Gounon on Rossi for second and he takes it. Rossi must set up something to get him back but it's not going to work quite yet. Rossi now nose to tail with his BMW Team WRT teammate Sheldon van der Linde. He makes the pass and Rossi is offline in the Piff Paff and now it is a vicious cycle because Davide Rigon in the Ferrari is crawling all over him. Davide Rigon wantds a bite of the cherry and so does Patric Niederhauser in the Porsche but he is a lap down even though he is on the lead pace as acouple cars spin off to the side of the road. The #77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 is one of them, that was Arjun Maini, and the #111 car is Adam Eteki in the #111 CSA Racing Audi which has front damage, a tire puncture and is in limp home mode to the pit lane.
Adam Smalley is back in the fight after the brake change going past the Barwell Motorsports Lamborghini which is in another category. The Bronze class leader is the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. That is Lilou Wadoux driving and there is a local yellow in sector three due to the limping car heading for the pit lane. The rain is still teasing as Valentino Rossi tries the windscreen wiper. Team WRT are Belgian and so is Comtoyou Racing with their Aston Martin's working 107 laps, 466 miles. it is getting dark and getting rainy. It is not properly wet just yet. Don't make extraneous pit stops. Stick to your scheduled pit stop plan if you can.
The heavy rain coming, will it be a gentle trickle or will it be a bucket dumping the rain all over us? The Adam Eteki Audi is being brought into the garage and we can hope that car does not have any radiator damage. Davide Rigon has fallen down the order to ninth place and was hip and shoulder and a tag from Valentino Rossi! Patric Niederhauser was also in the way. The Doctor, wll be going to see the headmaster. No tea and biscuits for you, Valentino. Lilou Wadoux is the Bronze Cup leader currently. More rain in the air through Blanchimont.
Philipp Ellis passes Maximilian Gotz for fifth overall and leading the Gold Cup division as the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 from GetSpeed with Aaron Walker, a one-minute stop and go penalty to serve. I think there was something about passing under yellow but I can't specifically remember. Niederhauser remains trying to make his move. Marco Sorensen is your currently leadr and he believes he is in a gaggle if cars as Christopher Haase passes Ross Gunn for eighth with David Rigon behind. We are watching Christopher Haase, the 2017 winner of this race.
The rain that has fallen has not increased in a great rate yet. Leonardo Moncini has spun and is trapped in the gravel. There is a sheen on the curb and that is rain without doubt. The track is beginning to get wetter up top at Les Combes, ir will be another Full Course Yellow to come in ten seconds and we'll get it, now. Okie dokie then. 110 laps now completed, 479 miles. Game over with a broken wheel for the #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3R of Laurin Heinrich, Dorian Boccalacci, and Ayhancan Guven as we see cars takng opportunities for pit stops as the darkness has come here at Spa Francorchamps and the wet tires, the wet compound Pirelli tires are ready at AF Corse Ferrari! Is the pavement sufficiently wet enough?
The #88 car is now rolling again after stopping in the gravel trap. The wind is whipping up and soon we will have to have driver changes but we are looking for a safety car but that won't benefit Sorensen and company. Wet tires for Valentino Rossi and the #46 BMW. The two Ferrari's are not in the lane yet. The #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari just pitted but may have had an unsafe release back into the pit lane as Jules Gounon leads the motor race. Max Hesse brought the #998 Rowe Racing BMW and now it is Augusto Farfus I believe who is into the car. So, at WRT they have split their strategy. #32 on slicks and #46 on wets. Going onto wets, you will burn them off in five or six laps if there is no rain.
The #48 and #57 Winward Mercedes cars are both in the lane now. Leonardo Moncini has gotten out of the gravel trap as we have the safety car on the track readying for the restart. Gounon to the pit lane 58 minutes in to a possible 67-minute stint. The rain is beginning to fall heavier now as Luca Stolz is setting up to get into the #2 Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3. Patrick Pilet and company should be out of this race with the suspension damage we saw and documented earlier. A fraught Spa 24 Hours for the Porsche teams thus far in the race. That is for sure. Klaus Bachler tapped the Audi and around Leonardo Moncini went.
Slick Pirelli P Zeros for the Boutsen Mercedes-AMG GT3. There's gravel all over the place. It is a great deterrent for track limits abuses but it creates a king sized mess. The rain is now imminent here at Spa Francorchamps. Porsche #80 has spun with the Hong Kong driver Antares Au spinning at La Source and continuing. If you are learning the grip level, giving it a little too much Welly, and then, spinning. In these wetter conditions you might dial in a touch of the traction control. Safety Car lights on. Sorensen says he will have a hard time getting onto the wets and might just stay on slicks for the time being. There will be a limit of the number of wet tires available to the teams.
We are truly under Safety Car conditions. This is the wave by procedure with the pit lane closed. At Sky Tempesta Ferrari it is Chris Froggatt now at the controls. There is some confusion for the eave by with the wet track. Some reshuffling of the order is going on. Wave by done, and pit lane now open. The restart is now imminent. The 2 Seas Mercedes is now in fourth, leading the Gold class, the #60 2 Seas Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Isa Al Khalifa, Martin Kodric, Lewis Williamson, and Frank Bird. Has Patric Niederhauser rolled the dice to go back to wet weather tires? It is very possible. Porsche #96 in the lane for fueling and service. I think Patric Niderhauser is still in the car and will do a double stint.
We are going back to racing this time by. There is some rain falling at the top of Les Combes but it is not pouring down. It is dark and the track is very greasy currently as we have cars still being waved through with either Nicky Catsburg or Martin Konrad can overtake. Ah. I see. Race Control has instructed them to move up to the head of the queue. We have not yet gone back to green. The fireworks are being brought forward under Full Course Yellow than under green and let's hope water hasn't gotten into the fireworks! Safety Car in at the end of this lap? Not yet. We still have the wave by going on right now. Safety car remains on track. BMW #46 went onto wets and now Valentino Rossi will change back to slick Pirelli P Zeros and we have not even gone green yet.
There's the fireworks! Wonderful! It is at the top of the hill at Brussels corner. Has another car had an incident? We have more safety vehicles on the circuit. Oh well. Martin Konrad in the #888 Mercedes is off the road, the car he shares with Alexander Sims, Prince Jeffri Ibrahim, and Martin Konrad, and Jordan Love. What happened? That car went upside down?! Oh my word! Bachler, Juncadella, and Fran Rueda is in as well. The #888 Mercedes is out of the race. Elongated safety car.
Chris Froggatt is being very impatient as it is wet and we are back to green after that earlier incident. We saw cars coming to the pit lane to switch to wet tires and Valentino Rossi and Chris Froggatt were two of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment