We have Marco Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli, former teammates, scrapping with each other and Maro Engel is very frustrated with these two blokes holding him up. Please, let me by! The Lambo's pitted more recently than Maro Engel and Engel is hanging on which speaks well to the Pirelli P Zero tires. Jusuf Owega is in the #77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3. Arjun Maini of India, Michele Berretta of Italy, and Jusuf Owega of Germany. Earl Bamber is ahead of Caldarelli, Mapelli, Engel, and Owega. Caldarelli's target is Marco Mapelli for the final place in the top ten. This is fierce action and now, Mapelli makes the pass for tenth and Engel is going to go for it. Strike while the iron is hot. Trouble for the #4 CrodwStrike by Riley Motorsports Mercedes, off the pace! Oh my!
Big trouble for George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Ian James, and Nicky Catsburg. Maro Engel has to slow down and almost runs up the tail of Caldarelli! Holy cow! Now, he has it done and some hip and shoulder into the gravel pit! Owega makes a move and poor old Caldarelli has just been overtaken by Jusuf Owega as well! Thomas Preining passes Maro Engel who is on defense! Dan Harper wants a bite of the cherry, too, look. Ollie Milroy is way down in McLaren. Drive through penalty for the #991 Century Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 for causing a collision. There's trouble too for the sole remaining Rutronik Racing Porsche. Alessandro Pier Guidi now leads Fabian Schiller by ten seconds.
Alex Aka now following behind the Porsche with loose bodywork, Sven Mueller at the controls. Mark Sansom has spun the other Garage 59 McLaren and gets back on track. Jann Mardenborough is a global star due to the "Gran Turismo" movie. But he is now back in Europe after nine years away racing in Asia. He is racing again for Bob Neville's RJN team in a McLaren. Back to that in a minute as Maro Engel passes one of the Porsche's. Jann Mardenborough is sharing the #100 Pro-Am McLaren 720S GT3 with Alex Buncombe, Chris Buncombe, and Josh Caygill. There is a pink light on the Pro-Am cars compared to cars with other levels of drivers.
Mardenborough says that the Porsche, the BMW, and the Ferrari have equal straight-line speed and it is hard to say about the Mercedes as we have debris on the outside of the road. Good to hear from Jann Mardenborough and it's great to hear from him. Check out the "Grand Turismo" movie, a story about Mardenborough. Alex Buncombe is adjusting his brake bias on the car, with many dials and many pages of information on the dashboard. Great to hear from Jann Mardeborough. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads Fabian Schiller by 11 seconds.
Car #77, the Mercedes and the #158 Mark Sansom McLaren have been called for penalties with contact we just saw. Thomas Drouet battling with Dave Vidales and Mattia Drudi. Vidales, the Spaniard, chasing Belgian Ulysse de Pauw in the #9 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the Boutsen VDS car with Maximilian Gotz and Thomas Drouet. Mattia Drudi is in the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, after being with Audi for a while. Vidales right on De Pauw's six through La Source and Eau Rouge! Holy smokes!
Vidales knows he is vulnerable to Drudi. Drudi sharing with the Aston, the San Marino driver, with Danish drivers Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen. A massive entry for the Bronze Cup class at the 24 Hours of Spa this year. Full Course Yellow coming up! 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow. 21 hours and 34 minutes remaining. We do not know the reason other than we speculate clearing bodywork and the pit entrance bollard has been moved. Restart on short notice. Be ready. Green flag. Back to racing. Marco Mapelli way down in 45th place! He was in the top ten moments ago. Nothing we saw on camera gave us a clue about this.
We are getting pockets, clusters of cars here through Pouhon, Fangnes, Paul Frere curve, the ending chicane, as well as Eau Rouge and Raidillon. It is extremely busy. A dozen cars in a wad through Campus Corner going past the technical college. Hello again, to David Addison and Ben Constanduros joins us after we have heard from Ryan Myrehn and John Watson for a wee while. Pier Guidi leads Fabian Schiller by 14 seconds. In seventh spot is Mattia Drudi in the #7 Aston Martin. The #163 Lamborghini has had fueling rig troubles. The rig is not refueling properly. It is slow filling. #163 does not have enough gas in the tank, and is off sequence, languishing in 45th place.
Halfway through hour three and we will see light rain, some drizzle, in the next half hour before we see heavier rain. Again, Dustin Blattner and company, it is game over with floor and transmission damage. Sad news for Dustin Blattner, Zacharie Robichon, Dennis Marschall, and Loek Hartog. Routine service for new boots and fuel for Maro Engel now in 11th place, and his earlier puncture was picked up from debris, not an internal failure of the Pirelli tire. Mattia Drudi makes an inside pass on Ulysse de Pauw into the top six places. He is the reigning GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup champion, a longtime Audi works driver now for Aston Martin.
Lorenzo Patrese third overall and is leading Gold Cup. Off the road, the #38 Haas RT Audi R8 of Julius Adommavicius, the Lithuanian driver, sharing with Belgian Armand Fumal, Australian Brad Schumacher, and Belgian Olivier Bertels. We are now under Full Course Yellow and we will do a wave by procedure to get other cars on the lead laps of their class leader. Dan Harper will pit but we do know who else. Dan Harper is getting some fresh air into the car but no, there is a driver change. Dan Harper took over from Augusto Farfus and now it will be Max Hesse into the car. 44 seconds is the minimum refueling time, down off the air jacks, and back into the race.
I think the sun is poking out but that could also mean we get rain soon. Some of the fans will gravitate to the fan zone the food stands for the frites mayonnaise, the Jupiler and Stella Artois beer, and maybe even more food as well as the carnival and the concert. The wave by will happen on the Kemmel straightaway. So, the #38 Audi has been cleared away and he had made contact with the #72 Lamborghini. Pier Guidi and the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 is now in the lane. There is a driver change at Ferrari and we'll see what Fabian Schiller is going to do.
We have seen the AF Corse team rotate all three of their drivers in single stints and as the night comes the double stinting will start. 30 sets, 120 tires, available to each team. We have even more pit callers. This is a free, cheap pit stop. This will do damage to Maro Engel and Marco Mapelli, the #48 Mercedes and the #163 Lamborghini, they will be in a world of pain. #38 Audi rejoins the motor race. If you can drive the car back, fine. If you have the car on the flatbed, it is game over. #48, they are getting stymied, again. They will drop like a stone down the order.
Now things are getting more tempestuous than it was before. A slow pit stop for Lorenzo Patrese in the Audi. His stop was 20 seconds slower than everyone else, trouble with the front left tire and the man with the rattle gun. Alex Aka has now moved to third spot in the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi, but he could be out of sync as well, the car he shares with Ricardo Feller and Christopher Haase. Trouble too for the #911 Pure Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, the Lithuanian team with Aleksandr Malykhin, the British domiciled Russian racer, Klaus Bachler, the Austrian, and Germany's Joel Sturm. We have seen them in FIA WEC too.
Mercedes says their weather apps expect four milimeters of rain per hour. It is going to get wet. The #80 Porsche 911 GT3R pits, the Lionspeed/Herberth car, Antares Au, Alexander Fach, Martin Rump, and Alessio Picariello. Safety Car procedure, pit entry closed. There is a Porsche coming to the lane and it has already committed I believe. Alex Aka remains in the pits, so he is going to get hammered as everyone accelerates before we go back to green. So, the wave by will start soon. I think we have the bulk of the field on the lead lap, 40+ I believe. We are early in the evening here at Spa and could see rain soon. Another racing hour almost complete.
The safety car has scooped everyone up. Adrien D'Silva in the #61 Earl Bamber Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R needs to catch up. D'Silva sharing with with Kerong Li, Earl Bamber, and Brendon Leitch. Plus, there has been trouble for the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, long delayed, out of sequence. John Hartshorne sharing with Matt Bell, Chandler Hull, and Ben Tuck. Light rain now but on cold, slick Pirelli P Zero tires! Uh oh. Now, the wave by. Cars on the lead lap remain behind the safety car and lapped cars accelerate through. There is moisture in the air and it is far more overcast than we've seen all week. Pit lane open. Wave by complete.
Track declared wet. All cars must have headlights on. First drops of rain in Les Combes reported, but nothing major. Brollies going up. Romain Leroux is not too concerned. We hear from Brussels that the rain is uh umming it down. LOL! That's accurate and hilarious! The Pro category Ford Mustang GT3 is getting stymied because he cannot benefit. Christopher Mies dropping from 42nd spot down into the 50s. Oh dear. Ollie Milroy has pitted the #27 Optimumm Motorsport McLaren, and he was marginal on fuel. Safety car in this lap before we go back to green flag racing.
The #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari is falling like a rock as well. Poor old Christian Hook has been bamboozled by 15 places just like Christopher Mies in the Ford Mustang as Marco Mapelli is now in the pit lane. Too early for wet weather tires. It will depend on who is in the car and what driver is in it. A Bronze rated driver will be reluctant to race in the rain. The Pro drivers have no worries. They are paid to do this. We have Job van Uitert in the #11 Aston Martin in the lane along with Mapelli and Mapelli is still having fueling rig troubles. Safety car lights off.
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