian Engelhart still had time on his stint clock. Maximilian Gotz and Maro Engel assume the lead and we are just over 1/3rd distance. We are into the ninth hour, as Maximilian Gotz is now in the lane for a stop for fresh tires. Fresh Pirelli tires are a prime deal here this time of evening with the temperatures being in the zone. Don't hit stuff and stay out of the pits, the two most important rules of endurance racing.
Marco Seefried says that Pure Racing have done well in Free Practice and they are trying to catch the #188 Garage 59 McLaren currently. Maro Engel pits and so wr see Kevin Estre now behind Sheldon van der Linde. BMW vs. Porsche. The safety car saved their bacon and they were jolly lucky for that. Marco Wittmann and Dan Harper are scrapping with each other. Rowe Racing might be just a wee bit nervous presently with the two drivers pressing each other through Bruxelles corner. The team is well aware that both of their cars could win the motor race and you have Kelvin van der Linde catching up from behind, hand over fist, in the #17 Audi.
Wittmann and Harper nose to tail. Driving at night is so different. Everything is pitch black and your peripheral vision, timing yourself around the circuit and into a rhythm, all of that goes down, and if you don't drive in the daylight, you won't know what the circuit looks like, but then it becomes second nature and you know where your revs and your braking points are. The camera does not lie. It is pitch dark. Dan Harper closing on Marco Wittmann. Thick fog and rain and two cars were lapping as in another league. Manfred Winkelhock vs. James Weaver. Then Winkelhock went off the road at Les Combes and came back on track.
This had to be during the touring car days of the late 1980s. Dan Harper is biding his time and using the hole punched in the air by teammate Wittmann so he does not have to use too many RPM's, but in turbulent air, the engine and brakes cannot get cool enough. The Akkodis ASP Mercedes continues leading the Silver class. Well, check that. That would be the Audi of Lorenzo Patrese I think. Lucas Legeret third. Driver change in the Silver Cup. Kay van Berlo is just 30 seconds behind Alex Aka in the #99 Attempto Racing Audi R8. Aka and Patrese are sharing the car #99.
McLaren #188 is still leading Bronze and it is now being driven by American driver Conrad Grunewald we have seen in SRO America in GT World Challenge America in recent years. Arthur Rougier leads Pro-Am and is running 32nd in the overall placings. In the Silver class, it is indeed the #99 leading Pietro Delli Guanti tells us that it will be difficult for him in his first stint in darkness here at Spa. He is going to go out for a double stint and he loves the layout of the Spa Francorchamps circuit. It is one of his favorite tracks. Spa Francorchamps is an incredible place. A fast, flowing, challenging, historic track.
Pietro Della Guanti is 19, Lorenzo Patrese is 17, and there have been so many father and son teams in these endurance races over the years. Dan Harper makes a clean pass and is still going for it. If Dan Harper is quicker and being held up, even he loses five seconds in an hour, that could be the difference between being first and second. Walkenhorst has had great success at the Nurburgring and won once here. Full Course Yellow and now we have to figure out who it is. Felipe Fraga has stopped on the road, in40th place in the CrowdStrike Racing with Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 he shares with George Kurtz, Colin Braun, and Ian James,
There was a second car involved. Ugh. It is the Ferrari of Samantha Tan, the #38 ST Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. The Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini rotated and Fraga had no place to go before... crunch! The #38 ST Racing by Rinaldi Ferrari was at the back of that queue. We are also seeing stopped on the road, the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 that has gotten going again and the #58 GRT Grasser Lamborghini is off the road too. Car #58 stopped at pit in. Driver changes at AF Corse and at Akkodis ASP as we have wholesale pit stops and we could go safety car and bunch the field up another time.
Benji Goethe has Nicolai Kjaergaard take his place in the #59 McLaren and now, Robert Shwartzmann has taken over from Alessio Rovera in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. More pit action for scheduled service, fuel, tires, and a driver change. That is the #216 car, the Modena Motorsport car of John Shen, Matthias Beche, Francis Tjia, and Benny Simonsen. Christopher Haase takes over the #11 Comtoyou Audi from Gilles Magnus. Nicklas Kruetten brings in the #30 BMW for WRT, with Jean Baptiste Simmenauer and Calan Williams, and Charlie Fagg brings in the #5 McLaren.
Fagg sharing of course with Sam De Haan, Tom Gamble, and Dean MacDonald. Rutronik Racing is also in with the #96 Porsche and now it is pit stop time for the #4 Crowdstrike Racing by Riley car of Felipe Fraga and they will take the car on the dollies back to the garage. There's gravel out there that will be Hoovered up by the vacuum or swept up with a broom and dustpan. In replay at Les Combes, the Lamborghini spins after getting his nose chopped off, and then, Fraga piles in and so does the #38 Ferrari of Jon Miller. The front end will be replaced with no dive planes and a loose front fender. Bill Riley looking on as the repairs happen.
Check the mounting points and make sure everything lines up. This team has done very well in GT World Challenge America and you will find out more about that in due course. But they are having a fraught race right now. After all the calamity we have seen, we're indeed racing. Well, check that. The safety car remains out as the crowd enjoys the DJ. The wave by has started, so anyone not in the Pro class gets waved by, and everyone in Pro who is lapped can also get pointed by the safety car. We don't have the rain bucketing down, thankfully, like it was for a wee while at Le Mans weeks ago. The top 20 has all Pro rated cars.
Thomas Laurent is now at the wheel of the #9 Boutsen VDS Audi R8. Laurent sharing with Adam Eteki, Aurelien Panis and Alberto Di Folco. The #132 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche did not even make the green flag, Kyle Washington, Jeroen Bleekemolen, James Sofronas, and Patrick Long. Dennis Lind has been in the lane for ten minutes plus in one of the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini's, #78. We have a couple of other retirements including Jordan Pepper's Lamborghini. Game over. So, the #10 Audi which clattered Lewandowski, with Roee Meyuhas at the controls. Correction, it was Loris Cabirou.
Kyle Washington spun during the safety car before the race began after changing onto slick tires and spun out. Safety car in the end of this lap. 201 laps now done and dusted with Dries Vanthoor in the #32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 leading the motor race after the wave by. We're back o green flag racing now. Pedal to the metal and now, Kevin Estre swings out just before La Source. He is pushing hard and through he goes to the lead. That was done and dusted in a jiffy. Estre now to the top of the shop, leading by half a second. Max Hesse is the next car on the road followed by Phillipp Eng. They've swapped. Eng goes ahead of Hesse.
Munich should be happy. Four of the top six are BMW's but Stuttgart will be happier with Porsche ahead currently. The lead non-German car is in 12th, the #159 Garage 59 McLaren with Nicolai Kjaergaard driving. Look at the gravel at Les Combes! Dennis Marschall went off the road in the #40 Orange1 Audi. There isn't a sweeper truck to take care of it. Les Combes is like a rallycross course with the gravel all over the shop. 65 cars remain on track but that gravel will be pushed off even more! There are pebbles everywhere.
Maximilian Gotz has lost two spots and has had a really slow lap taking evasive action while Antonio Fuoco has passed Nicolai Kjaergaard. The temperature continues to fall as Maxime Martin is wriggling away from the Marschall and Gounon battle with Thomas Preining right behind Gounon. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche. Ayhacan Guven is next in the order in 18th in the #54 Dinamic Motorsports car. GT3 racing is exploding right now with talent. If you blink more than once in 24 hours, you could be toast. The cars are reliable, but you might not be in contention as this race goes on. We have had four safety car interventions thus far.
Dennis Marschall is loose and that Tresor Orange1 Audi has been an evil handling race car all day and into the night thus far here in the Ardennes. Going to safety car and reshuffling the field has shown to have an advantage getting the Pro rated cars to the top of the tree really. The top 17 cars are all in the Pro division. We also saw the #51 Ferrari and the #25 Audi in the Pro class but with bucketloads of trouble.
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