The fabled, fast, mighty Spa Francorchamps circuit plays host to the fourth race of the 2023 European Le Mans Series. Bonjour and welcome to Spa Francorchamps as we get set for race four. Before we get to today’s race, let’s have a good look at what next year’s calendar, for 2024, has to offer. Again, I hope to be able to bring you coverage of the ELMS during the season next year, or, after it’s conclusion and over the winter months. Time will tell. The season opens with pre-season testing at Barcelona Catalunya in Spain in April. Barcelona plays host to the opening race of the championship five days after the test session, on April 14th. We go to the south of France and the Paul Ricard circuit the first weekend in May.
Then comes the traditional break surrounding the 24 Hours of Le Mans because several European Le Mans Series teams at least in LMP2 and GT3 will no doubt register for the race and could well have their entries accepted by the ACO selection committee for Le Mans. On July 7th, the racers will be headed to Italy and the Imola circuit, the Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari in Emilia Romagna. Spa Francorchamps where we are for today’s race will return in late August of 2024 followed by another visit to Italy and a new track for the championship, the Autodromo del Mugello in Tuscany, Italy. We will see the championship reach it’s climax at the Algarve circuit in Portimao, Portugal, which will be run as a night race for the first time, to cap off the season.
2024 will be great. But relevant to 2023 we will now talk to United Autosport. This team has been able to find the magic sauce, whatever that may be, to get around the Spa circuit. Belgian chocolate sauce? It very well could be. Phil Hanson makes a great point that the landscape around Spa in the middle of the Ardennes Forest is an incredible landscape. There are few racetracks in the world in the middle of a forest and Spa is one. Hanson has won four championships in the last five years. Weather conditions change all the time in the wet and the dry.
A srong driver lineup, faultless pit stops, and an ironclad race strategy are keys to winning at Spa. Phil Hanson and the team’s crew chief Gary Robertshaw are both seeking wins. Spa has so much character unlike, as Hanson points out, many modern circuits we see today, that don’t have that. They lack a lot of character even if they flow very well. So, Phil is going to show us three of his favorite corners on the circuit. First drivers must conquer Eau Rouge. It is not the most difficult to get through. The difficulty lies in keeping the speed up and scrubbing off the least amount of speed possible. Traffic through here is a massive deal. Managing traffic through Eau Rouge is extremely difficult.
We see it in all kinds of racing here at Spa. Formula 1, sports cars, touring cars, motorcycles, you name it. Traffic management is one of the toughest parts of mastering this circuit. It is hard to manage the gap. Next, we look at the downhill turn at Pouhon. You only see the apex and if you miss the apex by half a meter, it isn’t going to work. Turn 14 is the last critical turn before you mat the throttle all the way up through the Bus Stop chicane. You arrive unstable, searching for grip, this means you delay power application and lose oodles of time, 10-15 seconds lost or gained.
Hanson is not sure yet what will happen. His confidence is there, but the race must be run first. In racing, you earn it, you cannot buy it. Spa Francorchamps is tough for race organizers as well and to get insight on that we are going to hear from the Race Director assistant, Lisa Weihard. The first big task is to rehearse and do repeated drills on safety car procedure should there be a large accident during the race itself. This track is a favorite of a lot of people. It is a legendary place, Lisa tells us as she is diligently studying her notebook, her rulebook.
She gets on the radio to remind the teams and the drivers about being able to be in contact with race control to ensure the session runs smoothly. There is a Discord server all the teams are on to receive communication from Race Control and the stewards’ office. Spa is always a very competitive race towards the end of the season because there is a demanding track they are dealing with. Think fast, find a solution now. Being in Race Control is not a job for those people who get mentally exhausted or easily stressed.
Your brain is just like a race car driver’s brain, always firing on all cylinders. If something happens, find a solution now. Split second decisions are crucial. If you are hesitant and in a situation of ‘should I or shouldn’t I do this?’ and having to weigh planning, being in Race Control is not a job for you, sunbeam. Be fair and keep the drivers and marshals safe. You are on a team just the same way as the drivers and pit crews out on that speedway are. Race Director Edoardo Freitas has been in the motorsports business for 40 years. Yannick Dalmas, the safety car driver, has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times when he was a racing driver.
He is a true legend. There is a lot of pride in the team at Race Control. We are about to look at qualifying and how that went down. We are looking inside JMW Motorsport and their Ferrari team this time. The crew chief gives instructions to his driver before the team makes a qualifying attempt around Spa. 3, 2, 1. Track should be green. The crew chief is giving instructions and letting the driver know their speed and how much more to get out of the car. One more lap, two minutes to the checkered flag.
How will car #66 qualify? They have a solid run. JMW Motorsports have a good qualifying run and line up in third spot in the GTE order. Let’s have a look at the top three qualifying positions.
2. #72 Hasse-Clot/Robin/Robin TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR 2:18.039
3. #66 Berry/Hanafin/Lancaster JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 2:18.362
JMW are satisfied. Martin Berry says he did everything he could to put in a banker lap but ended up at Eau Rouge, being pinged for track limits. P3 is OK. He says “I won’t be looking for how I can go faster, but maybe just playing it a little bit safer, just staying away from track limits.” It is racing day at Spa! Fans are ready. We’re ready. Everyone got a chance to meet their heroes at the autograph session and had a chance to see these fabulous sports cars up close during the grid walk. The weather here in the Ardennes Forest is gorgeous on a fall afternoon, fans young and old alike, are ready for a great race today.
As we mentioned, in LM GTE, Ryan Hardwick has now clinched his first pole position of 2023 in the #16 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19. Team Virage is the pole sitting team in LMP3 as Manuel Espirito Santo of Portugal has put the #8 Team Virage Ligier at the top of the shop sharing with Nick Adcock from England and Mikkel Jensen of Denmark. I think the ELMS graphics department is wrong because I don’t believe that Adcock nor Jensen are racing under South African licenses. Here are the top qualifiers.
2. #7 Harper-Ellam/Wells Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan 2:11.630
3. #10 Moss/van Berlo Eurointernational Ligier JS P320 Nissan 2:11.943
In LMP2 Pro-Am it is Racing Team Turkey and car #34 on pole position with Salih Yoluc of Turkey the starting driver, sharing with Louis Deletraz of France and Irishman Charlie Eastwood. This is in fact Yoluc’s fourth pole position of the 2023 season.
2. #99 Ried/Roda/Viscaal Proton Competition Oreca 07 2:05.874
3. #3 Alvarez/Berthon/van Rompuy DKR Engineering Oreca 07 2:07.112
Dutchman Bent Viscaal replaces Gianmaria Bruni at Proton Competition while van Rompuy has only missed one race this year, round three at Aragon last time out, where he was replaced by Greek driver Andreas Laskaratos. In the overall LMP2 class, it is Alex Lynn who has taken pole position aboard the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 sharing with James Allen and Kyffin Simpson.
2. #22 Hanson/Jarvis/Sato United Autosports USA Oreca 07 2:03.672
3. #28 Chatin/Horr/Lafargue IDEC Sport Oreca 07 2:03.789
A children’s choir and a marching band sing and play the Belgian national anthem holding umbrellas in red, yellow, and black, the colors of the Belgian flag. Starting drivers are kitting up, getting suited and booted for the opening stint. Now, 30 seconds before we start the first of two formation laps. Drivers, focused, in the zone, ready to go. Green flag for the start of the formation lap. OK. The formation laps are done. We are ready to race with the cars formed up.
Green flag! It’s the charge! It’s the Oklahoma land rush to the first turn, the La Source hairpin! Kyffin Simpson from pole position covers off Marino Sato and gets a slight jump. Cars locking up the brakes on the inside and there’s trouble already! Manuel Maldonado gets into it with three or four other cars off the road on the outside of the circuit, falling like dominos. The United Autosports team is flabbergasted! They cannot believe this is happening on the first corner of the race! This is the second time, because it also happened in turn one of the Le Mans Cup event we brought to you from Spa, yesterday, or just a handful of days ago now.
Rui Andrade for Inter Europol Competition, the Angolan driver, racing with Racing Team Turkey are their Turkish driver, Salih Yoluc. Vadislav Lomko, the driver from Russia, he is the meat in the sandwich between a couple of cars as we have a local yellow flag being displayed on the circuit someplace. Kyffin Simpson, the driver from Barbados, he has already put daylight between himself and his rivals at the very start of this motor race. Duqueine Team have not survived those first turn dramas that we just saw at La Source. There are two LMP2 cars tangled up down there, still, as everyone else has cleared away into the motor race.
Rene Binder, the Austrian, from fourth on the grid, is stopped dead stick and could have damage. We need a better angle to see the condition of that car. I think we also have in the gravel, Frenchman Jacques Wolff who has started the Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier that he shares alongside Antoine Doquin and Jean-Ludovic Foubert in that all-French trio. On lap one with this whole mess, we are guaranteed a safety car scramble. Jacques Wolff is in the gravel trap. Here’s a replay. This was like a pinball machine. Manuel Maldonado cuts to the inside, locks up the brakes, clatters into the IDEC entry of Paul Lafargue and from there he hits Rene Binder and it is just a complete carambolage after that, a massive pileup.
The United Autosport entry spins off the road but might emerge unscathed. It is hard to tell if he had contact from behind. Racing Spirit of Leman hit the United Autosport machine from behind, and then the car manages to drive out and carry on. As the road drops away, he has already locked up, can’t stop, hits whatever is in his path. That’s a disaster and a dang lousy break. Panis Racing are gob smacked. So, as we boil this one down, Maldonado has the right idea to cut across, but he locks up and there are three cars welded together, hurtling towards the runoff area at La Source with the awaiting barriers saying “come to me!”
It is that all too familiar ruse of the barriers’ clarion call to drivers. Do not hit the barriers. Jacques Wolff from behind runs into the back of the United Autosports car unsighted. Salih Yoluc goes to the outside to avoid the drama and does so, following both Inter Europol and Cool Racing down the hill. We have run 20 minutes behind the safety car for the cleanup operations and now we are set to go back to green flag racing. Safety car in the pit lane. The track is green. No overtaking before the control line, please. Kyffin Simpson leads the motor race ahead of Rui Andrade. Vadislav Lomko has moved up from seventh to third.
In fourth spot is Racing Team Turkey, Salih Yoluc and he is running ahead of the #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca. They started 12th. That is the Oreca being shared by Swiss driver Mathias Beche, Englishman Ben Hanley, and American driver Rodrigo Sales. A head-to-head battle downhill into Eau Rouge for position in LMP3! Nick Adcock racing with Aleksandr Bukhanstov. The British driver vs. the UAE licensed and domiciled Russian racer. Bukhantsov makes a bold move through Eau Rouge and makes it stick. Kyffin Simpson leads overall and in 11th overall is in fact car #11, the LMP3 leader. That is Matt Bell at the wheel of the second Eurointernational Ligier JS P320 Nissan the Brit shares with Canadian driver Adam Ali.
With just over 20 minutes gone, Rene Binder made it to the pit lane after his first lap shemozzle, bringing the Duqueine Team car to the attention of the pit crew. In three of the four classes, the pole sitting cars remain out front and this includes Ryan Hardwick in the #16 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19. Behind the Porsche is an all-Aston Martin scrap for second place between GMB Motorsport and TF Sport. Jens Moller in car #44 and Arnold Robin in car #72. As these two are squabbling for position, Ryan Hardwick, it is his lucky day because he can whistle off into the distance and pull away from the competition. He says “OK, you two keep up your little scrap. I am going to motor off into the distance. Thank you.”
The battle is on through Eau Rouge and back up, for second place in LMP3. This is Adrien Chila in the #17 Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan vs. Eric Trouillet in the #35 Ultimate car, an identical Ligier. Chila shares car #17 with Marcos Siebert of Argentina and Alex Garcia of Mexico. This team won last time we had a race at Portimao in Portugal. Trouillet is sharing the Ultimate entry in an all-French lineup with Jean Baptiste Lahaye and Matthieu Lahaye. He is ducking to the outside on the Kemmel straightaway which provides speed but saps engine power. He makes a smart move ‘round the outside for the pass and these two blokes have the race leader right behind them, look.
Matt Bell will be the next car on his shopping list. Half an hour into the race and Kyffin Simpson of Barbados is in command. He is 4.6 seconds ahead of second spot with nine laps now completed, 39 miles. The GTE battle is really heating up for fifth spot. Duncan Cameron, the Englishman in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE is embroiled in a fight with the Irishman, the actor turned racing driver, Michael Fassbender, in the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19. Fassbender got a good corner exit out of Eau Rouge and over the top of Raidillon. That is very much the most crucial section of the circuit.
I don’t think Fassbender is quite close enough to Duncan Cameron to make a decisive move. Fassbender is the better of the Proton Porsche’s in the race, but for now, he wisely decides discretion is indeed the better part of valor. In replay, we can see Jacques Wolff, the Frenchman, who got off track on lap one and into the gravel, he is back to those rallycross antics again this time by and nearly skitters his way into the stones but thankfully saves it! Yikes! Almost 40 minutes now on the board and we have an intense, three-way scrap in LMP2 Pro-Am for second place in class. Rodrigo Sales in the #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca being harried by both Tom von Rompuy, the Belgian in his home race, for DKR Engineering in car #3, and by AF Corse and the Frenchman, Francois Perrodo, in car #83.
Tom van Rompuy has a head of steam and is looking to pass. The Belgian colors are now in front as von Rompuy makes a convincing pass on Sales. 40 minutes in and into the lane comes Inter Europol Competition for scheduled service. Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver in car #43 had a good start and avoided the drama we saw after the green flag. Fuel in the tank and a clean of the windscreen, while the team has elected to do a double stint on the same set of Michelin tires for now. There is no driver change either.
So, we will see Andrade’s co-drivers Olli Caldwell from Great Britain and Joanathan Aberdein from South Africa, later on. Racing Team Turkey and Salih Yoluc, in the lane from the LMP2 Pro-Am class lead. This is 44 minutes into the action here this afternoon. Yoluc too, will do a double stint as he has not yet completed his minimum drive time before handing over to Louis Deletraz and to Charlie Eastwood. Notice there is an earthing cable clipped to the wheel. This is to stop sparks from igniting the fuel during refueling and avoid a disastrous pit fire situation that we have seen in motor racing before over the decades. Safety is the mantra in motor racing. It is a given. It is common sense.
In the LMP2 Pro-Am class things have switched with the Racing Team Turkey pit stop meaning Team Virage are the erstwhile leaders. This is car #19 with 17 laps on the board, 74 miles. Almost 50 minutes down and there is a great scrum for eighth place in LMP2. Cool Racing vs. DragonSpeed. Alexandre Coigny, the Swiss domiciled French driver vs. Henrik Hedman, the American domiciled Swede. Coigny tries to sail past the LMP3 car into Eau Rouge and nearly gets his nose chopped off! Oy yoy yoy! I told you Eau Rouge is probably the most dangerous corner in all of motor racing.
Henrik Hedman right on his six, and now, Hedman is right alongside the Frenchman and is going to draft right past him up the Kemmel straightaway. He had so much more speed up the hill, the whole situation was like taking candy from a baby. At the 51-minute mark, Marino Sato in the #22 United Autosport Oreca has taken the overall race lead. He leads by 21 seconds with 19 laps, 83 miles done and dusted. The previous day in the Le Mans Cup race as you read about, United Autosport spun at the start with one of their cars, but they won LMP3 at the end, even after the spin.
The third place LMP2 battle is hot! This is the LMP2 Pro-Am leading #99 Proton Competition entry in the hands of Italian Giorgio Roda running ahead of Rui Andrade in the #43 Inter Europol car that we just saw pit a wee while ago. The Angolan driver, going for it. We nearly have a quarter of this motor race in the bag, headed for the completion of the first hour of four here at Spa. Just in front of these boys is the GTE battle as they are coming up on the #55 Spirit of Race entry in the hands of British racer Duncan Cameron. Rui Andrade is giving it the welly on the run to Eau Rouge! Can he make his move on Giorgio Roda?
Andrade looking for the way by. He has a great slingshot out of Eau Rouge up the hill through Raidillon right over the crest. He is poised in the tow on the Kemmel straightaway, popping his nose out to have a Captain Cook. Andrade licks the stamp and sends it to third spot displacing the Italian driver Roda, to fourth place. Right behind these two is the Cool Racing #47 car looking to move up. That is the car in the hands of Vadislav Lomko of Russia. He is sharing with Reshad De Gerus of France and Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez, the factory Hypercar driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Oh dear. Trouble and a spin for United Autosport and their Pro-Am entry in LMP2, #21. Brazilian Daniel Schneider at the wheel of it, sharing with countryman Nelson Piquet Jr., the son of the three-time Formula 1 World Champion Nelson Piquet, and with British racer Andy Meyrick. Full Course Yellow. Poor old Schneider clonked the wall and lost his rear wing. Schneider can get going with no danger as everyone is frozen at 80 kilometers an hour, 50 miles an hour. Let’s watch the replay and see if we can decipher what happened to Schneider.
He misjudged the rate of approach to the corner, behind the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and had to take avoiding action but couldn’t avoid the car snapping sideways, and… boom! right into the barriers. That blue and white #51 Ferrari for AF Corse is the 488 GTE Evo being shared by Portuguese driver Rui Aguas, Belgian driver Ulysse de Pauw in his home race, and Greek driver Kriton Lendoudis. Full Course Yellow. Alright. We move forward to an hour and 20 minutes into the race watching from Marino Sato’s onboard camera in the #22 United Autosport Oreca as he is in a scrap for third place with Vadislav Lomko. Lomko has it, and Sato wants it.
Not a bad recovery for Sato after spinning at La Source at the very start. 30 laps now on the board for the race leaders, 130 and a half miles. Sato was tagged from behind at the very start of course, by Manuel Maldonado, the Venezuelan driver. APR leads the motor race over Inter Europol to the tune of nearly 17 seconds. Sato locks up and so does Lomko who spins! Lomko right in the middle of the road and poor old Sato doesn’t see him and hits him at the apex! Hopefully there is little to no damage.
That was clumsy driving from Sato and may very well be referred to the stewards for a penalty. He gets into the Bus Stop a little too hot, tries to make a banzai move on the inside, and tags Lomko who is sent spinning. Sato unwisely came in right on Lomko’s blind spot. How on earth could Lomko even see him coming? There was no chance. That move just was not on. Gianmaria Bruni, in the meantime, aboard the #99 Proton Competition LMP2 car, is stranded in the pit lane entrance. He stopped dead stick in the pit lane entrance with nearly an hour and a half of racing completed.
Any hope they had of a strong finish is certainly going west at this moment. APR back in the lead of the motor race by almost 21 seconds, with 33 laps completed, 144 miles. Anyone needing to pit now is in trouble. Jonas Ried, looking on in disgust, the young son of Proton Competition team boss, Christian Ried. Christian Ried is aboard the #77 GTE class Porsche 911 RSR-19. That is the car Ried is sharing with Julien Andlauer and with Giammarco Levorato. Tony Wells for Nielsen Racing is in trouble, in the #7 LMP3 machine, right at the bottom of the pit lane. What has happened there?
Rui Andrade, too, is heading for the lane for his second stop to hand off the Inter Europol #34 car to Olli Caldwell. Inter Europol is the car that will signal everyone else in LMP2 to hit the lane for service, but we can see that the #99 Proton Competition entry is still blocking the entrance to the lane. Not good. Racing Team Turkey is in, and they pit from the Pro-Am LMP2 lead in fourth place overall. Salih Yoluc handing the car to Charlie Eastwood. Both Racing Team Turkey and Inter Europol Competition are running consistently.
We still have a yellow flag displayed someplace on the road with just over two and a half hours to go. Andy Meyrick at the wheel of the #21 United Autosports Oreca is racing with the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca with Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel muscling his way around the outside through Les Combes! In LMP2 Pro-Am up to the Bus Stop, there is also an intense scrap with Nathaniel Berthon being divebombed by Matthias Beche. DKR running wide and Nielsen is going to pass, they make contact. Beche must attack again. These two have raced each other for some years now.
Berthon should not have gone off the road to gain an advantage as both hold their ground through Eau Rouge. Excellent work, gentlemen. In LMP2 Pro-Am Racing Team Turkey have now run 34 laps, 148 miles. They lead the #83 AF Corse Oreca 07 by 2.1 seconds. Beche is in front, but Berthon is hoovering up the slipstream. Nathaniel Berthon is Pac Man eating the marbles and glued right to Beche’s tail. Berthon wants a bite of the cherry but can’t quite make it.
An extremely close battle for fifth spot in GTE as we return to the Michael Fassbender, Ducan Cameron story. Fassbender down the inside of the Ferrari of Cameron into La Source. Late on the brakes, almost, almost avoiding contact before… bang, biffing his rival in the center of the corner. Both survived the argy bargy, but that was a little wrestling match over a pint between the two Irishmen. Fassbender is understandably irritated but he drove a good double stint, nonetheless. Rui Andrade says the start of this race was a mess because it was hard for drivers to get temperature into the brakes.
Everyone is locking up, but Andrade struggled with lockup and vibration. When he pitted, he lost time with a car in the pit lane ahead. There is still confidence Inter Europol could earn a podium place. Finally! The #99 Proton Competition LMP2 car has been moved out of the pit lane exit. Let’s take a look at the class leaders.
Overall/LMP2: #22 Sato/Jarvis/Hanson United Autosport Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro-Am: #83 Rovera/Perrodo/Vaxiviere AF Corse Oreca 07
LMP3: #11 Bell/Ali Eurointernational Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GTE: #16 Hardwick/Picariello/Robichon Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19
Trouble in paradise for the #66 JMW Ferrari! He is crawling up the Kemmel straightaway! Martin Berry spins and slams the Armco right at the top of Eau Rouge! Right at Raidillon, he takes a massive lick! Ouch! That was a clang on the barriers after losing it in Raidillon. Trouble in paradise as well for the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 which we have seen Michael Fassbender, the Irish actor/racing driver at the wheel of for the past couple stints. They are having an issue of some sort, backing the car tail first into the garage.
This trouble for #93 must be a legacy from the earlier contact with Duncan Cameron and the Spirit of Race Ferrari. The safety car has been deployed to rescue Martin Berry and the #66 JMW Ferrari that is stranded on the Kemmel straightaway. They will need a flatbed truck to recover the yellow Ferrari. He spun out of Raidillon, missed all the massive tire bundles, and ended up whacking the barrier hard! They were third in LM GTE when the incident occurred and could be out of the motor race. A bad day for Martin Berry, Jon Lancaster, and Lorcan Hanafin.
The driver’s side looks fine, but the passenger side of that Ferrari is obviously completely pancaked. Approaching the halfway mark in the race. The race leading #22 United Autosport Oreca is in the pit lane. The trouble for Sato is that the pit lane is closed and he will have to drive through it. He cannot stop for service. The safety car has not appeared on track yet. You can only stop for emergency service which is taking on five seconds worth of fuel. No work permitted at all without a penalty. Then you must pit again. Marino Sato is having an issue with his seatbelts. This rule about emergency service really extends across the board in all forms of endurance sports car racing.
They are due a driver change but they cannot do it while the pits are closed. The driver cannot even see the seatbelts, the buckles, when they are in the car and that is why they need assistance at the pit stops. Sato will rejoin the safety car queue. James Allen leads the motor race behind the safety car with Olli Caldwell in second place. Alessio Rovera for AF Corse is next in the serial. Marino Sato is still shown as the leader but they are out of sync. 40 laps now completed, 174 miles. United Autosports leads LMP2. LMP2 Pro-Am is being led by the #83 AF Corse car. Algarve Pro will take over the race lead as we look on the screen at a full field rundown.
The #11 Eurointernational car is still in the LMP3 class lead. Ultimate and Cool Racing are the second and third place running teams in LMP3. Eurointernational are 14th overall. The pole sitting #16 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 continues leading in the GTE class. They run ahead of both of the top placed Aston Martin’s from GMB Motorsport and TF Sport. More than half the race to go and we have fabulous, beautiful, Chamber of Commerce weather conditions with blue skies and sunshine on this autumnal day in southern Belgium.
The track is bone dry too. Usually coming to an endurance race here at Spa, the Ardennes Forest is in a misty, clammy, gray mood. But not on this Sunday. The weather is picture perfect. Of the 40 cars that started this race just one is not running and that is the #99 Proton Competition Oreca entry in the LMP2 Pro-Am class. Nelson Piquet Jr. looking on from the United Autosport pit wall, the Pratt perch. He is sharing their #21 Pro-Am LMP2 entry with Daniel Schneider, his fellow Brazilian, and British veteran Andy Meyrick.
Green flag. Green flag. We are coming up to the halfway mark in the race here at Spa. Phil Hanson is ready to take over the #22 car and James Allen is leading over Ollie Caldwell. Alessio Rovera is third with Charlie Eastwood fourth. The LMP3 cars are in the fight and the LMP2 cars are clearing them. Charlie Eastwood now chasing the leaders and Jose Maria Lopez in the #47 Cool Racing Oreca in LMP2 is on the grass up the Kemmel straightaway trying to make passes on slower traffic! We mentioned earlier, being a Toyota factory Hypercar driver, Lopez is not at all afraid to get his elbows out.
Lopez was forced wide onto the grass by the #65 Panis Racing Oreca. That is the car shared by Venezuelan Manuel Maldonado alongside Dutchmen Tijmen van der Helm and Job van Uitert. The #22 United car for an earlier discretion has picked up a penalty from the stewards. We passed the halfway mark in the race. At Racing Team Turkey, Eastwood is being given the gaps. The gap to Rovera is such because Rovera is second behind Eastwood. The battle is heating up for third place in LMP2 Pro-Am as we pick up again with the continuing story of Nathaniel Berthon vs. Juan Pablo Montoya.
Montoya fully committed to make a pass on Berthon through Blanchimont! That is another very dodgy situation! Blanchimont is another corner, like Eau Rouge, where you must just give it everything! Montoya absolutely screams past Berthon on his in lap! Montoya is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, a winner on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, a seven-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner, and now clearly embedded into sports car endurance racing over the last few years and he’s still got the racer’s edge! Unbelievable!
Massive damage at the bottom of the circuit for the #10 Eurointernational car! That is in the LMP3 class. Glenn van Berlo went off the road into the gravel and got spat across the road and backed it hard into the fence! You can see that one of the rails of the Armco barrier is bowed out, so that had to be where he took the hit. Van Berlo is fine but that LMP3 racer is used up. It is no longer a clean one owner race car. That one will be headed for the scrapheap. This will bring out the safety car again. Nico Lapierre finishes his stint in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 LMP2 car and hands the car to the young Danish racer Malthe Jakobsen.
They’ve timed this well as the safety car is deployed while they are still taking service and making the driver change. Lapierre and Jakobsen are teamed up in car #37 with Alexandre Coigny of Switzerland. The brakes are hot. The balled-up rubber pickup that collects in the wheel arch drops onto the brakes and burns. That is where the flames are coming from. Driver change, a full tank of fuel, and fresh tires going onto the #37 car. No worries about that small brake fire. We’ve seen some larger brake fires in endurance racing that call for an extinguisher. This one won’t.
In this replay, we watch Glenn van Berlo’s incident. Exiting Campus corner right by the technical college here at the circuit, van Berlo runs onto the gravel trap, is spat across the road, and… smash! A hard impact with the Armco barriers. Big damage to the car but the driver is OK. Inside the final hour we go back to green. Malthe Jakobsen now leads Alex Lynn by a second with 68 laps completed, 296 miles. Matthieu Vaxiviere is third for the AF Corse team in car #83 leading the LMP2 Pro-Am division. Racing Team Turkey now in fourth place with the #34 car being driven now by Louis Deletraz.
Ben Hanley is fifth for Nielsen Racing, and right behind him in sixth is Hanley’s old team, DragonSpeed, with the #81 Oreca now with Juan Pablo Montoya’s son Sebastian Montoya at the controls. An LMP3 car is in the way and now Matthieu Vaxiviere has Louis Deletraz absolutely pinned to his gearbox! Deletraz pops outside entering Les Combes. He doesn’t have enough as they go wheel to wheel onto the paved runoff, trying to avoid a lapped LMP3 car. Deletraz is angry on the radio claiming his rival pushed him off. Deletraz will be forced to give the spot back.
But that won’t be necessary now because Ben Hanley has passed Matthieu Vaxiviere, and Sebastian Montoya is right there. This is a conundrum for Deletraz because he must give back a place to a car that is two spots behind without losing a place to the next car in line. What a quandary for Deletraz! Ben Hanley makes his move through Piff Paff, also known as Fangnes corner. Vaxiviere remains behind Louis Deletraz and must give that spot back too, Deletraz has got to hope he can let Vaxiviere through without getting mugged by Sebastian Montoya. Oh my!
He guards the inside line and Montoya makes his move after Deletraz opens the strerring and Reshad De Gerus wants by Montoya for sixth. De Gerus is second overall and in LMP2, regular. Not Pro-Am LMP2, so, Pro if you wish. These are the top seven cars squabbling for position as time is of the essence with less than an hour left on the board. A bobble for Reshad de Gerus out of Raidillon. De Gerus is coming for Deletraz, fast! Montoya knows there is a gap and he poked his nose in there. Deletraz allowed it, thankfully keeping the door open.
Meanwhile, someone is off in the gravel trap. Oh my gosh! That is Ben Hanley in the #24 Nielsen Racing car in LMP2! He is third overall and second in the Pro-Am LMP2 class and that’s a massive shunt with dust shrouding the car. There’s a massive trail of debris where he has come back into the gravel pit from hitting the barriers. 75 laps now complete, 326 miles. That’s a massive accident for Ben Hanley who is moving around in the cockpit. We have another safety car. Cool Racing pits just before the safety car comes out. We now go back to green with less than 23 minutes of racing left.
So, here is the new running order as we approach the end. Cool Racing car #47 leads fro Dragonspeed, DKR Engineering, and Algarve Pro Racing. Cool Racing has the lead overall and in the regular LMP2 class. Proton Competition in the #16 turquoise nosed Porsche leads the GTE class. They have been the class of the field among the production-based cars all day. Now the battle is on between Alex Lynn for Algarve Pro Racing and Sebastian Alvarez, the Mexican driver, for DKR Engineering. Louis Deletraz is wrestling with Matthieu Vaxiviere for position into Les Combes another time.
Deletraz runs wide and does not gain the place back. Only two non-Pro Am LMP2 cars ahead, and now we have another massive off in the gravel trap! That is the #43 Inter Europol Oreca in LMP2 of Jonathan Aberdein! The South African has backed the yellow and lime green Inter Europol car into the fence and completely dislodged the rear wing! All that is left is the trail section and the “shark fin” on the back. That is going nowhere fast and we could have another safety car deployed with only 18 minutes left in the motor race. We are under the safety car, now.
Reshad De Gerus for Cool Racing still leads Sebastian Montoya for Dragonspeed. Such a shame for Inter Europol! Back to green with ten minutes left. DKR Engineering falling like a stone from third spot. Cool Racing in the lead have completed 84 laps, 365 and a half miles. De Gerus, Montoya, Lynn, the top three. Alessio Picariello leads GTE over Matteo Cairoli and Nicklas Nielsen in the Formula Racing Ferrari just behind the Iron Lynx Porsche of Matteo Cairoli. It is Alessio Picariello, the Belgian with the Italian name vs. the Italian, Matteo Cairoli, both racing Porsche’s. 82 laps now complete in GTE, 357 miles.
In LMP3, it is Eurointernational making a move on RLR M Sport. Cool Racing leads LMP3 with Inter Europol Competition in second spot. Porsche 1-2 in GTE ahead of Ferrari and another Porsche. Proton, Iron Lynx, Formula Racing, and Proton’s second car. Wow! The leaders dive for the pit lane with just over eight minutes left! Cool Racing and DragonSpeed both needed fuel. What about the other LMP2 cars. Louis Deletraz passes Matthieu Vaxiviere in a battle between Racing Team Turkey and AF Corse into La Source.
A splash and dash for both #47 and #81 and we have another car back into the fence! This is an LMP3 car off the road into the gravel trap going up the hill. Jean Baptiste Lahaye has spun. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Full Course Yellow removed. So, we go back to green and we’ll have a two-minute dash to the finish here in Belgium! One lap to go. Matthieu Vaxiviere ‘round the outside of Louis Deletraz. Algarve Pro lead the race. Cool Racing in second spot on the final lap. One to go at Spa. Algarve Pro can put this one away. Alex Lynn is a cool customer/
Porsche vs. Porsche. Proton vs. Iron Lynx, in GTE. Matteo Cairoli chasing Alessio Picariello. The door is slammed in Cairoli’s face. It’s the last lap. For the 88th and final time, Alex Lynn comes through the Bus Stop chicane. Algarve Pro Racing will win the 4 Hours of Spa Francorchamps! Alex Lynn, James Allen, and Kyffin Simpson, victorious in Belgium! What a crazy race! 88 laps completed, 383 miles.
Overall/LMP2: #25 Allen/Lynn/Simpson Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro-Am: #37 Coigny/Jakobsen/Lapierre Cool Racing Oreca 07
LMP3: #17 Chila/Garcia/Siebert Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GTE: #16 Hardwick/Piccariello/Robichon Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19
So, we head to the double race season finale, appropriately enough on the Algarve in Portimao, Portugal. We’ll see you in Portugal, for the season finale. Remember, we have two races to close out the year, a doubleheader of two four-hour races. Racing Team Turkey moves ahead of AF Corse in LMP2 Pro-Am and the overall positions for those two teams are also reclassified. AF Corse picked up a penalty and so did Racing Team Turkey for accelerating too soon on a restart.
Victory to #17 Cool Racing in LMP3 for Marcos Siebert, Adrien Chila, and Alex Garcia. Cool Racing have monumental points lead headed for the two final events in Portimao. In LM GTE, Proton Competition for Alessio Picariello, Ryan Hardwick, and Zacharie Robichon, they won. At least that is what they thought. That is what we thought. But there has been a change! Another accelerating too soon penalty for Proton Competition! So, the win truly goes to the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, and Matteo Cairoli.
GTE: #60 Schiavoni/Cressoni/Cairoli Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19
Proton and Iron Lynx therefore are tied on equal points with two races remaining in the 2023 season. There’s all to play for in Portugal for the double race grand finale to finish the ELMS for 2023. Join us in Portugal. So long for now, everyone. Bye bye.
No comments:
Post a Comment