24 Hours of Spa: Hour 24 (the finish)

Panis has pulled offline and out of the way but he cannot get the car started.  Will this be a restart?  Yes.  Karol Basz has also made a pass, a man we associate with Lamborghini's.  We need a breakdown truck.  But a safety car is going to not be enouygh and the Boutsen VDS team are heartbroken.  Full Course Yellow, now.  This is our 23rd Full Course Yellow.  The #10 car can be moved but we need to bring out the safety car and the #998 BMW could do a drive through to do a reset on drive time.  Porsche #92 and Mercedes #777 have also pitted with 54 minutes only, left on the board.  Everyone has done a reset.  

Green flag, back to racing.  Some cars need to pit before the end.  Who is going to win this thing?  This race has had amazing twists and turns!  Tomaso Mosca has come from 66th place on the grid all the way up to 14th!  Holy moly!  That's wild!  Mosca sharing with Louis and Jef Machiels and Andrea Bertolini.  A battle now between Aston, Audi, and Audi.  Colin Braun and David Pittard up the road.  Pittard passes Ricardo Feller.  Mercedes #10, the drivetrain went out.  Massive disappointment.

Wow!  The #19 Lamborghini has stopped in the pit lane and the #51 Ferrari might lose the race because of this because of the fact that they are blocked to get into the pit lane!  Oh my God!  By criminy!  Ferrari will be so upset and the Aston Martin team goes mad!  They could win this race if they keep their noses clean!  The Lamborghini was plumb in the middle of the working lane, Hugo Cook at the wheel of the Lamborghini.  Oh man!  Oh man!   Oh man!  Alessandro Pier Guidi will have a wasp in his knickers and drive like a man possessed!

BMW #998 has passed by.  Pier Guidi will be driving like a madman for 45 minutes.  The lead is gone!  Oh my heavens!  Max Hesse will be ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi.  Mattia Drudi is told, "zero risk, bring it home."  Comtoyou Aston Martin could possibly triumph.  But we have 43 minutes to go.  I am not going to give anything away.  You will have to read more about what happens.  

Pit stops las for two minutes and a flying lap is 2:17 and change.  Hesse must lap quicker than Drudi.  Hesse ,ust pull out 17 seconds.  Drudi to the pit lane.  The pit entrance is completely clear.  One last pit stop.  This is it.  The team will change to fresh Pirelli tires for the end along with adding the fuel.  Max Hesse pushng on as Mattia Drudi is just fine.  He could have the biggest victory of his career and could be Aston Martin's first win at Spa in the 24 hours since 1948.  

Max Hesse in the BMW will be pushing, pushing, pushing.  38 minutes to go.  Alessandro Pier Guidi cannot believe his luck, hustling behind the Walkenhorst Aston Martin of David Pittard.  Pier Guidi will be absolutely crushed.  He is doing all he can do to get ahead of David Pittard.  A parked car in the pit lane?  Never.  Never.  No penalty and all they could do is get a tow vehicle to it.  35 minutes left as the cars sweep through Pouhon.  You cannot but feel for Alessandro Pier Guidi having to sit still and wait for a vehicle to get out of the way.  This is worse than being set on fire or some other miserable torture.  

Drudi leads Hesse by 28 seconds.  Julien Andlauer getting a Porsche onto a provisional podium spot.  The Gold Cup duel is still going on in earnest with just over half an hour left.  The 24 Hours of Spa is part of Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.  Ricardo Feller runs ninth right now.  At one point, I wouldn't have underestimated another Audi victory here at Spa.  They threw all their eggs in the Formula 1 basket.  Will they have a new GT3 car?  Yannick Mettler, Aaron Walker, James Kell, and Anthony Bartone, the four of them have kept out of strife.  Nick Catsburg, Ian James, Colin Braun, and George Kurtz are also going after it.

Alessandro Pier Guidi in fifth cannot pass David Pittard.  Pier Guidi cannot pass.  Pier Guidi right on Pittard and Pier Guidi went off the road and so, he will have to give the place back to David Pittard.  Side by side into Les Combes and there's come contact and that was a big clonk!  It is convergence of two cars from different angles.  Pier Guidi is now motoring hunting down Julien Andlauer.  You can cut the tension with a knife.  Nicki Thiim says he feels sorry for the Italians.  It is the first time for Comtoyou Aston Martin with the new Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.  

His dad Kurt Thiim never won this race at the 24 Hours of Spa.  Alessandro Pier Guidi reeling in Julien Andlauer and the incident has been noted but there is no action yet.  Hopefully they get around to it before the checkered flag.  Pier Guidi is going for a podium leaving nothing on the table, driving the wheels off that Ferrari 296 GT3.  David Pittard cops the rap for it.  He will have a ten second time penalty according to Race Director Alain Adam.  Pittard drove into the Ferrari.  Andlauer, Pittard, and Vanthoor are going to be battling and the other two best be told Pittard has a penalty in his future.

An unexpectedly dramatic end to the centenary 24 Hours of Spa!  Pittard sweeps right by the Porsche of Andlauer.  Dries Vanthoor was told by his crew to give them everything he's got to bring the WRT BMW M4 GT3 home.  Both the #32 and #46 cars for WRT have been through the wringer.  Patrick Kujala and Tomaso Mosca have their own battle.  Drudi to Hesse 25 seconds.  Eight cars on the lead lap at the end is the record, and we have seven.  Could we beat the record?  We'll see.  Stay tuned.  We aren't finished yet.

Nine cars, remember, would be a record of lead lap finishers in this event.  Nine on the lead lap.  Mattia Drudi leads.  Tomaso Mosca can't pass Patrick Kujala, the Italian vs. the Finlander.  Pier Guidi third but not gaining enough to improve.  In the Bronze class it is Kujala ahead of Mosca.  Kujala in the Barwell Lamborghini.  Mattia Drudi focusing on driving, relaxing a bit.  Be careful.  There are noises.  The Aston Martin does sound rumbly, off throttle.  Sounds fine at full throttle.  What about on deceleration?  It is a little jittery off throttle.  Is it the turbo?  Probably nothing significant.  15 minutes to go for Mattia Drudi.  He is bringing it home.

Don't lost your rhythm.  Listen to what the team is telling you.  He turns out of Brussels corner and toward Speakers' corner.  TF Sport and Nicki Thiim won the Pro-Am class at the 2019 24 Hours of Spa.  It would be the first 24 Hours of Spa win for Aston Martin since 1948 and there was a class win.  Julien Andlauer just pitted and he will fall down the order.  Mattia Drudi has 26 seconds in hand, with 12 minutes left on the board.  A maximum of five more laps.  Andlauer is a lap down on the road ahead of Max Hesse.  Only five cars now on the lead lap.  Throw a "new record" in the trash.  Recycle it.

The Ferrari team, this is just not their year at Spa this year.  There could be a fine or a points penalty but it is just bad luck.  Pier Guidi is pushing hard, absolutely going for it like mad.  But he knows he won't get there.  He has pulled back one second but he will not pull a rabbbit out of a hat, I don't think.  Pier Guidi is still pushing hard.  Mattia Drudi, 474 laps on the board.  2,062 miles as someone goes way off the road and through the grass, the eSports racer James Baldwin, way off the road, a race winner in the real world and a gold medalist in eSports in the FIA Motorsports Games.

Mattia Drudi has eight minutes left.  He has not found himself in clumps of traffic in the waning moments.  Lift and coast, reduce the RPM, hit your marks.  Bring it home.  Don't think about the checkered flag.  Stay focused.  Mattia Drudi switching from Audi and switching teams from Tresor Attempto to Comtoyou.  The GT3 lap record belongs to Marco Mapelli beating Tim Heinemann and Oliver Gavin maintains a GT3 class record.  Two more laps remaining.  Max Hesse will be marginal for completing his stint to the required time, I think.  The Full Course Yellow, he will be fine, there is a grace period to elongate the stint time from 62 minutes to 67 minutes.  

The BMW is still in second spot, quicker than the Aston Martin.  Two laps to go.  Three and a half minutes on the clock.  Destiny waits for Aston Martin.  Aston Martin looking for their first win in the 24 Hours of Spa since 1948, and now, the #998 BMW M4 GT3 is going to do a drive through and so this will move Alessandro Pier Guidi and Ferrari back to second place.  Ferrari #51 won't have enough to catch Drudi but Pier Guidi will drive the wheels off of it and on corrected time, the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 to third.  Nikki Thiim and Maco Sorensen looking on and they can't believe it.  Final lap.  The next time out of La Source, we will have new race winners.

For the first time since 1948, Aston Martin wins the 24 Hours of Spa!  1948 was the most recent win, 76 years ago, with British drivers St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson in an Aston Martin 2-liter Sports Car.  An Aston Matin DB-1.  Now, it is Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen, and Comtoyou win the 24 Hours of Spa!  76 years!  76 years!  You have to feel for Alessandro Pier Guidi, Alessio Rovera, and Davide Rigon.  Record books do not record moral victories.  It is a travesty, sure, but it wasn't meant to be.  Comtoyou celebrates!  Team owner Jean Michel Baert is over the moon.  The team's relationship with Aston Martin began with a Facebook message.  Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim, and Mattia Drudi win the 24 Hours of Spa!

Overall/Pro: #007    Drudi/Thiim/Sorensen        Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR 

                                                                            GT3 EVO

            Gold: #777   Al Zubair/Baumann/Ellis/Grenier    Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG                                                                                           GT3 Evo 

            Silver: #3 Mettler/Kell/Bartone/Walker               GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo

            Bronze: #66 Mukovoz/Nesov/Pereira/Hofer        Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II.

            Pro-Am: #4 Kurtz/James/Catsburg/Braun            CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3

                                                                                          Evo

            IGTC: #32 Vanthoor/van der Linde/Weerts          Team WRT BMW M4 GT3

The winners of the Intercontinental GT Challenge section, Team WRT BMW and the #32 BMW M4 GT3 of Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde, and Charles Weerts.

The biggest, biggest celebration is about to start!  Holy cow!  Cue the dance music for the results.  The last time a British brand won the 24 Hours of Spa was 40 years ago in the touring car era.  That was Jaguar with the fabled V12 XJ-S with Hans Heyer, Tom Walkinshaw, and Win Percy. This was the Group A touring car era of the 24 Hours of Spa.  British brands win Spa, 40 years apart!  Mercedes did well in the subcategories, not overall, but in the subcategories.  Silver, Gold, and Pro-Am.  Audi wins in Bronze.  Fans stayed to the very end in spite of the wacky weather we had.  

What a classic race as the dignitaries are here for the trophy presentations.  The home anthem, the Belgian National Anthem plays.  The drivers get their medals and the IGTC winners reap their rewards.  Champagne!  I do feel for Alessandro Pier Guidi who has won the 24 Hours of Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans before, but he lost this one in a very trivial way.  

Now we celebrate the Gold Cup winners.  The 24 Hours of Spa is thriving in the GT3 era.  It is so great to have the famed drivers from the past here, too.  Trophies to the Gold Cup winners.  We have cued the dance music as usual, to check out the points.  You can check all of it out on the SRO Motorsports Group webpages.  More podiums, Silver, Bronze, and Pro-Am.  The champagne is sprayed for Pro-Am Cup.  Pirelli Circuit Activities Manager Mattia Braga presents the trophies.Checking out all the podiums and trophy presentations as well as the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap Award.  Marco Mapelli wins that.  

Well, we won't get to speak about all the podium finishers.  But stay tuned.  There is more post-race from Spa.  There is the race recap, and we will have plenty of bonus centenary coverage for you.  We will have some of the support races for you in due course including videos of races for some pretty cool historic cars that raced at Spa and celebrate the race's glorious past.  For now, Au Revoir from the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium.  This centenary edition has been fabulous!  One for the history books!  Bye bye.

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 23

Raffaele Marciello in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 has a flappy bonnet and the gaffer tape is coming apart.  Hopefully it will not get worse, and we are inside the last two hours of the motor race here in the centenary 24 Hours of Spa with 428 laps completed, 1,863 miles.  Ford Performance's Mark Rushbrook said they are really targeting having a lot of customer teams getting the Ford Mustang GT3 into championships worldwide in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia.  More trouble for Raffaele Marciello in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 where Valentino Rossi had contact and this M4 GT3 has been through the absolute wringer.  The bonnett is a bodge job, and it is not fitting properly with some damage, shoving the darn thing into place.

The most important thing in your toolbox is gaffer tape but these poor blokes are hemmorhaging time in 22nd place, and they are fighting for nothing and the same is true for the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari with Lilou Wadoux getting into the automobile.  We have also lost the #100 RJN McLaren with turbo boost issues although it may be back on the track it is badly, badly delayed.  16th in the overall and fourth in Bronze for Lilou Wadoux, new to the team for this weekend and she has fit in well.  

Al Faisal A Zubair and his team are leading the Golf Cup at Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed in the #777 Mercedes-AMG GT3.  Al Faisal Al Zubair is either laid back or he is totally cream crackered after this race.  It has taken a toll on everyone, even me.  Mikael Grenier leading the Gold Cup and are running sixth in the overall I believe.  Philip Ellis is British, Swiss, and German, and went to school in Mallorca, Spain.  Race leading Ferrari in the lane.  Philipp Ellis Googled how to be a racing driver, and racing teams and sent loads of emails, tested a go kart, and here he is in these endurance races.  

Alessio Rovera in the lead with the Aston Martin boys are chasing them down.  Now, we could very well see some reain, maybe.  Your guess is as good as mine.  Find a forecast you like.  Our Italian colleagues are buzzing about it.  So, Alessandro Pier Guidi heads back on track.  432 laps completed, 1,880 miles.  Thiim leads over Max Hesse in the BMW.  Max Hesse might go to the end of the race for an hour and 48 minutes to go.  You need a fresh driver if we see a late race safety car.  Maybe the Brazilian veteran Augusto Farfus, keeping his poweder dry, the old soul at 40 years old.  He has been around the BMW camp for a long time after a cople years in touring cars with Alfa Romeo.

Nikki Thiim cutting personal best laps in sector one on the road.  An hour and 46 minutes left on the board.  Short pitting and putting Pier Guidi in the Ferrari, he has held it together for a good while now.  Max Hesse is 18 seconds down now on the Ferrari and the Aston Martin I believe.  The #4 Pro-Am leading Mercedes looking good.  George Kurtz is still nervous, the CEO of CrowdStrike, the sponsor of this race.  If it stays green that is what their team wants.  They are doing what they need to do.  Keeping the car safe, minding track limits.  

He won in class in 2022.  The 24 Hours of Spa is a bucket list race.  Max Hesse in the lane.  No driver change.  They will have one more stop to come yet.  New tires for Max Hesse as Julien Andlauer's Porsche has been teasing us and Mattia Drudi will take over the #007 Comtoyou Aston Martin, a longtime Audi factory driver.  In 1948, that was the last Aston Martin win in the 24 Hours of Spa.  We talked about it a few hours ago.  Max Hesse is getting back up to speed.  The #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche are 35 minutes into a stint.  The maximum stint time is 62 minutes.  BMW Team WRT #32 are in the pit lane doing their brisk pit work.

Ross Gunn will finish the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports Aston Martin he shares with David Pittard, and Henrique Chaves.  Jordan Pepper is back up into the lead and I'll tell you what, Mercedes-AMG's races have gone completely pear shaped.  So strange.  It sometimes goes acorss a year that works out well and you need to enjoy them whille you have them.  We have passed a decade since WRT won this race which was in 2014.

Jordan Pepper has bailed out of the Lamborghini with an hour and 35 minutes to go.  So, Ryan Myrehn will head to the podium to meet the winners and we have David and John's company for the final hour and a half.  Marco Mapelli will finis the race for GRT Grasser.  Alessandro Pier Guid leads the motor race, still.  Everyone else is making no mistakes and keeping a pace.  Dan Harper and BMW were very worried about light and numb steering.  

The RJN McLaren is back on track after their power loss and turbo boost issues.  Max Hesse passes Julien Andlauer for third place.  Pit entry is blocked.  Oh dear.  We don't know.  It is a Lamborghini, car #19 which has expired at pit in.  That car running in 35th spot.  Haytham Quarajoli at the wheel of it sharing with Matteo Llarena, Hugo Cook, and Baptiste Moulin.  Yannck Mettler leads the Silver class over Aurelien Panis.  One more pit stop for most and Julien Andlauer might do two more pit stops I'm afraid instead of one.  

I wonder how the new pavement has survived the GT3 cars hammering it.  With high downforce single seaters, those open wheel cars can break up new tarmac.  Henrique Chaves is inow in the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin.  The best placed McLaren is the car of Tom Gamble.  One of the Barwell Lamborghini's in the Bronze Cup, Mattia Michelotto with a punctured tire.  Steady, mate.  Slow down.  Michelotto got the message and drove slowly to the lane.  We are watching Job van Uitert, Marius Nakken, and Markus Paverud as Barwell are at the pit in.  Something must be fragging on the back of that car or it is gravel or carbon fiber.

Dylan Pereira, the Luxembourg driver is now at the top of the shop in the Bronze Cup.  People run over the curbs because it is quicker but don't do it too much or you will cut down a tire.  The Ferrari has barely missed a beat and run metronomically.  The Rutronik Porsche pits for the second to last time.  They would have to do a clock reset and a dplah and a dash.  Julien Andlauer drove through pit lane probably to do a reset.  The Porsche and the Mercedes running to the very limits of the circuit.  

This is the Alan Valente driven Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes sharing with Karol Basz, Patrick Assenheimer, and Ezequiel Perez Companc.  Romain Leroux and Niccolo Rosi are retirements from this race reducing the field to 42 cars and 24 retirements of the 66 cars that started the race.  Max Hesse told he is catching up but only for third place.  Stay on your toes and keep going.  

Pier Guidi is 13 seconds to the good over Drudi.  Hesse goes off the road and back on but he made the pass stick.  In a Group C prototype some drivers could not take the final corner flat.  Right now, the Ferrari of Pier Guidi is still ahead of Drudi and Hesse and I think the weather will stay as it is until the end of this race today.  Max Hesseis back in and he has only done a 36-minute stint.  An horu and four minutes left on the board.   Maybe BMW are rolling the dice.  One hour and three minutes to go.  A stint is an hour and two minutes for Rower Racing.  This could be a roll of the dice.  

Max Hesse for Rowe Racing has indeed rolled the dice.  Whey land, we don't know.  Clear track running Harry Flatters down the straightaway.  He will need to drive the best laps he has ever driven.  Mercedes #10, Aurelien Panis has gone off the road with a technical issue down the main straight.  One hour to go.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 22

Kobe Pauwels, the Belgian is chasing the sole Ford Mustang GT3 in the field.  No rain expected before the end of the race.  That is wonderful news!  We got thrashed by the rain last night!  It was unbelievable!  That being said, everyone was still in the grandstands in the wee hours last night.  Alessandro Pier Guidi is still the leader of the motor race by five seconds over Nicki Thiim.  Just under three hours remaining now.  Thiim is having issues with ABS as the brakes are locking and he has turned off the traction control.  The GT3 cars have power steering but so is the antilock braking system.  Antilock brakes are a part of what GT3 cars are all about.  But if you become reliant on too much of it, it can be a detriment.  Alessio Rovera has pitted and had a tearoff taken off the windscreen for clear vision.

Alessio Rovera has taken over the #51 Ferrari.  Thiim and Harper now run 1-2.  I don't know if the #998 BMW has enough left in the locker to keep up with the Aston Martin or the Ferrari.  Sheldon van der Linde is having issues trying to get on terms with Ross Gunn in the Walkenhorst Motorsports Aston Martin, the #34 car.  Christopher Haase in the pit lane for service in the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II.  Nikki Thiim and Dan Harper are both coming to the pit lane for scheduled service.  The competition is Alessio Rovera at the wheel of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.  Rowe Racing BMW and Comtoyou Aston Martin are going to have trouble getting in touch with the Ferrari.  

Max Hesse now gets into the #998 BMW M4 GT3 and we have just over two hours and 45 minutes to go.  Ferrari #51 is now in the lead of this motor race.  BMW are down and away off the air jacks down the pit lane and the Ferrari just gobbles them up like Pac Man gobbling marbles.  Porsche #92 will suffer the pain of a drive through penalty and Jaminet had missed his driver stint length time and he went one lap too long.  We speculated there was a communication issue and now, the BMW has dropped back into traffic, as the #32 BMW M4 GT3 has just pitted and the #998 has just given 10-12 seconds away.  Well, well, well.  

Al Manar Racing checking the air intakes on their Mercedes, and Mikael Grenier, the Canadian, takes over the car and is back on track in the heritage pit lane near pit exit.  Up in the F1 pits with the rolling resistance on both pit lanes, the tires will be stone cold.  Being closer to pit out is better.  If I were a team boss, well, the old pits don't have the space, but, they would be easier to get out of.  Formula 1 and sports cars used those pits.  The #92 of Matt Campbell, he did serve the penalty we were wondering about and I think it might drop him only into the clutches of Christopher Haase and Ross Gunn.  

Marco Sorensen says that things are very tight, and it will come down to strategy or a good overtake and that Comtoyou Racing are hoping for the best and maybe playing out the ideas of what could happen from a possible Full Course Yellow situation.  British racer Darren Turner and Danish racer Christoffer Nygaard were part of the "Dane Train" Aston Martin team in FIA WEC and in GT3 alike as I recall.  Ross Gunn has brought in the #21 Aston Martin to the lane, excuse me, that is Charles Clark at the wheel of it.  This is not the Walkenhorst entry.  

A nasty accident during the night took the #12 Comtoyou Aston Martin out of the race, the Nicolas Baert, Sebastian Ogaard, Esteban Muth, and Erwan Bastard entry.  Leading the Bronze Cup is the #72 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Gabriel Rindone, Mattia Michelotto, Patrick Kujala, and Casper Stevenson.  The GT3 cars are so incredibly evenly matched thanks to Balance of Performance, but, it could be mitigating overtaking, possibly, as controversial as that sounds.  Max Hesse is struggling to find a way by Patrick Kujala in the Lamborghini.  

Speaking of Lamborghini, well, han on a minute.  There was a pass between Alessio Rovera and Patric Niederhauser in the Porsche.  We've got a smoky Lamborghini with oil residue burning on the hot exhaust system.  That car has led this race on and off and that is Jordan Pepper, the South African, taking over from Frenchman Franck Perera.  The humidity isn't great but it creates denser air for aerodynamics mostly.  I think that smoke was just residue.  It isn't venting anymore.  Thank you, Ben Constanduros for your contribution to this coverage of the race.  Hello to Ryan Myrehn before we hand off to David Addison to bring it home.

Jordan Pepper, the South African, he is really showing his skills as an endurance sports car driver during his stint.  Hello, to Ryan Myrehn, and to our guest, Dan Harper, the Ulsterman. There is a slight steering wheel issue where it is getting light randomly, and they are looking at it.  It is happening through Eau Rouge or Raidillon, and could be very disconcerting, but the car is still in one piece and Dan could not keep up with the Ferrari or the Aston Martin.  Max Hesse at the wheel of the BMW now.  Max Hesse will take it to the finish in a triple stint.  

BMW #46 in the lane and of course last night with the heavy rain was very difficult and a lot of standing water.  The new tarmac was far slipperier, but it is very grippy in the dry.  The grip in the surface is coming back now that the rain has moved on.  If we were to see a safety car again, the BMW team could be right in the mix again except if there is traffic ahead that could get in the way, things would add up too quick.  But now, under green things could still get interesting.  Harper says he has not thought about how to improve BoP to equalize the cars.

We can see the size difference of the GT3 cars and their shapes and sizes but you lose momentum and lose lap time unless you have an extternal force involved so it is down to the drivers and the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 is in while the BMW has the speed but the Audi or the Lamborghini are better under braking.  Great to hear from Dan Harper this morning.  Just over two hours as we are getting to the nitty gritty with Alessio Rovera at the top of the shop.  Rovera leads Thiim by 7.3 seconds.

Two hours and 15 minutes to go.  This has been a really tought race from the very start.  Max Hesse has lost 22 or so seconds and behind him is the #32 BMW M4 GT3 of Charles Weerts, Dries Vanthoor, and Sheldon van der Linde.  I think BMW were unhappy with their qualifying efforts, trying to mitigate errorsmandnso on.  The BMW has strengths in high-speed corners but not as efficient in the braking zones.  The top three look fairly solidified.  However, safety cars can breed safety cars.  Bob Neville's #100 McLaren is back out as Joel Eriksen blows a right rear tire, or cuts it down.

Fortunately, it happened close to the final chicane and the pit lane entrance at the top, the Formula 1 pit lane as opposed to the heritage pit lane, they are 27th in the overall and 14th in the Pro class, the #23 Phantom Global entry which will also be at the Indianapolis 8 Hours at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the fall, in October.  Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles is here at Spa before the IGTC and GT World Challenge come to Indianapolis in October.  

James Kell leads in the #3 Silver leading car with Cesar Gazeau second in Silver.  That is the Mettler, Kell, Bartone, Walker car.  The Bob Neville Team RJN McLaren has had troubles but could earn a class podium as Alessio Rovera leads the race overall approaching two hours to go.  Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and scored a win in IMSA at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in GT Daytona Pro.  Ferrari has the one victory in Formula 1, but the AF Corse chaps with the prototypes and the GT3 cars have been very successful and the drivers who have the privilege love the 296 GT3 is built by the Oreca firm in France.  The silhouette of the 296 GT3 is very much similar to the 250P prototype that won Le Mans in 1965 which was the last time Ferrari won Le Mans before their wins last year and this year.

It was the first rear engine GT race car that won with Masten Gregory, and Jochen Rindt.  Mikael Grenier leads the Gold class with Jordan Pepper right on his six.  Julien Andlauer has passed Jusuf Owega Porsche on Mercedes.  The gap between first and third has grown.  Rovera, Thiim, Hesse, the top three.  Our race leader might hit the lane within the next 10-15 minutes.  The WRT BMW's have had a massively tough race especially in last night's rainstorms.  Dries Vanthoor had no grip available whatsoever.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 21

Pit stop time is coming closer and closer for many of these teams.  Davide Rigon is less than a second behind Marco Sorensen and now David Pittard is running well aboard the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports Aston Martin.  Second guessing the weather, and we have had tons of interruptions throughout with the safety cars and the Full Course Yellow procedures.  So many cars on the lead lap.  Walkenhorst new to Aston Martin and things are fitting together very well in an Aston Martin for one of their drivers, for Henrique Chaves.  The drivability of the car is very important.  Davide Rigon in the pit lane for an unscheduled pit stop because his stint isn't quite done.  Arjun Maini is in the lane and we were watching a battle, a four-way battle.  Ellis, van der Linde, Feller and Pittard I think and Jaminet is way up the order.

Aston Martin have been chasing BMW for hours on end.  It is a cat and mouse game between BMW and Aston Martin.  Farfus and Sorensen run 1-2 and both are turning the wick up.  These two brands did not feature too much in qualifying or in Super Pole.  It is now dry.  I don't think we need to be worried about the rain.  Matthieu Jaminet needs to be in the lane now or he will be in boiling hot water and have to serve a drive through penalty.  I wonder if he is trying to get on terms with both Farfus and Sorensen.  

Jaminet has done 66 minutes, and he will be out of time.  This is the SSR Herberth car and I think there might be a radio problem.  Maybe Matthieu Jaminet cannot hear the team.  When he gets to the start/finish line he'll be out of time.  He comes out of Les Combes.  He may have to serve a drive through penalty.  Pit stop time for Nicki Thiim to take over the #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin.  New boots, and full load of fuel.  Comtoyou made their name in Fun Cup, then touring cars, and then, GT3 racing.  

Dan Harper will be challenging Nikki Thiim, and now the Ferrari #51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi zooms into the lead of the motor race throug Brussels corner and Davide Rigon, no, Alessnadro Pier Guidi, and now, Jaminet is late, 68 minutes in his stint.  Pier Guidi really giving Nikki Thiim all he can handle.  Matthieu Jaminet serving his penalty for the elongated stint time.  That's a major shame, and he'll perhaps lose a whole lap, potentially.  Now, the #57 Mercedes passes Max Hofer.  Hofer and Colin Caresani, the Dutchman, both pit as well.

Some drives are cutting it very fine to get it to the limit on stint length.  New boots and fuel for Sheldon van der Linde who is in attack mode in the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.  Philipp Ellis leads the Gold division.  Dan Harper is told to stick with the Aston Matin and in this replay, through Bruxelles, it was just hard racing between Thiim and Harper.  Thiim matcheds Pier Guidi in sector one.  David Pittard is having trouble with the air jacks on that Aston Martin.  They need to do something with a hydraulic jack.  Maybe the air jack is low on pressure.  Alessandro Pier Guidi has run 383 laps, 1,667 miles.  

Marco Mapelli is the race leader and Christopher Haase could have a possibility of moving up.  I think Ross Gunn took over the Aston Martin.  Mapelli now has the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap of the motor race thus far.  Casper Stevenson leads the Bronze Cup class in another Barwell Motorsports Lamborghini, the #72 and he could lose a place, lose the lead, to Alexey Nesov.  Car #46 penalized for an unsafe rejoin onto the circuit, Valentino Rossi might just be the culprit.  A ten second stop and go penalty.  That will be costly.

The #100 Alex Buncombe McLaren is taking the five-minute technical pit stop, although it is very late to get it finished.  The #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 is in the pit lane right now.  More penalties I believe for the Sven Mueller Porsche I want to say.  The Ferrari has really come out of all the pit and penalty confusion looking pretty good with their pit work with three and a half hours remaining.  Sven Mueller had a repair on the Porsche and it s running well as the #3 car of Aron Walker has done well and now, the #63 Lamborghini is geting back out there.  

We could be seeing dark clouds in the sky again.  I wonder if there will be rain.  The Rutronik Porsche team is c Cleaning the radiator out with the compressed airine getting into the system.  That is the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3R.  No investigation from RaceControl over the #92 SSR Herbeth Porsche.  A battle for sixth between Christopher Haase, Ross Gunn, and Sheldon van der Linde.  Has Sheldon van der Linde got a run into the final chicane?  I don't know.  He had a head of steam through Paul Frere curve.  

Phillip Ellis is doing a great job leading by eight seconds in the Gold Cup, the #777 car for Al Manar Racing ahead of the #77 Haupt Racing Mercedes.  We have 40 cars still in the race.  Alex Buncombe and the RJN McLaren team are still working on the car.  26 cars have retired of the 66 starters.  One of the Mercedes' looks disheveled from contact.  The #163 Lamborghini and the leading Ferrari, they look immaculuate currently.  The splitter I think is disheveled on Ellis' Mercedes, the little winglet, the turning vane.  

The #3 Mercedes' front grille is littered with grass as well.  Aaron Walker is leading in the Silver Cup class in one of the other GetSpeed Mercedes'.  Theo Nouet is closing on Cesar Gazeau as well.  Dinamic vs. Boutsen VDS.  Last night's rain, safety cars and so forth were unbelievable!  There is a calm that has fallen over this race, with a good pace from all of the top six or seven contenders.  Everyone must be saving everything up.  400 laps x 7 kilometers is 2,800 kilometers.  400 laps, 1,741 miles.  With the gravel being spat upwards onto the windscreens, many of the cars have their windscreens damaged.  

   

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 20

 Five hours to go as we go for a wave by again.  Not in the Pro class.  This is the 20th some odd edition of the 24 Hours of Spa for the Grand Touring cars and I believe the 14th or so for the GT3 cars.  Big damage for John Hartshorne coming out of Bruxelles with fluid spewing out the front with king sized damage!  Oh man!  Oh man!  It is out of the race.  In this replay, Harthsorne runs wide, and he was on the gas, full throttle, breaking traction, and... ker-runch!  That all happened in the blink of an eye lighting up the rear tire.  Hartshorne has raced GT cars for a long time and 2024 is said to be his last full season as a driver.  He drove a Ford Mustang GT3 at Le Mans.  Full Course Yellow as we said.  The debris into Jacky Ickx corner will be cleared up.

John Hartshorne is 67 years of age and has been racing since the 1980s.  Kessel Racing has been in the motorsports game for a quarter century now, since 1999.  After stopping earlier, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Davide Rigon, he could take the lead of this motor race as Sven Mueller takes the position in the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3R as the #007 Aston Martin is in the lane for new boots.  We are into the final five hours and no, I haven't the faintest idea who the winner of this race is going to be.  You're asking me?  I have no idea.  

Alessio Rovera running fifth says these conditions with the mixed wet and dry weather and a single line to follow is very difficult to drive.  Push to the maximm n the final four hours of this race.  AF Corse got lucky at least once with a Full Course Yellow.  It is hard to push when you have a slippery part of the line even though it isn't totally wet.  Of the 66 cars that started, 44 continue in the race, 22 officially retired.  We have had a lot of attrition.  Farfus, Sorensen, Rigon, Hofer, Jaminet, Ellis, Pittard, Feller, Muller, Michelotto, Mapelli, Maini, MacDonald, Machiels, Mies, De Wilde, Gotz, Hui, Walker, Baud, Millroy, De Wilde, and Rosi, the top 25.

Safety Car lights on, pit entry closed.  The wave by is coming.  Jann Mardenborough did a 3:00 A.M. stint with water everywhere, and nothing but aquaplaning, like being in a big kettle full of boiling water.  Jann Mardenborough says he'd love to be back in GT3 racing.  He wants to be in Europe whether it is GT3 or Hypercar.  Mardenborough is working on sponsorship and knocking on doors.  Safety Car move left, eligible cars, move right.  Nicky Catsburg in the #4 CrowdStrike Riley Mercedes, and now, people are slowing, and Catsburg has the wave by and cars not eligible for the wave by, separating.  Pit lane now open.

The McLaren has had a turbo issue, the #100 car.  With the wave by's, they tell you to stay to the left side of the road, or stay right and don't overtake, but Mardenborough had hot slicks.  He had one wave by as the Max Hofer #66 Audi is leading Bronze Cup and the #4 Mercedes of Nicky Catsburg is pushing hard.  Safety Car in this lap.  I'm not sure there is a maximum for Pro drivers.  11 hours is for anyone.  Mardenborough has two and a half possible hours of drive time.  The #100 McLaren runs 31st in the overall.  Audi #88 in the pit lane which was fourth with Glenn van Berlo yesterday.  

Jann Mardenborough will drive a vintage race car at the Silverstone Classic.  OK.  Green flag!  We're racing again.  364 laps complete, 1,584 miles.  Contact and the Bronze leading car of Max Hofer gets fired off the road and had no choice.  That was a hip and shoulder, an argy bargy moment!  Ferrari inside, Audi, outside and Hofer should have conceded that spot.  I don't see damage, I don't think.  His co-driver Alexey Nesov says things are going perfectly and getting lucky with the safety cars but not at this moment.  Hopefully they can finish the race well.  

Hofer is now down behind Matthieu Jaminet and Philip Ellis overall.  Full Course Yellow as the #8 Ferrari gets turned around and is blindsided by the Aston Martin!  Niccolo Rosi and the #46 BMW M4 GT3 of Valentino Rossi has been damaged as well!  Egad!  That will be a pit stop for "The Doctor".  Four and a half hours to go.  We need to see who all has been involved in this shemozzle, the 21st Full Course Yellow of the race, half an hour after the last one.  Jeepers creepers!  Hello, to Ben Constanduros after doing production work overnight.  

Drivers are OK.  That's good.  The Aston Martin, we cannot see it.  The Nicolo Rosi Ferrari was in trouble and so is, well, I cannot see which Aston Martin that was.  Maybe that was Romain Leroux in one of the Walkenhorst cars.  Valentino Rossi hit Niccolo Rosi.  It was Romain Leroux smashing into the Aston and now #46 needs a new nose and they have to hurry or they will go a lap down and be out of contention.  Blimey O'Reilly!  That is the Romain Leroux, Maxime Robin, Lorcan Hanafin car, the Aston Martin.  That was a major crunch.  A big hit.  

Just survive.  We have seen a war of attrition as we have 43 or 44 cars left.  Rossi out of the car.  Game over.  That is the end of his drive time I guess and so, Maxime Martin and Raffaele Marciello will finish the race out.  So, it isn't game over.  It is just the end of Valentino Rossi's drive time.  367 laps now completed, 1,597 miles.  Could Porsche spring a surprise?  We started with nine brands I think, and we have six brands in the top six, I think.  Mercedes had 14 cars start this race.  In the Barwell Lamborghini, it is factory racer Sandy Mitchell.  It is always a long second day on Sunday at the 24 Hours of Spa as Nicolo Rosi is back in the race.

Shaun Balfe is now back in the McLaren.  No, he isn't.  Let me correct myself.  It's Sam Neary.  Safety Car in this lap.  We are going back to green.  Green flag it is.  Farfus, Sorensen, Rigon, the top three and then come backmarkers and other cars.  Maxime Martin is back in the race but is way off the lead lap.  Fredric Vesti and his co-drivers retired from the race earlier on.  They had front splitter damage which hurt the car beyond repair.  

Augusto Farfus has been around for a long time in touring cars, GT cars, or prototypes, a former factory Alfa Romeo touring car driver too I think.  Farfus, SOrensen, Rigon up front.  We are closing in again on the end of another racing hour in another ten or so minutes and the road is dry and fast here at Spa now.  I wonder how everyone has done on a full green stint.  17 safety cars and 21 Full Course Yellows!  Yikes!  Marco Mapelli has reset his teammates fast lap on lap 365, 2:16.105!  Holy smokes!  Marco Mapelli uncorked one when it counted!  

The gap is quite large because of the field spread after the yellow.  30 seconds separate everyone.  Maxime Martin in 14th spot overall, fourth on the road as in Les Combes, Sam Neary in the Optimum McLaren spins out.  This is the first time Sam Neary has raced at Spa.  He either crashed out early or one year came down with a bout of food posioning and couldn't race at all.  The incident has been noted by the stewards.  Martin is going to get stuck.  He is 18 minutes into his stint currently out of 63 I think.  

David Pittard was on an alternative strategy and swapped over to the main strategy and the only interloper is Sven Mueller in the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3R.  The gap betwee Davide Rigon and Matthieu Jaminet is ten seconds.  The Porsche just does not have the pace to turn it on against the Ferrari 296 GT3 but the new Aston Martin with a new team, oh man, they are in the pound seats as we are closing in on opening the pay window in the njext few hours.  Two by two further back through Brussels corner.

Louis Prette, McLaren, Marius Nakken, Porsche.  Alban Varutti, Audi.  Maxi Gotz in the #9 Mercedes now with Ulysse de Pauw at the controls in 20th place or so.  There are battles all over the speedway.  Alessio Picariello hanging on and now, Marco Mapelli still has that fastest lap at 2:16.105, the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap for the pole sitting car in this race.  Waxing positive about GRT Grasser Racing Team with Gottfried Grasser, the team boss.  

Davide Rigon still pushing, still pushing, still pushing.  This stint is very close to ending as Farfus is slower through the chicane heading for the La Source hairpin and teh Aston Martin hanging on behind the BMW.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 19

On board with American domiciled British driver Ian Jams who came from Formula Vauxhall Junior and has been racing for 30+ years.  The useful life on these sets of tires might be coming to an end as Mattia Drudi is in the lane witn the #7 Aston Martin and I think Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim, who's dad Kurt Thiim raced yesterday in the Historic Touring Car races.  Drudi out and Sorensen in aboard the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin.  There's more residue on the windscreen.  They aren't going for a tear off I guess, saving them.  Full tank of fuel, clean screen, new tires.  Max Hofer in the lane from third in the overall.  

When you get into the car you wear fresh overalls, and the worst part is getting your whole racing overalls all wet.  It is very uncomfortable.  The Aston Martin is running well.  Meanwhile, we see a right rear puncture on one of the McLaren's or not.  Weerts and Rossi at BMW chasing each other and Alessio Rovera must be tired of looking at the Aston Matin or vice versa.  This is quite the rivalry we have see between Alessio Rovera and now, Marco Sorensen.  

338 laps now completed, 1,471 miles.  McLaren #188 in the garage with emchanical issues.  No injuries after his accident for Joel Sturm!  Wonderful news!  Max Hesse says going from wet to dry without pushing the limit is hard to do.  He was stuck behind the Team WRT BMW.  Friend head-to-head competition between Team WRT and Rowe Racing.  Augusto Farfus is now battling with Henrique Chaves for the overall.  Chaves in the Aston Martin is on a totally different sequence.  Sitting and being patient is one thing but now, Farfus is chasing the Aston Martin's.  

The traffic is going against Farfus currently from the lead of the race.  Will Henrique Chaves challenge?  He has a great opportunity for making that happen.  Five laps to go, stay ahead of the BMW. That is what Aston Martin want for Henrique Chaves while through Blanchimont, the driving of that car as James Kell is being harried by Maxime Robin.  Augusto Farfus is only a second and a half up.  Roin climbs the hill on the Kemmel straightaway.  The gap between Farfus and Chaves is just under a second.  

Jann Mardenborough still leading the Pro-Am class but he could run out of drive time.  Chris Buncombe and Josh Caygill could be used in the daylight hours, but Alex Buncombe and Jann Mardenborough are both going to run out of time and they are in a battle with the #4 CrowdfStrike Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ian James.  Once Farfus is released from behind Sorensen, can he start putting in the performance numbers?  Marco Sorensen is really coming along well as Henrqiue Chaves pits sharing with David Pittard and Ross Gunn.

Walkenhorst won this race for BMW in 2018.  Keep that in mind.  It eas a completely unexpected and yet very popular success.  Max Hofer is the best Audi, former Audi TT Cup racer racing in regional GT championships, and he had the experience and the ability.  Mattia Michelotti is about to move up to second in class in the Bronze Cup, who has come out of the Italian GT Championship.  

Tenth overall, the Al Manar Racing Mercedes is the best one.  The Porsche's too have been coaniderably weaker than i would have thought.  The diffuser of that specific Mercedes should be removed as the #25 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi has moved all the way down to 18th place.  Ugo de Wilde is very much a Belgian and his sister is looking after WRT's hopsitality.  Five and a half hours remaining.  It has been incredibly dramatic.  Agajn, James Kell leads the Silver class right now.  

Farfus needs to clear the Mercedes as Marco Sorensen is closing in and fast.  Farfus cannot reach the battle with the Mercedes here, with Sorensen.  He is heading for a pass through La Source.  Could Rowe Racing have two GTWC Eurppe Endurance races back-to-back in 2024?  Alessio Rover is a constant shadow, 3.7 seconds behind.  But, he has not been drawn from the Aston to go forward.   This battle can simmer for another half an hour before coming to the pit lane.  348 laps completed, 1,514 miles.  #998 leads with Farfus and he has 15 laps to go in his stint.  Sorensen is closing in on Farfus very well.

The Balance of Performance makes cars so incredibly equal.  Weerts and Rossi are not at the pace as the others.  Sorensen reeling in Farfus.  4.10ths of a second apart.  So, the Aston takes less curb than the BMW.  Farfus is slower than Sorensen and Rovera.  Sorensen needs to pass the BMW as sunshine breaks out over the Piff Paff and we should not see any more rain!  Thank heavens for that!  We need to pikjc up the pace of this race.  

Farfus and Sore sen now 8/10ths of a second apart.  Sorensen still has a change here, but Rovera is closing on the #7 Aston Martin.  Rovera the young gun with titles in Italian GT racing and the GTE Am World Endurance Championship crown.  Patric Niederhauser and Matthieu Jaminet in an internecine Porsche battle but it has been disappointing to their fans to see Porsche flounder and the same for their brass at Stuttgart and the racing development people at the factory team.   Patrick Niederhauser and Matthieu Jameinet battle for position, at Spa.  

Jaminet's car might just be handling better in the corners.  Niederhauser slams the door in Matthieu Jaminet's face.  Further back we have quick cars laps down.  Everyone settling into a rhythm and no wore interruptions.  Niederhauser being harried by Jaminet.  Alessio Rovera akes the pass on Ian James in the #4 Riley motorsports Corwdstrike Mercedes.  The lead gap is now 11/10ths of a second.  Rovera has lost some distance to Sorensen it seems like.  What can Jaminet do to pass the 2019 Germam GT championsho[p, and he has won a lot of driverd

Niederhauser needs a gap if he wants to stay ahead.  Balance of performance is a big deal but this little race seems fair.  Preparation for a challenge is starting to be put together.  The #46 BMW M4 GT3 is in the pit lane again for Valentino Rossi.  New tires are the best things ypu can apply in a race car/  A gentle summer breeze with little to no wind as the #46 Team WRT BMW has pitted.  BMW #998 Augusto Farfus leads as Valentino Rossi is on his out lap after his pit stop.  Nose to nose between Jaminet and Niederhauser and Jaminet knew he had to remmeber discretion being the better part ofmvalor to mitigate damage.

Yikes!  Side by side out of La Source!   That's wild!  Jaminet did liftthrough Eau Rouge. Oh my goodness.  Now, the two porsche's continue their fight before in about 15 minutes, they need to pit.  The gap has grown to 1.2 seconds as Charles Weerts does a single stint in the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 pits and hands off to Sheldon van der Linde as we listen to the sonorous but screaming and unmistakable tones of a Porsche naturally aspirated flat six motor.  Niederhauser bails for the pit lane.  That flat six Porsche revs to 9,000-9,500 RPM these days.  That is what it sounds like to me.

Niederhauser did a 48 minute stint which is pretty short.  Max Hofer is the leading Bronze Cup contender in the Audi, the #66 Tresor Attempto Audi has gone like clockwork and has run incredibly well, but 22 seconds behind Alessio Rovera who is catching up fast to Marco Sorensen.  Chris Buncombe is in the #100 McLaren and the #4 CrowdStrike Mercedes has reclaimed the lead.  We see the #72 Barwell Motorsports Lamboerghini, which has Mattia Michelotto driving, the Italian driver.

Getting on with the job and keeping your noses clean, there are many entries here to finish or to lead the race but victory in a race like this asks a lot.  Full Course Yellow in ten seconds as we end another hour. 5, 4, 3, 2 1.  Full Course Yellow, now.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 18

More heat is retained in the tires for the cars pitting at the bottom of the pit lane, in the heritage pit lane, the endurance pits, rather than in the Formula 1 pits at the top.  So, we are reshuffling the deck here.  Max Hesse has dropped to fourth.  Henrique Chaves is the new erstwhile leader.  Nope.  Never mind.  Raffaele Marciello in the #46 BMW M4 GT3 is now at the top of the shop.  Marciello says that the tire pressure is way too low.  His crew chief tells him the pressure is normal and needs to be built up.  Marciello argues it is lower than he is used to.  For him the pressures are too low, and they'll be up to pressure when you push.  He feels he is on an underinflated Pirelli tire.  

Valentino Rossi has awakened from his sleep.  He looks knackered.  Maybe not.  He'll be ready to go.  The field filters it's way up and through La Source behind the safety car as Dennis Olsen is now in eighth place aboard the #64 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3.  The #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 has dropped to fourth in Silver with a broken splitter for Winward Racing, Dann Arrow at the controls.  Henrique Chaves now leads the race over Raffaele Marciello, on the road. Matciello is the real race leader ahead of Weerts, Hesse, Rovera, and Drudi.  Green flag and we are back to green as everyone is relearning their tires and the corresponding grip levels.  On a drying road, the top comtenders are scrambling through the traffic.  

Charles Weerts and Max Hesse are two of them.  Henrique Chaves did not pit and ended up in the lead of the motor race.  Dries Vanthoor closing up on the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 as Max Hesse is drawing himself closer to Charles Weerts.  Mattia Drudi speeds downhill and up through Eau Rouge.  There is a cable or something in the cockpit flinging around with the G loads.  Down to Bruxelles they turn and now Henrique Chaves doing very well in the Aston Martin for Walkenhorst Motorsports.  Chaves is a former McLaren driver.

Dries Vanthoor hasn't had the stint he wanted in very difficult conditions including the track and the tire pressures.  It was partially the changing conditions, but he had no grip compared to the other drivers and their cars.  He returned the car to the pit lane in one piece.  He was struggling on old, bald tires, slewing all over the shop.  WRT are a year behind Rowe Racing switching from Audi to BMW.  The Rowe car does not struggle with the setups or whatever.  WRT has gone one way while Rowe goes a different direction compared to the WRT machines as Hesse has reeled in Marciello and the #46 Team WRT BMW is on new slick tires.  The Max Hesse BMW is far more planted compared to Raffaele Marciello in the #46.

Six and 3/4 hours to go.  Chaves and Marciello, 1.6 seconds apart.  Weerts followed by Hesse, and we need to look at the handling of the #46 of Marciello.  They have been struggling with handling all race long.  From Jacky Ickx corner/Speakers' corner, into Pouhon, they go downhill, and the handling of the BMW's is still tricky.  Hesse and Weerts are on the right tires but they can't get the power down and now, Rovera is using the windscreen wiper on the Ferrari, the #51 car.  Alessio Rovera following in Max Hesse's wheel tracks.  Most of these chaps at the top of the shop are catching each other. 

Chaves needs to pit because he has already done his 63 minutes of driving required for a stint.  Team radio at Walkenhorst Aston Martin.  Slicks everywhere.  You can do 67 minutes in a stint and needs to be in at the end of this lap and to go onto slick Pirelli P Zero tires.  It is way too dry to roll the dice and go for wets.  But, we see light rain at the start/finish line so this is now going to catch drivers between the devil and the deep blue sea.  Maybe Walkenhorst will prepare the Pirelli wet tires and into the final chicane, Raovera almost ran right over the Lamborghini.  Leader in the lane, Henrique Chaves going for a driver change.  Marciello, Hesse, Weerts, Rovera, Drudi.  Rovera runs wide.,

Maybe there is rain in Eau Rouge.  Windscreen wipers on.  The Sston Martin windscreen is all smudged as the Barwell Lamborghini is off at Pouhon with Antoine Doquin at the controls, and now, we have another Full Course Yellow or so it seems.  Drudi all over the back of Rovera through Pouhon, like a fat pigeon on a chip.  Too many pigeons eating chips or frites mayonnaise here at Spa!  Drudi trying to pass Rovera while Rovera wants by Weerts, look.  New boots for the Aston Martin and on full tnaks for the fuel.

Drudi is going for position, Ferrari on the inside, down the holl to Eau Rouge, the dirty side of the road.  Drudi welded to the tail of the Ferrari and they fly over Raidillon.  Into Les Combes, we are going to Full Course Yellow with the stricken Lamborghini.  No overtaking.  Danger.  Hello to Ben Tuck from Kessel Racing.  He did his best lap in his first stint at the start yesterday.  He still should have the fastest lap in the Bronze Cup.  S big rotation for Antoine Doquin.  In the dry it is fast but in the wet there is mores tanding water on the tarmac.  That is fresh, new tarmac of course.

Green flag again.  We have had shedloads of interruptions and now, slicks on a damp circuit of course.  For the past ten hours teams have been talking about tire pressures with what drivers feel and the pit lane staff and pit crew looking at their weather apps as RAovera had to back out through Eau Rouge with Mattia Drudi now reeling in Charles Weerts in spite of a filthy, buggy windscreen. The BMW is very pointy.  The Ferrari 296 GT3, as well as driving the BMW, the Mustang, and others, the Aston Martin as well.  Ben Tuck says that the car is big, but it suited Le Mans very well.  Mattia Drudi on the outside, hung out to dry passed by Rovera in the Ferrari.

Charles Weerts wants a piece of this pie!  This is a love/hate relationship for drivers, in the battle, but in the wet, you immediately risk going off the road.  Ferrari #74 was in the garage fixing an issue and Chandler Hull got tagged by a Porsche and was bedded in the gravel.  Ferrari vs. Aston Martin.  Aerodynamics vs. horsepower, and Rovera is a star driver.  Now, into Bruxelles, there are two possinle lines, not completely V'ing the turn or maybe hugging the inside line.  They are on slicks but taking a rain line.

Next up, Raffaele Marciello is still being harried by Max Hesses.  BMW vs. BMW.  Mano e mano.  Lorcan Hanafin in Silver scrapping with the Mercedes of Yannick Mettler.  This is a battle for the Silver class lead with six and a half hours remaining.  Good luck for the rest of the race, Ben.  Glad to have you, mate.  Raffaele Marciello is right on the ragged edge battling Max Hesse who has better balance and handling on the setups here.  Marciello leads Hesse just barely.  Now, we are looking again at the lead battle.  Rovera in the Ferrari is very much sorted out.  The Ferrari is beginning to come into it's own.

The track is drying and getting the temperature into an operational zone.  Marciello and Hesse 1-2, Rovera in third place just ahead of Drudi.  Rovera is absolutely holding a pretty wheel at this point.  Now, Yannick Mettler at the wheel of the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 leads Pro-Am over Lorcan Hanafin and Jop Rappange.  In Pro-Am, Jann Mardenborough is ahead of Colin Braun.  Great to see Jann Mardenborough back in GT3 racing after going to Japan.  He may have missed the open wheel racing boat but so much of his early career with Nissan the video game deal.

They tried getting Mardenborough into open wheel cars, but it didn't relate to Nissan's marketing plan.  Hesse, Farfus, and and Harper lead and Farfus wants to stay in a rhythm.  That BMW #46 is very taily and totally unbalanced.  I don't know what changes they are able to make, honestly.  You can't get the car up on the lift, and try to change the geometry of the car from underneath.  Hesse moves ahead of Marciello and now, the gap will continue to come down.  It the situation tire pressure or car balance?  Antoine Doquin back on track but has to cop a penalty for a pit lane infringement.

The Bronze Cup battle is between the Tresor Attempto Audi #66 and the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.  Valentino Rossi is now set to chase down Max Hesse in the battle of the BMW teams.   Max Hesse leads Rovera and Drudi.  Marciello seems like he had a bad stint and was very worried about the tires, the Pirelli P Zero tires.  Good  morning to Daniel Juncadella.  Around 3AM they went on a slick tire with Fredric Vesti and he got confused down the escape road in turn five, drove into a hole, and heavily damaged the front splitter, trying to do a technical pit stop.

The car was getting very loose.  It was Fredric Vesti's first endurance race and Raffaele Marciello is in overdirve watching this.  Raffaele Marciello says there was a different strategy between the WRT BMW's who try to help each other out.  They have been adjusting the tire pruessrues.  In changing conditions, tire pressure for the conditions makes it an extremely fascinating deal.  Daniel Juncadella says that the dry line also works well n the wet with the new tarmac.  New tarmac has oil in it.  Mercedes-AMG has two classes covered, but this might be a BMW year.

Ferrari and Aston Martin are running very well.  Patiemce, experience, luck, and staying calm, to Daniel Juncadella are the onest importanr situations in endurance races.  Stay on top of what the tires are.  The Meecedes-AMG is very reliable on the long run.  Spa is very aggressive on tires.  Glad to hear from Dani Juncadella.  Colin Braun, Jann Mardenborough, and Indy Dontje, the three remaining Pro-Am entries.   Mercedes #4 in the pit lane.  A class win might be on the cards for George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Nicky Catsburg, and Ian James.  We are into the final six hours of the race.

    

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 17

Slick tires for the Pro-Am class leading #4 CrowdStrike by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 pf Nicky Catsburg.  New tires can transform a car in terms of the handling.  Tom Gamble maneuvers and tries to pass in the McLaren over the Mercedes which one of these cars, has a loose piece of trim on it and we don't know which one or what's gojng on.  Maybe it is a movable aerodynamic device, it is on the hood of the Mercedes, the #4 with Colin Braun now at the wheel of it through Campus and Paul Frere corner and Jordan Pepper has pitted the #163 Lamborghini and Dan Harper is now leading in the #998 Row Racing BMW M4 GT3 but Harper is out of sequence.  

Pier Guidi sails past Jordan Pepper and Dan Harper leads the way now.  So, we have a four-way battle for position here.  Harper, Pepper, Sturm, Pier Guidi.  I take that back.  Sturn second, and Maxime Martin now third with Alessandro Pier Guidi in fourth spot.  I need to correct myself.  Raffaele Marciello is in the #46 BMW M4 GT3.  Fifth is now Jordan Pepper.  The #30 Oman Racing Team BMW M4 GT3 is slowing with a mechanical problem having to pull over at the inside of Pouhon, Callan Williams at the controls.  I don't know why the car is coming to a grinding halt and we should perhaps have either at local or a Full Course Yellow to retrieve the car.

He is on the radio with the engineers.  He'll have to do a reset.  For the time being, Dan Harper is the erstwhile leader.  Throttle response, a lack thereof is Williams' dilemma.  Now, Dan Harper, through Fangnes is really driving like a man possessed and we'll have a Full Course Yellow in 20 seconds, 10 seconds, Full Course Yellow right now.  OK.  Vanthoor and Pier Guidi have done stint reserts.  I was downstairs grabbing a snack and an Arnold Palmer energy boost.  Splash and dash at WRT.  Rowe BMW and Dan Harper came in.  Dries Vanthoor did a fuel stop and that was a short stop.  I also saw the #163 Lamborghini come in but not for a techical pit stop.  Safety Car procedure.  Wave by procedure ready.

Max Hesse is the race leader.  Cars from the other classes will get back on the lead alp.  Calan Williams reported a loss of power and total throttle response trouble, maybe something electrical.  Game over.  Eddie Cheever will unlap himself on the wave by.  Eligible cars for the wave by will move to another row.  Watch out for the patch of water at La Source.  300 laps now in the bag.  1,306 miles.  Most cars are on slick tires and these dry conditions will destroy the wet Pirelli tires and make them as bald as an egg.  Rowe Racing lead the race and so, we have two WRT and one Rowe BMW.  We saw BMW with a Balance of Performance ride height change and the rear wing was changed.  But now maybe those reg changes might not matter.

Lorcan Hanafin now in the #35 Walkenhorst Racing Aston Martin and giving it a good run.  Walkenhorst won the 24 Hours of Spa with BMW in 2018.  Mattia Drudi is still in contention. Hanafin leads the Silver Cup class.  Max Hofer leads Bronze in the Tresor Attmepto Audi.  Safety Car move left, eligible cars move right for the wave by.  Start the wave by procedure.  Those cars doing the ave by will be able to get more heat into their tires.  Max Hofer leads Bronze.  Wave By completed, pit lane open.  How hard will Max Hesse being able to push?  Drivers weaving to get warmth into their tires. 

Max Hesse told to expect light rain in ten minutes and the whole field hears that and the message goes down like a broken lift, a broken elevator.  The rain is here.  99% humidity in the air.  Colin Braun has the #4 CrowdStrike Mercedes AMG GT3 in 32nd spot now.  They are slowing down big time into La Source.  Drivers working to get heat in the tires and the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 is in the pit lane, it has gone out and stuck to a plan, a program.  It has a high center of gravity but likes the speed of the Hemmel straightaway.  The Mustang is known as a Pony Car.  It is very similar to the big Bentley Continental GT3 we saw years ago.  A GT3 car is a silhouette of the production sports car it is based on.  The #98 BMW M4 GT3 has officially been retired, so the defending champions will not repeat this year in 2024.

Dennis Olsen has taken over the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 from Christopher Mies.  There is no indication that the rain is an issue at this moment.  If there is rain, it isn't at the racetrack.  Safety Car displayed on the marshal boards.  The #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 is out and retired during the night.  Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller, and Jules Gounon, headed for the house.  Of the 66 cars that started, 43 remain on the road, 23 have officially retired.  Keep a good eye on Jordan Pepper, the South African, and see what he will do.  A hot Pepper!  Ha!  I just had to do that!  Jaxon Evans is doing very well in the #13 Phantom Global Porsche, and he will be pushing.  Joel Eriksen and Thomas Preining also on that team. 

Cinch down those belts.  Green flag!  Strike while the iron is hot!  Max Hesse has Jaxon Evans, a determined, angry Kiwi behind him.  There, look, Pier Guidi dives past Marciello for third spot and Pier Guidi is leaving Marciello in his dust!  But, Marciello is right on his six up through Les Combes and I will pay you back with interest.  Jaxon Evans fell prey to Max Hesse and Jordan Pepper is stymied behind Joel Sturm.  Raffaele Marciello is not used to getting the rough end of the pineapple like that.  Pier Guidi is on Joel Sturm's case as we speak.  Sturm is quicker that poor old Jaxon Evans and he is in the pit lane.

Pepper wants to unlap himself from Sturm!  Oy yoy yoy!  Drudi to the inside of Marciello and goes through and now the McLaren is making inroads, but that car is not in the correct position as Sven Mueller and company have rattled on and gotten their car onto the lead lap.  The McLaren here is a real cork in the bottle.  Don't go offline or you will compromise yourself.  Drive through penalty to car #99 Christopher Haase at the wheel of it, driving stint violation.  Damage to the right rear of the #96 Porsche 911 GT3R and the #13 car has done their technical pit stop, the Phantom Global Porsche as Sven Mueller has lost out to the Aston Martin with Henrique Chaves at the wheel of it.  

Sven Mueller still pushing but Tom Gamble, a class winner in this race last year, moves ahead.  Incident between #32 and #7 Vanthoor and Drudi at the chicane, noted.  Henrique Chaves is all over Dries Vanthoor's BMW like a fat pigeon on a chip and I think that BMW is really beginning to fade.  Max Hofer's Audi is coming and poor old Dries Vanthoor's BMW M4 GT3 is truly the cork in the bottle this time.  Bavaria is in trouble, and oh my God, Joel Sturm has gone off the road, big!  Hesse, Pier Guidi, Marciello.  Full Course Yellow in ten Seconds.  

No wave by.  We just had one.  The pit lane will remain open and it is getting misty at the top of the track.  The mist and the moisture hanging in the air.  Rain is actually falling.  I take it back.  Cars on cold tires, will be slithering all over.  Joel Sturm is walking away but we'll have to see what happened.  He went right in the corner, Joel Sturm was a passenger, hit the wall, dug in, and had a massive barrel roll over on it's top and back onto it's wheels.  Oh, my heavens!  It hurts.  Joel Sturm walked to the medical car but his bell has to have been rung pretty good.  Tire barriers will need repair as Max Hesse tells his team, asks them, what is the forecast?  He is told to wait for 15-30 minutes to see what develops and how the tire strategy is going to work out.

Max Hesse might be pondering slick tires.  The car will be craned away and maybe put on the flatbed.  Yes.  The flatbed truck is there, and we'll have to wait for 10-15 minutes to clear up the accident.  The track staff here at Spa are very good, along with the SRO team.  Free pit stops once again as the #77 Al Manar Racing Mercedes-AMG is doing their technical stop, a brake disc and pad change and Toby Sowery is now in the #991 Century Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 he shares with British GT champion Darren Leung, Pedro Ebrahim, and BMW factory GTP IMSA driver Connor De Philippi.  

If the car goes ont a flatbed, the race is over for it.  Joel Sturm walked away from that roll.  Alessandro Pier Guidi in the lane for fuel, tires, and a driver change.  Slick Pirelli P Zero tires onto the car and we need to double check and see who is now driving.  At the #998 BMW camp, no rain in sector one, little drizzle in sector two, no rain in sector three.  The rain was briefly at the top of the Kemmel straightaway, just light drizzle.  I don't know what caught out Joel Sturm.  Sturm has not been racing for too long but he knows how to drive.  That roll was not a rookie mistake.  Alessio Rovera has taken over the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.  

The weather is so incredibly changeable.  Everyone trying to favorably roll the dice.  The fans are loving this, a real event not just a race, with the fireworks, the concerts, food, you name it.  I think the Aston Martin team are reacting to the Full Course Yellow and Dries Vanthoor and Sven Mueller are both in the pit lane early.  Mattia Drudi drops down the order and both WRT BMW's are in, the #32 and the #46.  Regular pit service underway.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 16

Team WRT are now third and fourth in the overall.  Nine hours on the nose left.  Eight hours and 59 minutes to go.  How many cars still on the lead lap?  25 of them of the 66 starters.  The car is back in the pit lane, the McLaren with the destroyed wheel rim.  Maybe they will have gotten away with it just shattering the wheel rim.  This car had a shattered brake rotor yesterday.  Hello to Ryan Myrehn and Marc Duez.  Duez was a regional Belgian driver, living ten minutes away from the track, being a fan this weekend.  He had a chance to be a racing driver here at Spa Francorchamps and he raced and won this event three times and has the record for starts, racing the 24 Hours of Spa 33 times.  He is the safety car driver this weekend.  There was a long night with many incidents due to the weather and cars going off course.

He did six hours and there are three teams for the safety cars working for eight hours.  Just one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and a Belgian legend, a racing driver, a World Rally driver, and a 24 Hours of Spa champion.  He has to be tired after leading the field in the safety car during the rain, controlling the field.  Less time spent in the pits is more valuable.  Stay on the track.  That is the key to how these endurance races work.  Gilles Magnus has driven Audi's in GT3 and in touring cars with the RACB they Royal Automobile Club of Belgium.  At BMW Team WRT Dries Vanthoor is now chasing Maxime Martin.  He is catching the sister car.  Dries Vanthoor and WRT want to win for the first time in a decade.  

Aston Martin have not won the 24 Hours of Spa since 1948.  St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson were the winning drivers in an Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports car.  Bronze Cup led by Dylan Pereira and the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8.  Al Manar Racing is in the pit lane for service.  Eddie Cheever III has taken over the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.  Some slight bodywork damage to the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3 and the sister #71 car has gone to the pit lane and might retire.  It is now an official retirement though.  So, we'll have to cross it off as the #4 CrowdStrike by Riley Motorsports Mercedes is in the pit lane.

The rain, the darkness, the spray, exudes the track limits issues.  Klaus Bachler now in the #911 Porsche for Pure Racing.  Dylan Pereira now in the #66 Attempto Racing Audi as the GetSpeed Mercedes team is going through a driver change with Yannick Mettler now at the controls.  The #46 Team WRT BMW is in and Valentino Rossi now takes over from Maxime Martin.  Excuse me.  It was Raffaele Marciello as we have David Addison returning to the broadcast booth along with John Watson.  Again, eight and a half hours.  We have had considerable time under safety car and Full Course Yellow conditions.  Jules Gounon in the Mercedes has gone to the garage.  

If it wasn't for bad luck and getting clonked by people, the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 would have none at all.  Chris Froggatt being interviewed by Ryan Myrehn.  He feels good about the possibility of a class win this afternoon.  There are other cars to look out for including the #52 Ferrari, the AF Corse car.  Overnight in the rain and the darkness before the long safety car was incredibly challenging with too much water on the road.  Eddie Cheever III takes over the car after Chris Froggatt has done a double stint.  A change for third place overall I think but I need to check.  There is a litany of teams that have not gone for slick tires.

There has been a lot of casing the weather as Julien Andlauer brings the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3R as survival is the critical matter.  The rain has continued.  Well played, chaps, Martin Haven abd Bruce Jones, thank you so much.  We are now looking at eight hours and 24 minutes of racing remaining.  Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3 is eighth overall as Dan Harper leads the motor race 12 seconds up the order.  Ferrari #71 of Thomas Neubauer, #36 Mex Jensen, Lucas Auer #48 Mercedes, Arthur Rougier Audi, Matteo Cairoli's Lamborghini, Patrick Pilet, Nico Baert, Christian Hook, Marvin Dienst, Oliviver Bertels, and a number of others including last year's winners with Nick Yelloly, Philipp Eng, and Marco Wittmann.

286 laps completed, 1,245 miles.  The sky does not look despeately bad compared to what we saw a wee while ago, an hour ago.  Spa is such a fickle place.  Klaus Bachler leads the motor race with Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm sharing the car.  It has kept out of trouble with Jordan Pepper in the #163 Lamborghini whoch plummeted to 40th place or more and is now back to second after they had fueling rig troubles.  The mist hangs in the air but the track continue to dry.  Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor are close behind and so is Alessandro Pier Guidi.  BMW, BMW, Ferrari.  

The drying line is becoming more evident although Eau Rouge is still damp.  Don't run on the dry line if you have the wet weather Pirelli's bolted on.  You want to seek the wetter part of the road for longevity on the rain tires.  Gaggles of cars through Les Combes corner.  Gilles Magnus has made up plenty of spots in the #25 Sainteloc Audi.  At the top of Bruxelles it is grim, misty, and foggy.  41 nationalities are running in this race.  Klaus Bachler wriggling his way through the traffic and Sven Mueller, look, is doing likewise.  Mueller could really make hay while the rain falls.  But now we have a distinctly drying line on the road.  Maybe it is slimy into the chicane, and try hard to find the drying line.

Sector one and sector three are very different as WRT is giving information to Raffaele Marciello about track conditions.  It is awkward to put tires on in the middle of a stint.  Klaus Bachler leads Jordan Pepper and Maxime Martin in the Pro class and Dries Vanthoor slides the car through the exit of Pouhon1  Holy smokes!  Pier Guidi is two seconds quicker.  So, Jordan Pepper is still in second place.  Alessandro Pier Guidi chasing down Dries Vanthoor up the Kemmel straightaway into Les Combes corner.  Dries Vanthoor cannot get the grip but the Ferrari 296 GT3 is able to find the grip, Pier Guidi at the controls.  

Pier Guidi right on Dries Vanthoor's six for fourth place on lap 291 of the race.  The BMW does not have the drive.  It is still very twitchy as Dan Harper makes his move for ninth on the Audi of Alex Aka.  Into Blanchimont, Pier Guidi is not close enough.  The BMW is slithering all over the shop while the Ferrari has superior traction.  Now for the drive off the corner, the BMW has the grunt.  3 liter V6's in both cars, with turbos.  To Les Combes they come.  The Ferrari has the handling and the traction.  Vanthoor washing out, the handling going away.  His tires must be completely shot.  Into Pouhon he tries again, and Pier Guidi has some room.  

The BMW's handling on the dry line even is wild.  Vanthoor is being told to hunt for water to cool his tires.  That is where his handling issues lie.  I think the rear tires have lost all their tread.  Pier Guidi tries making the pas into La Source and Vanthoor concedes to Pier Guidi.  Can you cool the tires?  Dries Vanthoor is about half through his stint as Hugo Cook as a gravelly rallycrossing moment in the Lamborghini but no harm done.  Rob Bell in the McLaren is lapped by Pier uid as the #32 BMW M4 GT3 is slithering around and now, slick tires might just be the order of the day with the track drying rapidly.

I think Dries Vanthoor might do a double stint in the #46 BMW M4 GT3 changing tires, perhaps, and maybe sticking a fresh driver in the car.  OK.  Now, Sheldon van der Linde or Charles Weerts will be in and Raffaele Marciello also hits the lane and the Ferrari is in I believe as well.  Dries Vanthoor will do a double stint because he knows where the dry line is, on new boots, new slick tires.  He will feel very good about it as Raffaele Marciello is the one still in the car and all this work has gone on wit the #32 car of Dries Vanthoor as well.  Once he hits drying track he will be thriving in the newfound grip and Alessandro Pier Guidi too has pitted.  Klaus Bachler leading, Jordan Pepper in second place.\

Bachler bails early for new tires and he has four rrack limits warnings that go to the car.  Romain Laroux in Silver chases after Dann Arrow.  The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 slithering all over on a rapidly drying road and on rain tires, get onto the damp patches to recover those wet tires which will melt if they can't find the water.  Jordan Pepper, the South African, will resume in the lead in the Lamborghini.  Colin Caresani, his family invests in vintage race cars and a vintage Grand Prix race at Zandvoort in Holland.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 15

Rain will continue for the next four hours, the next four and a half hours.  We'll just have to see what is going to happen.  Maxime Martin trying to make inroads on Klaus Bachler, and I think he is.  How can they be so identical on time?!  Unbelievable!  Maxi Gotz in the #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes is a lap down but is lapp[ing the same pace and Bachler says, "I have had enough of this!"  Maxime Martin could become the second best, or the best placed of their cars because Sheldon van der Linde leads but has a drive through penalty in his future.  Tresor Attempto team boss Arkin Aka says that his team makes great decisions and that they are veterans, and they will see how things go with the weather.  He has slept for an hour or an hour and a half.  Aston Martin on Aston Martin, Marco Sorensen passing Maxime Robin.  

David Pittard is fifth overall aboard the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports Aston Martin currently.  2:16.387 is the new CrowdStrike Fastest Lap set by Frank Perera.  Perera is now chasing Sheldon van der Linde.  Chris Froggatt pits from sixth overall and the lead in the Bronze division in the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.  In from fifth place, the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports Aston Martin, still behind Maxime Mrtin, and many crews owe us a pit stop.  Ross Gunn has taken over from David Pittard I believe.  Sheldon van der Linde and Frank Perera are both in for driver changes and scheduled service of fueling and tire changes.  

The #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 serving an extra 30 seconds during this pit stop.  Grasser Racing Team and Lamborghini and Klaus Bachler in the #92 Pure Racing Porsche.  Sheldon van der Linde out and it is either Charles Weerts or Dries Vanthoor.  Did they take tires?  I am not sure.  You do lose performance on old wet tires because sharpness of the edges of the tread blocks fades away.  The #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes pits for more new rain tires.  We have seen rain since 10:00 P.M. last night.  We should be rejoined in another hour by David Addison and John Watson as Maxime Martin cycles back to the top of the pile in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

Maxime Martin pits from the race lead.  Maxime Martin is in the pit lane in the #46 Team WRT BMW and now, back into the garage is Ralf Aron, the Estonian driver in the #130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the garage in the old heritage pit lane.  They have some work to do with the air hose on the air jack.  They are working on the left-hand side of the automobile.  They might be looking for a fluid leak under the car, and it is red hot under there.  It sounds to me like they are looking for a leak in that car.  Everything is leaking water and dripping if they are trying to find an oil, water, or fuel leak, that has zero to do with rain watter.  Nicky Catsburg at the wheel of the #4 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 needing more front brake as opposed to rear brake.

Vincent Vosse won here in 2002 with Sebastien Bourdais, David Terrien, and Christophe Bouchut.  One of the Mercedes' has a broken left rear taillight, and I don't know which one.  No idea why the #130 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 has been shoved into the garage farther as the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin is in trouble as the #998 BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, wriggling through the corner but needs to pit and will fall way down the race order.  Augusto Farfus wants to win another 24 Hours of Spa after also winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.  The #54 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche has long since retired and the #55 sister car was hit by Till Bechtolsheimer in the darkness, a long time ago, and there hassbeen contact somewhere.  Never mind.  It was the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.

The #21 Comtoyou Aston Martin is being investigated for contact at turn 19.  Jim Pla scrapping with Franck Perera, but don't waste time for a driver that is on a different level, and he has let him go.  That is a wise place to go.  66 cars in five classes based on driver ratings, all GT3 cars.  The #158 McLaren went off the road and is now back on track.  I am not sure if the sister #159 car of Benji Goethe, Dean MacDonald, and Tom Gamble are 31st in the overall.  Augusto Farfus pits the #998 BMW M4 GT3 to the lane and he should and probably will be doing a double stint, a 63 minute stint.  Franck Perera takes over the lead.

Julien Andlauer in second brings the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 t0 the pit lane.  Spray hanging in the air.  The rain is getting a wee bit heavier again.  #130 Mercedes, they were not looking for a leak.  They were looking to reattach a loose floor and now, Klaus Bachler passes Franck Perera for the lead of the motor race!  Wow!  Dropping back doesn't really hurt a driver at this stage with a long, long, long way to go yet.  Klaus Bachler has indeed arrived on the tail of Franck Perera and he has also made it by the #158 McLaren I believe.  Bachler and Pure Racing is leading the motor race, the Lithuanian team.  Josh Caygill will hand over to Alex Buncombe in the #100 RJN Mc,Laren soon.

Someone is stationary at the La Source hairpin and I think it is Alex Buncombe.  Oh boy.  Fastest lap again for the #163 Lamborghini.  He (Buncombe) was going slow but he is only going into the pit lane.  The overall race leader is indeed Klaus Bachler pulling ahead of Franck Perera by three seconds or so.  Simon Gachet in the Haas RT Audi spun at La Source.  We have been under green flag racing for seven hours 21 minutes.  We have seen 13 safety car periods and 16 Full Course Yellow periods.  Ross Gunn vs. Nicki Thiim and the #66 Attempto Racing Audi of Dylan Pereira has gone off the road.  He thew it in the gravel trap at Piff Paff.

Mattia Drudi is glad to ser the light of day.  They have been competitive all race long and they have good chances either ay in the wet or dry, but dry racing would be far easier.  The pace is good even with the rain currently.  Someone has lost a tire and that is a car in the pit lane, blocking the entrance to the pit lane and that is the #188 that has lost the left rear, Miguel Ramos in the Bronze Cup division.  The rim came off the center of the wheel or that is what it looks like.  One wheel drive on that car.  He knocked it off the wheel using Begkiun as a ganner,  He clattered over the curbs, three wheels on me wagon, and how did the wheel split off the tire?  

Now the marshals are pressing on with pushing the car.  Ramos is stuffed and being towed away by this Citroen van tow vehicle.  To all the marshals in orange or white, thank you for being dedicated and unpaid volunteers.  Without marshals there is no safety.  Without safety, there is no racing.  Thank you for all you do.  We cannot go racing without you no matter the level and we owe you a debt of gratitude.  Where is the #7 Aston Martin?  Nikki Thiim has gone past Ross Gunn just before the McLaren incident, or after it.  The Aston Martin's have sapped places.  

24 Hours of Spa: Hour 14

The visibility is getting worse and worse.  The #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes is in the lane in the hands of Maximilian Gotz and the sister #10 is in as well for fresh Pirelli P Zero rain tires.  The morning light is coming as we see a yellow flag at the top of the Kemmel straightaway at turn five as conditions are getting far worse.  The weather is coming and going, and this will continue well into the daylight hours.  In the trees there is a lot of mist hanging around.  There will be a temperature inversion for the cold air holding the moisture gets trapped by hot air, causing a fog layer.  We saw that at the Nurburgring of course.   Light in the sky, mist in the trees.  Mex Jansen in the #36 Walkenhorst Motorsports Astnon Martin snaps to the right, to the left, up through Eau Rouge and plows into the wall!  His right rear wheel lost, rolling down the track.  Mex Jansen, Tim Creswick, Bijoy Garg, and Ben Green, out of race.

The car behind almost suffers the exact same fate!  My heavens!  The rain has picked up.  Fog at the Nurburgring, rain at Le Mans, rain at Spa Francorchamps, and we press on as cars are falling by the wayside.  Ryan Myrehn set to interview Chandler Hull.  He tells us that someone came to the inside with an ambitious move and got on the curb, and the next thing he knew, he was spinning around.  The sun is beginning to come up.  Headlights, rain lights, and sunlight are making visibility horrid at 150 meters, with standing water in Eau Rouge with the drivers' foot buried in the throttle.  The #74 Ferrari keeps on trucking.

The issue now is the cold and the dampness.  The Boutsen VDS Mercedes overshoots the pit box or has come out of the garage, car #10 with Cesar Gazeau of France at the wheel of it, after it's technical pit stop.  A whole host of front runners pitted including Sheldon van der Linde back at the top of the shop.  Maxime Martin is in as is Arjun Maini and ithers in the pit lane.  A ton of them are in under full course yellow.  Nicky Catsburg leads Pro-Am ahead of the #100 RJN McLaren, in the #4 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3.  Yannick Mettler spun at the top of Eau Rouge.  Fatigue kicking in.  Tired, sandy eyes, with glare all over.  

Aaron Walker is in the lane doing the technical pit stop for brakes, filters and so forth.  Ten hours and 40 minutes to go.  At Mad Panda Motorsports, Swiss driver Alain Valente tells us that this race has gone well and they were first in class in the Silver division.  He drove for three hours under the safety car because of too much water and then another car drove into them and they are doing everything they can as there is a 30 second time penalty assessed to the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 for a pit stop infringement.

Despite the penalty the #32 BMW team is going to try and win.  The cars are back behind the safety car as we have reached prime time.  A dozen cars have officially retired.  Of the 66 starters, 54 remain.  We will commence the wave by procedure now.  Sky Tempesta Racing is now at the top of the tree in the Bronze Cup ahead of Andrea Bertolini and Patrick Kujala.  Ian James, Chris Buncombe, and the Uno Racing Landgraf Mercedes are the top three as Buncombe may have received a wave by.  No.  I don't believe he did.  

Silver Cup has Walkenhorsr Aston Martin, Winward Mercedes, and Dinamic Porsche.  Ford have just the one Mustang in this race.  Here is the championship scenario with WRT and Max Budweil.  They have been told that it was when the leader crossed the line at 12 hours.  There is no appeal process ad they need to understand the whole situation at this moment in time.  They are going for the championship.  They are saying they were the leaders at 12 hours on the nose before they came in to do their technical pit stop but Race Control says the leader after halfway counts.  Team WRT have not won this race in a decade since they were aligned with Audi.  More light in the sky.  But there's more spray on the road.  The drivers can rest but the mechanics never get any rest.   

Safety Car in at the end of this lap.  It is very rainy and yo can barely see the marshals' posts.  If one marshals post cannot see another, then it is too dangerous to be racing and that was what we saw at the Nurburgring with the fog four weeks ago.  Here, you can see from marshal's post to marshal's post.  So we could be OK.  But there is a wall of spray with the 53-54 cars, and the visibility at the top of the hill was pretty grim but the cameras are misting up in the cold and the wet just like the drivers' windscreens are.  We are just under 15 degrees Celsius.  

The safety car is in the pit lane.  Green flag.  van der Linde, Perera, Froggatt, Robin, Bachler, and Ellis.  Four of five classes in the race in the top six.  Ian James in Pro-Am is 25 seconds clear of Chris Buncombe in Pro-Am, the #100 Team RJN McLaren.  Chris Buncombe closing in on Ian James.  Davide Rigon in 12th spot just behind the Ricardo Feller Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II.  This is the battle for 11th spot.  Marco Sorensen, the #7 Aston Martin is only 7/10ths of a second ahead of Ricardo Feller.  Ten second penalty for the #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin for speeding in the pit lane.

Penalties also for the #55 Dinamic Motorsports Porsche and the #71 AF Corse Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 of Davide Vidales, smashing into Lilou Wadoux in another Ferrari and the first impact from Vidales took the wheel off the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3.  Max Robin 2.3 seconds heind and now, the #93 Sky Tempesta Ferrari 296 GT3 of Chris Froggatt is being chased.  Sheldon van der Linde is asked about visibility aying it is OK but there is concern about aquaplaning.  The visibility is beginning to improve but the aquaplaning is the major concern at the bottom of Eau Rouge shooting up to Raidillon.  

We have had more rain, but it is clearing up bit by bit, hopefully.  When you look at these conditions, these drivers are 20 seconds off their best pace.  The rain is flurrying right now.  David Vidales will need to serve a drive through penalty and so will the #55 Dianmic GT Porsche of Theo Nouet, Marius Nakken, Axel Blom, and Jop Rappange.  Sheldon van der Linde leads Maxime Martin by ten plus seconds or more.  In 1983 when this track was reopened, the chicane protecting the pit lane was a left right, a short straight, and a right left, which was a bus stop in day-to-day life.  van der Linde leads Perera, Bachler, Martin, Froggatt, Robin, and Ellis in the top seven with four of the five class leaders.  

You are at full throttle for 75% of the lap especially out of Stavelot to the Bus Stop, well, Paul Frere curve.  Sheldon van der Linde still has a penalty to serve.  Franck Perera in second place in the #163 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini with Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper, and Marco Mapelli.  The top eight cars in the running order have not had their technical pit stops yet.  GRT Grasser have spent 29 more minutes in the pit lane.  Matisse Lismont in the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin has spun and now rejoined at Les Combes down the hill.  

Marius Nakken the Norwegian driver just served a drive through penalty I believe.  There is no dry line but there is a dryer line in another part of the road.  But be very cautious changing preferred racing lines.  Look and learn.  Look for water and if you try being a hero you could upset the whole apple cart.  David Pittard and Philip Ellis are motoring away from these two as we have nearly reached 11:30 P.M. Saturday night Central Time in the United States, 6:30 A.M. Central European Summertime in Belgium.  Ricardo Feller make sa lsight mistake and Feller is creeping away through Piff Paff, through Fangnes corner.  

Through Rivage and the Jacky Ickx corner, the #99 Attempto Audi was moving ahead of the Aston Martin in the hands of Sorensen.  Be very careful on the outside of a turn like La Source, but the outside line is a wiser one to use.  Don't hit the wall and don't risk getting whisked off to the stewards' office.  The rain has not abated.