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.
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