6 Hours of Spa: Hour 5

There is a GT3 car through Eau Rouge.  This group of Hypercars that we are seeing is going to catch the GT class cars shortly and just breeze right by.  90 laps now in the book completed by the leading Ferrari #51 that has a nearly 27 second gap to the sister #50 car in second place.  Bingo.  Yifei Ye has gone by Callum Ilott.  The yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P passes the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963.  Ye is off the road at the top of Eau Rouge and Raidillon!  So, now Callum Ilott sees the open door and is passing right through.  Schumacher in the Alpine wedged the Porsche between himself and the Toyota into the braking zone at Les Combes.  Schumacher is right on Ryo Hirakawa's six once again and if he gets track position, he is going divebomb both of these chaps in a heartbeat.

This is a great battle.  Four hours down and two to go.  No idea who will win either category.  Yifei Ye clears the GT3 traffic.  One of the TF Sport Corvette's is there, and I cannot see just yet, maybe once the picture moves to the next frame, if there are other GT3 cars that were passed.  Now then, Mick Schumacher in the Alpine is being monstered by the sister Toyota, the #7 with Nyck de Vries, the Dutchman, at the wheel of it.  No further action for the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R of Morris Schuring, for overtaking with a lasting advantage.  This public service announcement is brief.  Now we return you, right here on The Sarcasm Channel to our featured episode of "Formula Bonkers!"  

So, Manthey EMA and Porsche retain a seven and a half second gap in the GT3 lead over the Iron Dames and their Lamborghini.  The other GT3 car that has been the class of the field along with the Iron Dames has been the #59 United Autosport McLaren 720S GT3.  That is of course the James Cottingham, Nico Costa, Gregoire Saucy car.  It is incredible to see Alpine, the little team that could, battling with the benchmark of endurance sports car racing in the form of Toyota Gazoo Racing.  Oy vey!  There's another GT3 car in the way.  The Iron Dames Lamborghini is about to become the cork in the bottle for the battling Toyota's!

Yifei Ye was a lucky chap to slip through and be able to scamper away slightly from all this craziness.  Rahel Frey is 7.8 seconds behind Morris Schuring.  By the same token she has left the #92 Manthey team car, the Manthey Pure Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, in the hands of Joel Sturm, in her dust.  Nico Costa has brought the #59 United Autosport McLaren to the pit lane as well.  Three car manufacturers and four drivers of four different nationalities in this little battle for seventh spot.  Ferrari, Toyota, Alpine, Toyota.  

There's a Chinese driver racing a Japanese driver, a German driver, and a Dutch driver.  It shows the international appeal of sports car endurance racing.  Two Japanese cars, a French car, and an Italian car.  All four of these Hypercars powered by turbo V6 motors of differing configurations.  This is a great battle between Toyota and Alpine.  Meanwhile, the third-place battle is hot, too.  Earl Bamber in the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac is chasing Neel Jani in the Porsche, the FAT Turbo Porsche 963 run by Proton Competition.  Jani was flying earlier in the race, but his speed has dissipated.  

Of course, this weekend, Proton Competition has two programs in action.  They have this Porsche at Spa, the #99 FAT Turbo entry and the #5 Mustang Sampling Porsche 963 that they campaign in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship racing at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California.  Both of these cars have 24 lap old left tires and 50 lap old right tires.  So, the right-side tires have been at least double stinted already.  Iron Dames Lamborghini in the pit lane.  Rahel Frey hands the car off to Michelle Gatting for the next stint.

With one more stop Michelle Gatting can take the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini to the finish.  Manthey Racing now run 1-2 in LMGT3 with their Porsche's.  Morris Schuring in the #91 ahead of Joel Sturm in the #92.  Neither of the Manthey Porsche's have stopped.  Meanwhile, the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 is in the lane as well.  Mikkel Pedersen has finished his stint and so he might be handing over to Giorgio Roda.  I cannot say for sure, but I think Dennis Olsen has already had his time behind the wheel of that car, or maybe I have flipped it around.  It could be that Olsen, the Norwegian, is taking his stint now.

Ah.  I am correct then.  It was started by Roda, the Italian, so Olsen, the Platinum-rated Norwegian, will be at the controls.  Gregoire Saucy is now on his out lap aboard the #59 United Autosports McLaren and he will take that car to the finish.  He is now behind the Iron Dames.  The leading #91 Porsche has now completed 85 laps, 370 miles.  In Hypercar, the leading Ferrari #51 now has a similar gap to the sister car, shrunken down to 24 seconds, and has run 93 laps, 405 miles.  Now we watch a battle in Hypercar for 14th place.  Sheldon van der Linde, the South African, in the #20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 stuck like glue to the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8.

I have to figure out if it is Paul di Resta or Loic Duval in the #94 Peugeot currently.  Of course, Peugeot running two-driver lineups here at Spa.  Meanwhile, Jani is still under incredible pressure from Earl Bamber as we speak.  Jani's Porsche is starting to slide in the rear end.  Jani has equivalent tires to Bamber.  Oof!  Jani locks up the brakes.  Somehow, the Cadillac is still being kind to the tires here.  Proton vs. Cadillac.  Cadillac have been up and down the order like a yoyo, all day long.  The track temp has risen to 36 and a half degrees Celsius.  The ambient temperature has not changed much.

Cadillac started this race on scrubbed tires from qualifying, so they knew they'd lose track position right from the start.  Meanwhile, we are watching a battle for fourth in LMGT3.  This is Aston Martin vs. BMW.  D'station vs. Team WRT.  Erwan Bastard running ahead of Sean Gelael.  Porsche 963 #6, the second Penske factory car, is in pit lane for a driver change and routine service.  The Heart of Racing Aston Martin experienced an elongated pit stop because of a stuck left rear wheel.  They have recovered back to third place.  

In Hypercar, Yifei Ye has passed Callum Ilott for fifth place.  Ryo Hirakawa and Nyck de Vries, the two Toyota's have now moved ahead of the #35 sister Alpine of Paul Loup Chatin.  Mick Schumacher brought the sister car to the pit lane and now we see in replay, Yifei Ye runs wide down through Pouhon and he found his way past Callum Ilott.  A good battle brewing in LMGT3.  Daniel Mancinelli in the #27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 ahead of Simon Mann aboard the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.  Simon Mann is running well and seems much more comfortable in the 296 Ferrari.

Side by side stuff for position as Sean Gelael passes Erwan Bastard on the exit of La Source, screaming up through Eau Rouge.  Ferrari staying just ahead of the two Toyota's.  Oh my God!  Oh my God!  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a massive accident!  The #2 Chip Ganassi Cadillac, Earl Bamber, the car is absolutely destroyed!  Oh!  Sean Gelael in the #31 BMW M4 GT3 is also absolutely demolished!  Safety Car deployed instantly.  Game over for the #2 Cadillac.  Alex Lynn was suited and booted ready to take over the car.  So, this was Earl Bamber's in lap and now he has crashed!  End of the race for the Cadillac and for the GT3 points leaders.  Neither of the GT3 BMWs for WRT are going to make it to the finish in their home race.  This is very disappointing for the team and for their legions of Belgian fans.  

Oh man!  Bamber tried going past the Proton Porsche and got wedged in the sandwich and then, he was flung to driver's right, air got underneath the car, it went airborne, and crashed back to earth on it's wheels.  The car just corkscrewed and fortunately did not flip over.  But the Hypercars are so long that I don't think the GT3 cars saw him.  It was driver error.  Red flag.  No surprise.  It is going to take a while to get to the cars.  We won't need the safety car.  Sean Gelael is out of the car under his own steam.  So, what we are going to do here is monitor what is going on and give you updates.  

Maybe we will go on to the next hours.  But this is going to take a long time to clean up the accident.  There's an hour and 45 minutes of racing remaining on the board.  I think I will occasionally update you as I find out what is happening here, in the case of Earl Bamber and what we are going to do is probably move ahead to what could easily become the next hour of this race.  I think we will stay with you, but it is going to be hard to gauge if the clock is ticking down since we are under red flag conditions here in Belgium.  

We hope Earl Bamber is OK.  He says he is fine.  Thank God!  Roger that.  That was an airplane crash, practically.  Sean Gelael is fine, too.  At the end of te concrete barrier, Bamber very nearly hit the end of the concrete barrier.  The fastest car is the #51 Ferrari 499P, at nearly 308 kilometers an hour.  We have seen close to 320 kilometers an hour up the Kemmel straightaway.  So, that is a range in miles per hour between 192-200!  That's hauling the mail!  He saw the gap, went for it, and it didn't work.  He misjudged the speed difference between the Hypercar and the GT3 car which is not as much as it used to be in endurance racing but is still a good 20 miles an hour.

It used to be, in the old days, the speed delta between the prototypes and the production-based cars was 50 miles an hour or more, 50-100 miles an hour at least, thinking back to the late '60s through the early to mid 1990s anyhow and all the eras, the Porsche 917/Ferrari 512 days, the GT silhouette days, the Group C era, the LMP1 era, and now the Hypercar era.  Neel Jani had nothing to do with that accident but Bamber tagged Jani and swerved before rotating and going over backwards.

Everyone knows that this is not deliberate and not a game of chicken.  Sometimes it looks like a game of chicken but most often it isn't.  We hear a misleading statement that the new Hypercars and GTP's as they are stateside in IMSA are slower than the cars we used to have 3-4 years ago even ten years ago, with LMP1.  Baloney!  Don't buy that.  That's nonsense.  These cars are incredibly quick.  The margins are absolutely tiny.  This stuff happens on motorways, highways.  Drivers who don't take caution can still shunt in a straight line.

Jani miscalculated a move that he wanted to make.  OK.  The clock continues to tick so we should still be chatting here.  Wise drivers always use their mirrors, on the road, on the track, it doesn't matter.  There is a huge debris field full of sharp carbon fiber.  Running over carbon fiber is like running barefoot through broken glass.  It is like razor blades.  It is brittle and thin and becomes a sea of needles that will lacerate tires.  It is incredibly sharp.  We've all stepped on a kids' Lego block and felt the pain of those things digging into our feet.  Well, with carbon fiber, imagine standing on a razor blade and slicing the skin open!  Ouch!  Painful, and something that will draw blood.  That is what carbon fiber shards are, like razor blades.

Carl Watana Bennett is aboard the #11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione.  That car is currently in 16th place right behind Loic Duval in the #94 Peugeot 9X8.  Sheldon van der Linde in the #20 BMW had a penalty for the first safety car of this race.  van der Linde and company cannot capitalize on improved performance.  Mick Schumacher running well in the Alpine but outside the top ten having just made a pit stop.  There are oter cars that will need to pit almost immediately.  What do the energy graphics say?  We need to find out.  Meanwhile, Race Director Edoardo Freitas, has left his post in race control.  No, he is not abandoning ship.  All he is doing is his job as Race Director to take a good, hard look at the barriers and make sure they are up to code and safe so we can race again.

On the Kemmel straightaway it is concrete barriers to the inside and steel Armco barriers to the outside.  The tire marks are visible from Earl Bamber literally being driven up the wall.  Like the cars, the circuit is homologated for use in a certain level of safety.  If that is breached, the circuit is no longer valid, and you cannot race on it.  So, this is why we see the track inspection to make sure the standards are being maintained.  Freitas, communicating on a walkie talkie back to Race Control and letting them know specifically what the conditions of the barriers are.  In FIA WEC, one mechanic with a red armband on his sleeve, can assist and external batteries can be connected to the cars.

In Formula 1 during red flag procedure, you can change over to fresh tires.  Formula 1 races are sprints.  In endurance sports car racing like the World Endurance Championship, you cannot do that.  Nobody ca bring a new set of boots and rattle guns or torque wrenches out to the dummy grid and change tires.  Proton Competition will say, "we have a damaged rear end of the car, can we change it under red flag?"  Well, the answer I would think is, "no, you cannot make any changes or service your race car under a red flag.  Sorry.  It is against the rules.  Tough luck.  Nothing can happen."

The plan is next to restart the motor race running behind the safety car. For the first three laps under safety car conditions, the pit lane is closed.  Cars need fuel.  Oh dear!  What do we do?!  What do we do?!  Calm your waters.  You may enter the pit lane for fuel, but you can only take a five second splash and dash.  Then you must come back in again to fuel up.  Red flags are never a good thing.  After the red is lifted, we go back under safety car conditions followed by a wave around for the cars to form up in order depending on where each class leader is, so, that is the overall and class leader in Hypercar and the class leader in GT3.  

This means, anyone with a tire advantage, it won't mean squat.  There will be less time to use your tire advantage should you have one.  1/3rd of the GT3 field just stopped prior to the red flag.  Cue the "Jaws" music, their rivals are going to be in a world of pain.  We now hear from Antonio Fuoco from the #50 Ferrari camp, with our mate on pit reporter duties, Bruce Jouanny.  First of all, he hopes the crash has been cleared up and everyone is OK.  He thinks the team recovered well with Nicklas and Miguel, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina.  The pace and the tire management are good and the time is still long.

With a safety car restart, luckily, Fuoco will have used, scrubbed in tires and the temperatures are cooling down.  The drivers from the accident are OK.  We had a 42-minute safety car period just before the halfway mark.  Red flag followed by safety car, then a wave around.  There is a conversation between the Peugeot co-drivers, or teammates, Mikkel Jensen and Loic Duval.  Jensen driving in the #93 and Duval part of the duo in the #94.  Edoardo Freitas is headed back to his course vehicle and back to do his job in Race Control.  So, he is satisfied with the positioning of the concrete barrier that was hit by the Cadillac in the accident.  Nothing has moved or if it has, it can be positioned correctly.

Now we are going to hear from Bruce Jouanny as he interviews Neel Jani, the Swiss driver who is part of the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 team in Hypercar.  Jani was somewhat involved in that accident and he says he was totally surprised by being hit in the back while driving straight.  There is damage from the crash on the right rear of the Porsche.  The right rear taillight is missing.  Hopefully it does not have to be fixed.  They might be able to tape it up without changing the tail.  They will want more cloud cover, but I don't think it is coming.  We are going to have a sunny evening here at Spa Francorchamps as we restart this race.

Jules Gounon talking to his teammate at Alpine, Matthieu Vaxiviere.  Gounon does not have Hypercar experience but has been racing GT3 cars for years.  He adapted to the car quickly.  Everyone has left their cars on the grid.  Julien Andlauer is in the Proton Competition garage.  Of course, Proton Competition are also in action in the United States in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship this weekend at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, and you will have indeed already read about that race here on the blog.  The 26 second gap Pier Guidi held over Fuoco will be negated with this restart as we have an hour and a half left on the board but are still udner red flag conditions.

Both Ferrari's will be nose to tail and now we are getting set to get going again.  Davide Rigon tells us everything has gone fine with double stinting tires, and they might just need to change their strategy.  He is glad that the drivers in the accident are OK.  There was a driveshaft in the middle of the road from the Cadillac that flipped over.  We are migrating fuel strategies.  The issue we are looking down the barrel of here, ladies and gentlemen, is that most of the GT3 cars will be at fuel critical levels when we get rolling behind the safety car again.  The red flag happened right in the middle of the fuel stop cycle in GT3.

We will not go green in the next ten minutes.  This is not enough time.  80 minutes, a single pit stop, to use a surplus of tires?  Are you crazy?  That won't work.  If you are in a tire deficit, it doesn't matter anymore.  We've lost a whole stint.  So, you don't need an extra set of tires looking at your strategy.  All that stuff has been totally mitigated.  Everyone can go to the end with just a single fuel stop where the teams can elect to maybe just change tires on the left side.  The clock continues to tick, and all the debris has been cleared up.  It is a matter now of getting the barriers fixed and back to specification.  

You have the strategists setting their calculators and their pencils and paper on fire and you have me, the layman, the superfan, sitting here at his computer, trying to guess all of what that might be with zero info whatsoever.  Trust me.  Teams are not going to be stupid or ignorant enough to just give the game away.  Come on.  The playing field has been leveled.  We have had a ton of attrition for a six-hour race today.  A handful of years ago here at Spa we raced in the snow, when the Ardennes Forest decided to be cheeky and in that race, there were no retirements.  It didn't snow for long, but there are a handful of of goose feather snowflakes that fell on the circuit.

The tire scrape on the concrete wall is visible and the safety fences continue to need to be repaired.  Looking at other retirements.  The #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. is done for the day.  The gearbox went kaboom on that car.  So, cross that one off with the Sharpie of doom.  Also, the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963, out, after Michael Christensen slammed the wall with the massive impact rendering the hybrid unit completely broken.  So #5, headed to the house.  Nico Pino in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3, out with gearbox trouble.    The #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 Hypercar, retired from the race with suspension failure.

Phil Hanson also involved in the other multi-car shunt.  That was the #38 Jota Porsche that got clattered by the #20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.  Remember, after he came to rest, he keyed the radio and remarked to the team, "ugh!  Lift and coast!  It didn't work.  The BMW plowed right into me.  We're out, boys."  Rene Rast was at the wheel of that #20 BMW.  The #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 also had a huge impact in that same incident with Hanson's Porsche.  So, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin, and Ahmad Al Harthy are all retirements from today's race as well.  

Such irony because that was the higher qualified of the two WRT BMW M4 GT3's in the race today.  We continue under the red flag.  We have had a stellar race so far up until the accident.  The fans remain here to keep watching.  The fans have more time to get snacks.  More frites mayonnaise and beers for everyone to munch on and more time to catch up with friends and as they say, eat, drink, and be merry, before this motor race resumes.  We see a great art shot of the #35 Alpine, the only one left in the race and my goodness.  That is a handsome race car.  Love the colors and the overall design character.

Of course, it helps that the motor in the back, the 3.4-liter turbocharged Mecachrome V6 engine, sounds great, too.  That car might be French, and yes, there are stereotypes about French cars.  However, it does have a beauty aspect to it in its design and execution.  To editorialize, I still might question a bit, the mechanical soundness of that motor because the Mecachrome V634 V6 in the back of the Alpine was originally developed and designed as a motor for Formula 2 open wheel cars which run short sprint events as a support category to Formula 1.  So, stretching the motor out for endurance races is a noble endeavor, but also could pose some reliability risk.

The Alpine is very quick with Mick Schumacher and Paul Loup Chatin.  Kevin Estre at Porsche has one more stop over the competition depending on how long the safety car will be on track and he is banking that other cars will need to stop under the safety car to top up on energy.  He believes stopping early will help Penske Porsche in the strategy department.  The safety car is on the road and ready to go, to go for a wave around to get everyone back in order with an hour and 22 minutes of racing to go yet.

Ferrari run 1-2 ahead of the Proton Competition Porsche and another Ferrari.  Ferrari will be under pressure.  That is for dead sure.  We have the three Ferrari 499P's as three of the top four cars, currently, looking closely at the race order.  We have seen some fun and games between Alessandro Pier Guidi in #51 and Antonio Fuoco in #50.  Fuoco will remain at the wheel of the #50 and we will see fireworks.  He is going to be feisty as ever, feisty as hell, honestly.  We could, at this point, we could have a Ferrari 1-2-3 or we could see the Ferrari's drop back down the order.  Ah.  A note has come up on the timing screen.

I shall quote this regulation directly from the rulebook just as our mate Anthony Davidson in the commentary box has done.  Quote.

"On safety grounds, a tire change on the grid will be allowed between the ten minute and the five-minute boards as foreseen in Sporting Regulations Article, point one something."  

OK.  You heard it here.  Article point one something in the sporting regs permits for teams to change tires on the dummy grid as they so wish.  The rationale, well, many, many cars ran through the debris, all the carbon shards littering the circuit after the accident with the #2 Cadillac V Series.R and the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.  That is why they will be allowing a tire change should they all have tires available but which ones?  Which Michelin tires do they have left?  Kevin Estre and Porsche #6 have a single lap on a full set of tires so he will last to the end of the race.  Callum Ilott in the sole remaining Jota Sport Porsche 963 #12 has zero laps on his tires.  

That is the car he shares with Will Stevens of course.  He has not completed a single lap on his tires yet.  He still must go around 4.352 miles.  29 laps on the left side tires for the #7 Toyota and 24 laps on the left side tires for the #8 sister car.  We will now hear from a very disappointed Alex Lynn who was due to share again, the now crashed out and destroyed #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac Hypercar.  Lynn says, "I am super sad.  The team deserved more and had a fast car in qualifying and the race.  I can't hide my disappointment.  I am happy Earl is OK and I will go visit him now."

Alex Lynn believes the Cadillac is best designed for Le Mans and will be extremely strong there in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the next race in the championship.  Glad to see Sean Gelael is OK too.  Sean Gelael has been a prototype driver before.  A gorgeous aerial view of Spa Francorchamps and the forest.  Anyone who had a tire advantage and anyone in the hole with tires, if you squandered or misused your tires earlier in the game, well, I'm sorry, but it is a moot point.  You'll have to take your medicine and just keep going.  Cry me a river.  It will do you no good.  Cry me a river, I cried a river for you.  Not.  Toyota saved and saved their tires, but it is going to be totally useless.  

At best we will have a single racing stint remaining.  A safety car restart is what will happen.  The vertical barriers need to be replaced before putting the horizontal barriers up.  So, I think we are going to just have to wait another half an hour before these repairs are completed and hence, we are only going to get about 45 minutes of actual racing out of all of this mess.  There's two supporting sections of the Armco and the catch fencing itself.  The real issue is who will be murdered by having no fuel left in the tank.  Not literal murder!  Heaven forbid!  Believe me, that was a figure of speech.    Anyone way under 10% energy will have to get bac to the lane and top up.

Of course, Spa Francorchamps is the second longest circuit on the calendar apart from Le Mans.  Head of Team WRT's LMGT3 program, Kurt Mollekens, has a word for us.  He says it is very unfortunate that they have nil points for both cars and lots of work to do before Le Mans.  Their performance seems to be in a good place right now.  Mollekens is a handy racing driver.  He raced in Formula 3000 in open wheel cars, ran his own team called KTR, and then joined forces with Christian Horner and they ran a team together.  Horner started Arden which led to Red Bull and their Formula 1 dynasty.

The shadows are growing long.  Very little cloud cover.  The track is hot.  The track temps are coming down.  Everyone will be on fresh tires.  Still, lots of work going on with the barrier repairs.  We will now hear from another great ex-racer from Belgium who is part of the Team WRT brain trust, Thierry Tassin.  He is the head of the Hypercar engineering program, the Sporting Director.  He tells us that he knew the question was coming, congratulating the commentary team.  The lucky ones are are the #6 Porsche, the #12 Porsche, and the #36 Alpine.  WRT does not know what is going to happen.  We don't know what is going to happen before the restart.

You need catch fences on the Kemmel straightaway with the cars flying by.  Sean Gelael, out of the race, but he is OK.  He had a huge hit on the driver's side of that BMW M4 GT3!  The fans are still having a great time.  Over 80,000 fans in attendance here at Spa Francorchamps.  It is great to have fans along the fence but those with a ticket as well as in a race car, must be safe.  Sean Gelael tells us that the accident could have been worse, and he was lucky to be OK in the accident.  He is looking forward to Le Mans.  That is for sure.  Don't take accidents like this lightly.  They are a part of racing but are avoidable.

Cool, calm, collected, measured, Sean Gelael's assessment of the incident.  Don't interview a driver right after a big crash.  Like anyone, give them time to process their thoughts and emotions before they say anything.  We all might put ourselves in situations where we say things that we later regret.  Racing drivers are human, just like the rest of us.  OK, everybody, we are coming up on what will now be the final hour of the motor race here at Spa as we continue under red flag conditions.  

6 Hours of Spa: Hour 4

Damage both front and rear on the #5 Porsche 963, Porsche Penske Motorsports car.  The car needs a new rear clip and the left rear, too, is vulnerable.  Driveshaft, and gearbox.  The car just snaps before coming down to 80 clicks, Will Stevens in the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963.  Trouble in paradise for the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 as well.  That is Nico Pino, halfway into the pit lane and cocked at an angle to the left.  We look at the replay of the #5 Porsche 963, and we still need to know where did the rear impact happen?  On the wheel, or behind it?  He tried to save it, couldn't, and it went off the road.  There is internal damage.  A great view from the Raidillon grandstand as we have completed 67 laps, 291 and a half miles.  At this stage, I think we should lok at doing another full field rundown.  We should have the time under yellow.  I am going to give you some of the gaps.  Proton Porsche #99 leads AF Corse Ferrari #51 by 8.2 seconds and the sister car by 11.2 seconds with the sole surviving factory Porsche 963 #6 next in line.

Iron Dames lead the GT3 class with the #85 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.  They have only 7/10ths of a second to the second place #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 and have completed 62 laps, 270 miles.  This rundown combines the Hypercars and the GT3's.  

1. #99 Tincknell/Jani/Andlauer              Proton Competition Porsche 963

2. #51 Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi     Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P

3. #50 Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen                 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P

4. #6 Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor                 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963

5. #83 Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye               AF Corse Ferrari 499P

6. #2 Bamber/Lynn                                 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V Series.R

7. #12 Stevens/Ilott                                 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963

8. #8 Buemi/Hartley/Hirawaka               Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid

9. #35 Chatin/Habsburg/Milesi              Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424B

10. #36 Lapierre/Schumacher/Vaxiviere Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424B

11. #15 Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann   BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8

12. #7 Conway/Kobayashi/de Vries       Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid

13. #93 Jensen/Muller                            Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8

14. #20 van der Linde/Frijns/Rast          BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8

15. #11 Serravalle/Bennett/Vernay        Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6C

16. #94 Di Resta/Duval                         Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8

17. #5 Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963

18. #85 Bovy/Frey/Gatting                    Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2

19. #59 Cottingham/Costa/Saucy          United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

20. #27 James/Mancinelli/Riberas        Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3

21. #91 Shahin/Schuring/Lietz              Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R (992)

22. #77 Hardwick/Robichon/Barker     Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3

23. #31 Leung/Gelael/Farfus                Team WRT BMW M4 GT3

24. #92 Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler         Manthey Pure Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992)

25. #88 Roda/Pedersen/Olsen              Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3

26. #777 Mateu/Bastard/Sorensen       D'station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3

27. #55 Heriau/Mann/Rovera              Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3

28. #78 Robin/Boguslavskiy/Miyata   Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3

29. #60 Schiavoni/Cressoni/Perera     Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2

30. #54 Flohr/Castellaci/Rigon           Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3

31. #82 Koizumi/Baud/Juncadella      TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

32. #87 Kimura/Masson/Lopez          Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3

33. #95 Caygill/Pino/Sato                  United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

34. #63 Bortolotti/Caldarelli/Kvyat   Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63

35/ #81 van Rompuy/Andrade/Eastwood TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

36. #38 Button/Hanson/Rasmussen    Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963

37. #46 Al Harthy/Rossi/Martin         Team WRT BMW M4 GT3

Six brands in the top six in GT3.  Everyone cannot stand Balance of Performance, in spite of all of this success at the top of the shop in the Hypercar division.  Meanwhile, even as the #5 Porsche 963 is being towed away on the flatbed, it continues shedding bits!  That was some lick taken by Michael Christensen through Blanchimont, scraping against the barriers!  That wreck for Christensen was a massive tank slapper.  Blanchimont is fast and intimidating as we have a Full Course Yellow, obviously.

When you have to lift in a corner, you are tempted to push the limits and then you run wide over the curbs and are playing with fire.  We started this race with 19 Hypercars.  15 of them are factory backed entries, and four, are privateers.  Two Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963's, the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963, and the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.  Three of those four privately entered cars are in the top seven including the overall leader, the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963.  Now, we are beyond being in a golden period in sports car racing.  This is a platinum period.

This is different from the Group C days in the 1980s because in Hypercar, or in GTP in IMSA, the rules stipulate that a privateer car must be exactly the same as a factory car.  In Group C, the factory Rothmans Porsche 956's and 962's were always tweaked a bit compared the customer cars.  Here, the rules say that the cars must be the same.  Today, the cars are homologated as they sit right in front of you as a fan watching.  If Porsche introduces new parts, or Cadillac, or whoever, if they give them to customers, they cannot run them unless both factory and private teams get them or the cars are out of homologation.

Porsche is actually the only brand currently with customer cars.  Cadillac has factory teams with Chip Ganassi Racing, both in Europe and the states, and Action Express, stateside, who will be racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a month.  They need to be the same.  You cannot do what legendary team bosses like Walter Brun, Reinhold Joest, and Richard Lloyd, you cannot reengineer the cars these days.  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow removed.  Green flag!  Green flag!  Oh man!  Look at this lead battle in GT3 headed for La Source!  Car #59 dives past car #83!  #83 chops across the front!  Ohhh!  The Iron Dames anticipated that countdown perfectly.

Rahel Frey strategically positioned that car.  Nico Costa, the Brazilian, driving for McLaren in second place.  No turbo lag there.  5.2 liter atmospheric V10 in the Lamborghini.  3.8 liter turbocharged V8 in the McLaren.  We have the #31 BMW M4 GT3 in the pit lane.  That car incidentally is a 3 liter twin turbo V6.  I am tempted to say inline six because that is what BMW's raced for many years with the old M3's but of course, I am nostalgic and living in the past!  Ryo Hirakawa is all over Will Stevens like a cheap suit, in the meantime.  This is the battle for seventh place, look.  

Toyota optimizes everything better than the new Hypercar teams because they were the first.  They were the pioneers of the LMH concept and of course the LMDh concept, like the Porsche, the Cadillac, the Lamborghini, the Alpine, came later.  Earl Bamber pulls out of the draft and swings his way around Yifei Ye in the Ferrari, putting the Cadillac #2 up another place.  Oh my gosh!  It is reminiscent now of the 1970s because for the lead we have a Porsche vs. Ferrari battle.  Neel Jani is caught by James Calado!  This is not the Porsche 917 vs. the Ferrari 512S, but it is the Porsche 963 vs. the Ferrari 499P.  Earl Bamber is able to turn on the tires and caught Yifei Ye napping.  Oh my!  Look at this!  The race lead battle between Porsche and Ferrari! 

James Calado right up behind Neel Jani now, with lapped GT3 traffic ahead.  To the outside of the GT3 cars they go.  Miguel Molina is the next car back in the sister red AF Corse Ferrari, the #50.  At least, the sister factory car.  Hats off to the D'station Aston Martin for staying out of the way.  We need to see the restart for Neel Jani, and I think he lost a bunch of time.  Behind him, the positional battle for second is alive with the two scarlet red Ferrari's.  James Calado vs. Miguel Molina who is in the #50 car that started 19th in this race.  Jani has completed 69 laps, 300 miles.  Meanwhile, we still have the battle for seventh place raging between Will Stevens and Ryo Hirakawa.  

Stevens steadily easing away and is 3/4 of a second ahead of the Toyota.  Plus, we have Earl Bamber poking his nose, in the #2 Cadillac, to the inside of the #6 factory Porsche 963 of Andre Lotterer.  Bamber is sticking to Andre Lotterer like glue.  Bamber, the New Zealander, is flying.  Blimey!  I think Earl Bamber ate his Weetabix this morning.  They started in second place.  Now, before we get back to that scrap, in GT3, the battle for sixth is well and truly on.  It is the #92 Manthey Pure Racing Porsche of Joel Sturm being monstered by the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 currently in the hands of the Danish driver, Mikkel Pedersen.

I take that back.  He just passed the sister #77 Proton Mustang, and I am not sure who is at the wheel of that one.  It is either Ryan Hardwick, Zacharie Robichon, or Ben Barker.  Earl Bamber is charging after Andre Lotterer is what is now the sole remaining Penske Porsche 963 in the race.  Lotterer knows Spa like the back of his hand.  How ironic, because years ago, I believe it was during the 919 LMP1 program, Earl Bamber and Andre Lotterer were teammates at Porsche AG.  

Earl Bamber, his first ever car racing win in Europe was in Formula Master in 2008 at Imola, the venue we raced at for WEC the last time.  Neel Jani is stymued by lapped traffic up the Kemmel straightaway, and this means James Calado is drawing a bead on him.  Nico Costa pits from eighth in class in GT3 aboard the #59 United Autosports McLaren.  He is serviced and sent and Mikkel Pedersen in the sister #88 Ford Mustang GT3 has also stopped for scheduled service in that car the Dane shares with Giorgio Roda from Italy and Dennis Olsen from Norway.

The #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 stopped as well, in the lane, and there was a driver change from Sean Gelael to Augusto Farfus.  Now it is truly a mano e mano battle for the race lead between Neel Jani and Jams Calado, and behind them is the Iron Dames #85 Lamborghini leading the GT3 class.  Right in front of Neel Jani is the lapped #11 Isotta Fraschini in the Hypercar class.  Miguel Molina is third, but he is slipping behind the leaders.  James Calado just uncorked a 2:08!  2:09.2 for Neel Jani, while Molina is pacing at 2:10.5.  Now, we have the Iron Dames Lamborghini in the pit lane.  

Iron Dames, removing a tear off from the windscreen and looking at the condition of the tires, but now, back to the sharp end!  There's a pass for the lead being attempted by Calado on Jani up the Kemmel straightaway!  Swoosh!  Calado flies past Jani for the lead as they approach Les Combes at the top of the hill.  Calado takes the lead while he can, but I know that Neel Jani will be pushing to gain the lead back and demote the Ferrari back to second.  Jani has the speed and is now the meat in a Ferrari sandwich.  If you lose momentum through Eau Rouge, you are vulnerable.

Exiting Raidillon, Calado moved past the lapped Lexus RC F GT3 which is really a mobile chicane, and then, he was able to make the pass on Jani and push the bye bye button.  In replay, we see Earl Bamber making a pass on Andre Lotterer in the sole remaining Penske Porsche, and talking of pushing the bye bye button, Bamber used that normally aspirated Cadillac low end grunt, and as far as Andre Lotterer, tucked him up like a kipper.  Bamber is motoring in the Cadillac, getting the best out of the car.  We heard from Alex Lynn earlier who radioed the team and said "I've got no grip.  The tires are dead."  

Ferrari #51 to the pit lane, possibly doing the undercut and allowing Neel Jani to retake the lead aboard the #99 Porsche 963.  There is a driver change and Alessandro Pier Guidi is ready.  James, out.  It is my turn to drive.  Robin Frijns aboard the #20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8, he will cop a five second penalty on his next pit stop for going off the road and gaining a lasting advantage.  Yifei Ye stays in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P for a double stint.  No driver change.  The #51 Ferrari is on a different strategy compared to the #50 and the #83.  #51 before the safety car did not change tires, while #50 and #83 did do a tire change.

Bamber is whistling off into the distance ahead of Lotterer as we watch Antonio Serravalle, the Canadian rookie aboard the #11 Isotta Fraschini.  Molina is carving time out of Neel Jani's gap and has picked up a full second.  Driver changes a go go in Hypercar.  These wholesale driver changes include Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Ferrari.  Callum Ilott has taken over the wheel of the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963.  Paul Loup Chatin is now at the wheel of the #35 Alpine A424, and Ryo Hirakawa I believe is still at the wheel of Toyota #8 while the Swiss Italian Raffaele Marciello has taken over the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8.  

Morris Schuring in the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R (992) has just pitted and now, Nico Costa in the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 has the GT3 class lead over the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 driven by Rahel Frey.  Neel Jani and Miguel Molina now both come to the pit lane after a spirited battle for the overall lead.  Molina out of the #50 to be replaced by Antonio Fuoco.  No driver change, for Neel Jani, as he is doing a double stint.  Cadillac in for left side tires.  Lotterer and de Vries are in as well. 

Calado has exited the chicane and is barreling down the frontstretch to reclaim the overall race lead.  Who will win the race out of the pit lane?  Calado takes the lead.  Porsche #99 went for just left side tires.  The #2 Cadillac does a burnout leaving the pit lane.  The Cadillac does not lose a spot coming out between the #99 and #6 Porsche's.  Cadillac sensing a result here as the #94 Peugeot 9X8 is in as well.  Left side tires only.  Currently, tire change strategy dictates either four tires, or just left side tires.  Peugeot and Mikkel Jensen are the erstwhile leaders with 73 laps complete, 318 miles.  The #51 Ferrari 499P will cycle around into the lead over the #99 Proton Porsche.

More side-by-side action up the Kemmel straightaway.  This is a battle for tenth place between the #35 Alpine and the #8 Toyota.  Ryo Hirakawa vs. Paul Loup Chatin.  On the racing line, Hirakawa makes the pass under braking.  Look out for Antonio Fuoco because he has four fresh tires.  The Iron Dames Lamborghini is second in GT3 while the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche of Morris Schuring has made a pass for second spot.  After Michael Christensen's off course excursion through Blanchimont, the safety systems for the hybrid unit on the #5 Porsche 963 kicked in and for safety's sake the car could not be restarted.  Game over.  The #5 Penske Porsche 963 is out of the race here at Spa.  It was a full automatic safety shutdown of the car after the impact.

Another positional change in GT3.  The #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 goes by the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini.  This is for 14th in class.  Matteo Cressoni is passed by Esteban Masson.  Up the Kemmel straightaway, Antonio Fuoco in the Ferrari is hotly pursued by Earl Bamber in the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.  The two Alpine's run liner stern and I believe they remain behind the Ferrari and the Cadillac.  Porsche #6 took right hand side tires and fuel rather than left sides.  Right side tires only for the #6 Porsche.  His left side tires are 33 laps old.  The right sides are brand new.  Mick Schumacher and Paul Loup Chatin running in formation.  

Trouble in paradise during the last pit stop cycle for Heart of Racing and the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.  They took over two minutes in the pit lane as they have dropped out of the top ten.  Daniel Mancinelli, the Italian, stayed in the car.  Now, we have a genuine scrap for tenth spot between the two Alpine's.  Oy yoy yoy!  A position change as Paul Loup Chatin passes Mick Schumacher.  Now we return to the GT3 battle.  Mustang on Ferrari here, look, heading again for La Source.  Bang!  Oh dear.  Leave space overtaking another car, sunshine.  

Francesco Castellaci puts the squeeze play on Zach Robichon.  No harm done in terms of car damage, but that is what an American football referee would call "unnecessary roughness."  BMW #20 completes the Hypercar pit stop cycle and that BMW is the erstwhile race leader.  Alessandro Pier Guidi now takes the lead over from the pitting Robin Frijns.  So, Ferrari returns to the top of the shop with just over two and a half hours of racing left on the board.  Pier Guidi leads Jani by over nine seconds, 9.1 seconds to be exact.  Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari is five second behind, in third place.  But Fuoco has his mirrors full of a blue Cadill driven by an angry kiwi.  Ferrari #51 has completed 75 laps, 326 miles.  2:09.3 last time by for Antonio Fuoco.  2:10.4 for Neel Jani.    

Bamber is continuing to hound and to catch Antonio Fuoco hand over fist.  Bamber wants a podium place.  That is what he is looking for.  Fuoco's pace continues to go up.  His natural pace is one thing but he is beginning to really turn up the wick.  The battle continues raging between Augusto Farfus in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 vs. Joel Sturm in the #92 Manthey Pure Racing Porsche 911 GT3R for fourth in class.  The #31 is the surviving BMW M4 GT3 in the race.  It has been a very tough couple of days for the Pure Racing team especially after their massive qualifying crash which necessitated an overnight thrash to rebuild the car.  

The GT3 battle for second place is just as spicy as Rahel Frey is barely holding on over Morris Schuring.  Iron Dames Lamborghini being swallowed up by Manthey EMA Porsche.  Schuring motoring around the outside at Les Combes again at the top of the hill on the back end of the course.  Now, I digress.  There's a caveat here because Schuring was clearly off the road.  He was on the red and yellow striped curbs and perhaps almost over onto the grass.  There was contact between Schuring and Frey.  He got biffed and wriggled off the road.  What will the stewards do about that?

Now we move to the fight for seventh place in GT3 which is a four-car battle between Zach Robichon in the Mustang, Clemens Schmid in the Lexus, Erwan Bastard in the Aston Martin, and Simon Mann in the Ferrari.  Proton Ford Mustang vs. Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 vs. D'station Aston Marin vs. Vista - AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.  Ahead of these four blokes is that mano e mano battle for fourth between Sturm and Farfus, Porsche and BMW.  Manthey Pure Racing and Team WRT.  It is remarkable that Pure Racing are actually in today's race.  The team must be completely knckered today.  Now the other Proton Competition Ford Mustang, the #88 of Mikkel Pedersen, he has his mirrors full of the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Francesco Castellaci.  This is for sixth in GT3.

The Proton Competition Ford Mustangs are having a far better race today at Spa than they had last time out at Imola.  We are inside the final two and a half hours of what has been a dramatic 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps.  This has been a real thriller, proving my claim once again, that endurance sports car racing may be long, but it is never boring.  Over the course of the weekend, we have a total attendance of 88,188 fans here at Spa.  This is a record outside of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Spa Francorchamps' improvements they have made to the track specifically for fan access without taking any character away from the circuit itself, have been remarkable and welcome/.

Tres bien.  Merci beaucoup, Circuit de Spa Francorchamps!  The on-track display of the racing in Hypercar and GT3 this weekend and during today's race has been peerless.  We are now looking at the sixth-place battle in Hypercar.  Callum Ilott in the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 has it and Yifei Ye in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, wants it.  Alessandro Pier Guidi leads Neel Jani by nine seconds but the Swiss driver is refusing the roll over and play dead.  He's still pushing hard.  Sturm is right on Farfus' six as the BMW has the better run from Eau Rouge up through Raidillon and to the Kemmel Straight.  Now, we have a Full Course Yellow on the circuit in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow.  We are under Full Course Yellow.

We have not seen an incident.  I don't know of any cars stopped on the circuit.  This leads me to believe that there may be debris somewhere.  We have seen one safety car intervention today for 42 minutes and we have had four Full Course Yellow periods for a total of 20 and a half minutes.  There is also a five second penalty added to the next pit stop for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.  Marshals are on course at turn eight.  They are investigating something and that is why we are under Full Course Yellow.  We'll follow up here for you in a moment, ladies and gentlemen.  OK.  That was quick.  We are back to green flag running.  

Before we get to this battle between BMW and Porsche, I must tell you that the lead battle in GT3 sees a three second gap between the #59 United Autosports McLaren and the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche.  Car #59 has put 72 laps in the book, 313 miles, for the GT3 leaders.  Joel Sturm was quick on th draw to try and get by Augusto Farfus.  Watch your mirrors, boys.  The overall leader is steaming right through.  That's the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi.  Farfus is not a man to be messed with as far as contact, a veteran touring car racer, you will not rattle his cage.  Sturm bounding over the curbs.  Great battle here in GT3 and the battles are close.  

Due to the Full Course Yellow, it appears Neel Jani's pace has fallen off a cliff.  However, he is recovering.  Now we can see a good battle developing for fifth place in Hupercar.  This is between the sole remaining #6 factory Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsport, the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963, and the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, the yellow Ferrari.  Earl Bamber in the #2 Cadillac V Series.R is still in hot pursuit of the #50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco.  He fully locks the brakes!  That will cause vibration and flat spotted tires.  Now we return to the three-way battle between Andre Lotterer, Callum Ilott, and Yifei Ye.  

Callum Ilott is turning it on and these Porsche's are pushing hard.  A Full Course Yellow is safer than a Virtual Safety Car like Formula 1 where you drive to a delta.  You can speed by vehicles or marshals on track and it is not as safe.  Alessandro Pier Guidi is beginning to make good his escape, 19 seconds to the good over the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 of Neel Jani who remains the meat in a Ferrari sandwich, while Earl Bamber in the Cadillac, the sole Cadillac in the race of course, is still pushing.  In his battle with Callum Ilott, Andre Lotterer runs 11 and a half seconds behind Bamber.  Yifei Ye is also back there.

In GT3 the battle continues for the lead between Nico Costa in the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 and Morris Schuring, the young Dutchman aboard the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R.  United Autosport have seen a massive turnaround compared to the misery they experienced in the opening two races of the year at Qatar and Imola.  We have another hotly contested GT3 battle for eighth place in class.  Someone up ahead ran off the road and left dust all over the place, hanging in the air.  Clemens Schmid, the Austrian aboard the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 has Simon Mann in the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, right on his six and looking to make a pass.

Schmid was a very late replacement driver for Timur Boguslavskiy, the regular driver on this team, from Russia, who is ill.  Two polar opposite GT cars racing each other here.  The Lexus, an older automobile, with massive size, with a front mounted 5-liter V8 engine and the Ferrari 296 being one of the latest and greatest GT3 cars to be introduced just last year, while the Lexus has been around now since at least 2017 and we have seen it for a long time now in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship with its traditional front engine coupe body style and it's 5 liter Toyota V8 engine.  

Mann tries passing Schmid through Pouhon but nothing doing.  The Lexus sliding and squirming on old tires.  Ease of the throttle and get back to power to pick up the slipstream through Blanchimont.  The Lexus seems to have it covered.  Mann has to think about how he is going to find the answer to Clemens Schmid's riddle.  Oy yoy yoy yoy!  Another massive, king size brake lockup from the #6 Porsche 963!  Andre Lotterer jams on the pedal and the front tires are absolutely screaming for mercy on that #6 car!  He touched the left side curb and the car unloaded and that is where all that brake smoke came from.

Ah.  Morris Schuring has gone around Nico Costa for the lead in the GT3 class while we were watching that smoky braking maneuver from the Porsche Hypercar.  Ooh!  Have a Captain Cook here, ladies and gentlemen, down the hill to Eau Rouge, and Mann and Schmid are side by side, mano e mano into one of if not the most harrowing corner in all of motor racing!  Look at this!  Look at this!  It's a drag race!  These two have lit the blue touch paper!  Schmid stays on the circuit, and it appears that poor old Simon Mann is going to get the door slammed in his face!  Well played by both of them, especially when you consider Clemens Schmid having his first start in a Lexus GT3 car.  I recall that he has mostly driven Lamborghini's, but I could be wrong.

He has a track limits warning from the marshals, does Schmid, just as we have been singing the man's praises.  Oh dear.  Now, once again, we can see that Simon Mann is being snookered and that is Erwan Bastard, the Frenchman, at the wheel of the #777 D'station Aston Martin making the pass near the end of the Kemmel straightaway coming up into Les Combes.  Flohr says, "not now, sunshine", and I think he is going to pass back by as they reach the corner.  This is a wonderful race in GT3.  This has been a corker of a race in GT3!  Blimey!  It's been fabulous!  

The #11 Isotta Fraschini Hypercar is working it's way through the GT3 traffic as we now return to the aforementioned Penske vs. Jota vs. AF Corse Hypercar battle.  Factory Porsche, private Porsche, private Ferrari.  Yifei Ye has latched onto Callum Ilott who is in a major spot of bother trying to reel in Andre Lotterer ahead.  The Porsche is gapping the McLaren in GT3.  Down the hill to Eau Rouge, this is scruffy!  Pure Racing Porsche, vs. WRT BMW in GT3 with the Peugeot right on the knife edge of the road!  The Peugeot has to wait and wisely decides discretion is the better part of valor.  Joel Sturm has broken track limits and now is prpearing to be dusted by the BMW.

Augusto Farfus drag races right by him and now the Peugeot wants to shoot past on the other side!  Jeepers creepers!  Farfus has not cleared the Porsche and is trapped on the inside line.  Farfus is still wheel to wheel with the Porsche!  Oh mama!  This is cracking motor racing!  Love it!  Farfus flashes the lights to tell Joel Sturm, "hey, loser, you should have let me back by!"  Sturm whistles off into the distance as we will have to ask Mr. Director for a replay of that shemozzle in a wee while.  Our wish is not his command yet.  We have a different replay through the La Source hairpin I believe.

We saw the drag race between these two blokes down towards Eau Rouge with one of the BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercars moving past the GT3 lead battle, and no, I don't know if it was the #15 or the #20.  Joel Sturm is a Silver rated driver while Augusto Farfus is platinum rated.  He driver Hypercars, or GTP cars more specifically, for BMW stateside in IMSA.  Yifei Ye is telling his team, his crew chief, that the pace is hard to keep up with.  Now, his crew chief isn't buying it.  Your crew chief on the radio does not buy anything from the racing driver's book of excuses.

Racing driver's book of excuses, #125.  "My pace is really difficult by what the cars ahead are doing.  I just don't want to risk too much."  The crew chief's reply, "Copy.  I understand.  But we don't want to risk losing two or three positions at the next pit stop.  So, we need to push."  Ilott and Lotterer have the same equipment with the Porsche 963 and Yifei Ye argues he is faster than his rivals ahead.  Ye knows he must take maximum risk to pass the two Hypercars ahead of him.  That is what the beauty of this formula is with Hypercar and GT3 and no LMP2 cars save for at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It is a different challenge as far as getting to the GT3 cars.  In the meantime, the battle for ninth spot continues apace as Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 is continuing to chase down both of the Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424's.  Mick Schumacher in car #36 in ninth spot and right behind, his teammate in the #35 car, Paul Loup Chatin.  This is wonderful racing as we see it here on TV if you are watching on Discovery+ on the Motor Trend channel or further afield.  Nyck de Vries is being driven crazy because he has these two Alpine's he is trying to pass and both of them seem to be motoring away.  Alpine another team coming into the Hypercar fold this year.

Another side-by-side moment through Eau Rouge with the second Lexus RC F GT3 for Akkodis ASP passing the D'station Aston Martin.  Now then, the battle is on for second place approaching La Source.  This is Antonio Fuoco looking to put a move on Neel Jani.  Jani runs wide but sticks the pass and now, Fuoco is going to try the switcheroo, but I don't know if he is going to make it.  Jani has the speed on corner exit and nothing Fuoco can do on the downhill run to Eau Rouge.  He barely lifted and is now in the slipstream to Les Combes.  Jani, inside.  Fuoco, outside.  You can see Fuoco has the preferred line heading for Les Combes, but will it be enough?

Jani closes the door.  But Fuoco is not being denied.  Jani covers the Italian and now Fuoco is forced to regroup and strategize another pass.  We are closing in on the final two hours.  Proton Competition have done a wonderful job.  Hypercar allows privateers to come with identical cars to the factories and match them toe to toe.  Because of Andre Lotterer defending from both Callum Ilott and Yifei Ye, this means that in hout pursuit and closing is the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Ryo Hirakawa to move in.  He is motoring and catching this bunch.  

We have really seen a race of two halves.  Will Stevens in the pit lane for an interview with Bruce Jouanny and he says that he had a decent start even with just two drivers, trying to take advantage in traffic.  They are being smart because they don't have the outright pace, the sole remaining Hertz Team Jota Porsche in the race.  Meanwhile, Neel Jani in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche is being harried by Fuoco who has four fresh tires on that car.  Ferrari did pit and put new boots on it.  He has the grip advantage and up the Kemmel straightaway he seems to be catching Neel Jani hand over fist.  

OK.  Copy and paste from the previous lap?  Fuoco tries sending it around Jani up into Les Combes.  Not quite so close.  Once again, Jani stays in front.  So, that copy and paste maneuver didn't work this time either.  Fuoco needs lapped traffic with GT3 cars to get a run on Jani and hope that the Fat Turbo Porsche driver is stymied by lapped automobiles.  Be careful what you wish for because remember, Earl Bamber in the Cadillac very nearly had his nose chopped off by one of the Ferrari's in traffic a wee while ago.  Jani is slowing down Fuoco, but simultaneously catching the sister Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi.  The gap is now 18 and a half seconds.  

GT3 cars in the way!  This is a game of chicken!  I told you!  Jani nearly sideswipes the Ferrari and cuts off his right front!  Same for the Heart of Racing #27 Aston Martin throwing the block!  Jani giving the Lexus GT3 a wide berth!  He has a penalty, the Lexus #78, for passing outside of track limits and now the second and third place cars might be able to have clear sailing for a bit.  That run through Blanchimont is dangerous business.  You are hanging on by a thread and hoping that some bloke in a slower car sees you if you are a Hypercar driver or you'll get blown off into the weeds or worse!  How those guys didn't end up in a heap of crunched carbon fiber, I have no idea.

86 laps complete, 374 miles.  Antonio Fuoco has been on the march, up 17 places from where he started, from 19th to second.  Blimey!  Unbelievable!  Pier Guidi is told he has two tire changes left and he agrees with the strategy.  James Calado has only run a single stint in this race.  That is a puzzling yet fascinating point.  No minimum drive time for Platinum graded drivers I don't think.  OK.  Now, up the Keemmel straightaway, this is Ryo Hirakawa racing with Yifei Ye.  This is Toyota #8 vs. Ferrari #83.  Yifei hangs on over Ryo Hirakawa.  Maybe traffic was in the way.  

The GT3 leader is under investigation for overtaking off track and could cop a penalty.  Now, while I have been describing the action to you, we have now heard that something may have gone awry with the #95 McLaren, the second United Autosports car.  They are out of the race or so I would think with gearbox trouble, and we hear now that all the oil, all the lubricant for the gearbox has drained out.  Game over.  It's interesting that two of the GT3 topflight contenders, the McLaren, and one of the TF Sport Corvette GT3's have both lunched their transmissions.  Ferrari, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Porsche, Porsche, Ferrari.  The best of the rest in eighth is the #8 Toyota.

Mick Schumacher in the #36 Alpine is ninth and right between the two Toyota's.  Mick Schumacher has moved into the top ten while the second #35 Alpine I believe with Paul Loup Chatin at the controls, has moved outside the top ten.  The Alpine #36 has not scored points at all.  #35 only scored in Qatar.  Alpine are getting more reliability, finding pace, and are learning the car and learning how to make the tires work.  United vs. Iron Dames, ebbing and flowing.  Morris Schuring is up the road in the lead aboard the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R having run 81 laps, 352 and a half miles.  This might be the battle for the race lead.

We continue watching factory vs. customer Porsche's as the Ferrari lead battle in Hypercar continues but the #51 car has a 23 and a half second lead over the sister #50 at this stage with 88 laps on the board, 383 miles.  Ilott looking racy and motoring towards the factory Porsche.  The fifth-place battle is between four cars from four different teams and three different makes.  You have two Porsche 963's, a Ferrari 499P and a Toyota GR010.  Think about this.  This could be a five-car battle between five makes because Mick Schumacher is very close behind in ninth spot in the Alpine as well.  The plot doth thicken here at Spa Francorchamps.

So, the Alpine and the sister Toyota are both catching this other gaggle of cars and about latch onto it.  They are catching the other four hand over fist.  Welcome to Hypercar.  This is what it should be.  So much more competition here than what we saw in the later years of LMP1 and even in the glory days there were only three manufacturers really in the fight which back then would have been Audi, Porsche, and Toyota.  Audi with the R18 eTron Quattro diesel, Porsche with the 919 powered by a 2-liter V4 turbo, and Toyota with a turbo V8 powered car as opposed to the turbo V6 motor they are using in Hypercar now.  Funny how I can remember all this other history of sports car racing and the different cars and classes from even a decade ago!  

Gosh.  I'm old!  Oh dear.  Car #50 under investigation for a technical infringement.  Now that is the second-place automobile as things stand.  Some things we have seen from the stewards have led only to repirmands as we close in on the final two hours.  Ladies and gentlemen, this motor race is an absolute cracker!  It's unbelievable!  Toyota #7 rounds out the top ten.  That is despite them serving a drive through penalty earlier on.  That's a really impressive drive even for a single point.  They have been fighting and scrapping all day long.  Zach Robichon in the turquoise #77 Ford Mustang GT3 for Proton Competition is now being warned about track limits.  

Ben Barker has dropped down to 13th spot and was in the top four behind the safety car.  I don't know why their race came unstuck.  Nyck de Vries is putting in strong laps aboard the #7 Toyota and he is actually behind the Alpine which has the sister Toyota ahead of it.  de Vries is giving Mick Schumacher in the Alpine a tough run for his money and all of these guys are closing in steadily on next group of cars headed by Andre Lotterer.  Lotterer's previous lap was clocked at 2:10.8.  2:10.4 for the leading Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, car #51.  He leads the sister car of Fuoco still by 25 seconds and has run 89 laps, 387 miles.  

These boys in Hypercar are catching the GT3 traffic quickly.  So that will mix the candy dish up even more with several flavors.  That is the beauty of this new and modern endurance racing era combining Hypercar and GT3.  But catch the traffic in the wrong place and you will be greeted by shenanigans you cannot even begin to imagine. This could be a hornet's nest if these drivers aren't careful.  What have I said?  Discretion is by far the better part of valor in this particular situation as it stands currently. Lotterer remains ahead of Ilott and Ilott will be kicking himself for not getting closer to the tail of the factory Porsche.

Now, headed for Blanchimont, Nyck de Vries will be right on Mick Schumacher's back door.  The Alpine is the filling in a Toyota sandwich.  Nyck de Vries looking to the inside of ick Schumacher into the braking zone for the last corner on the track!  This is the corner that used to be The Bus Stop, but it isn't.  I think that bus doesn't run through here anymore, the bus stop has been removed, and the service has been either cancelled or diverted to another part of the Francorchamps, Malmedy, Stavelot triangle.  de Vries thinks about a last-minute lunge but Schumacher knows he is there and slams the door right in his face.

Interesting to see that de Vries has fresher tires on the right side of the Toyota than on the left side.  They've done a couple of left side tire changes instead of right-side tires so the right-side tires on that Toyota will be rooted and they will be totally useless.  Schumacher is just keeping his nose in front going down the hill as they are about to shoot up and over Eau Rouge another time.  

    

6 Hours of Spa: Hour 3

We do have an answer on minimum drive time in GT3.  In a six-hour race, a Silver or Bronze graded driver must do a minimum of an hour and 45 minutes behind the wheel.  If you are of a distinct vintage and a sports car racing afficionado, you will know this race in the old days went to 1,000 kilometers as many endurance races in Europe and other parts of the world did, especially during the Group C era, the other prototype golden era in this form of racing, which has been renewed now thanks to the Hypercar category.  Unlike the GT3 class of today, back in the '80s any GT cars in the championship were labeled as Group B, not to be confused with the monster turbocharged rally cars of the same era.  Most of those cars were Porsche 911's or 930's as I recall from watching historical footage.

1,000 kilometers was the distance of most races in the '80s in the Group C era.  That is part of why the new Porsche LMDh cars are designated with the 963 model number.  I haven't the foggiest idea where Porsche got 919 from for their LMP1 hybrid from a decade ago.  The 956 and 962 models raced in Group C, and the 962 of course ran in the first iteration of IMSA GTP stateside as well.  But the first of their Hypercars is the 963.  After lots of "door slamming", Neel Jani leads and has closed the door.  By door slamming I mean literal door slamming and not just drag racing with a stock looking hot rod like a Pro Stock or Pro Modified dragster.  

James Calado in the #51 Ferrari is second.  In third and fourth, the two Penske Porsche 963 factory cars of Michael Christensen and Andre Lotterer.  Yifei Ye is fifth having taken over the #83 yellow AF Corse Ferrari 499P started by Robert Kubica.  In sixth place is the #50 Ferrari.  We have three Porsche's and three Ferrari's in the top half dozen.  We are under the safety car because of replacing the barriers, not just the walls themselves but the posts that hold them together after Rene Rast clobbered Phil Hanson and sent him spinning, the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, clouting the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963.  Both cars careering off the road and sustaining heavy damage.

Andrea Caldarelli in the #63 Lamborghini SC63, his crew chief tells him, "remember the driver cooling fan."  Caldarelli replies, "it is already on."  His team manager says, "I am joking."  Caldarelli replies, "sorry, I didn't understand the joke."  Chortle, chortle.  I had no idea.  That one flew over my head, too.  Uh um.  As we were, Andrea Caldarelli joins Mirko Bortolotti and Dani Kvyat this weekend at Spa.  Their regular third driver Edoardo Mortara, like many of his peers, racing the Formula E event in Berlin, Germany.  Peugeot's Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean Eric Vergne are both racing in Berlin this weekend.  

Longtime WEC racer Antonio Felix Da Costa is also in the Berlin Formula E race.  1/3rd of the race is done and 2/3rds left.  Rahel Frey, in the meantime, is set to take over the race leading GT3 car, the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini.  The pit lane is now open as Paul di Resta is pitting aboard the #94 Peugeot.  The entrance is open with a green light.  Pit lane exit has the red light glowing and is closed until the safety car queue has passed.  But you are fine to do a tire change, refuel, and do a driver change.  Iron Dames, in.  United McLaren, in.  Manthey EMA, in.  Sarah Bovy completes her minimum drive time.  Ian James has as well, every Bronze graded driver.  Claudio Schiavoni might have done a split stint in the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan.  Matteo Cressoni, I think, was in the car just a short time ago.  

Satoshi Hoshino and Claudio Schiavoni have both stayed out and now we are waiting to see where Takeshi Kimura is, at the wheel of the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3.  Every one of the GT3 teams is running two cars, and so, if you don't wish to double stack them, you have a degree of latitude available with the safety car remaining on the circuit.  Proton Competition have pitted both of their Ford Mustang GT3's, #77 and #88.  Both McLaren's came in, both Porsche's came in.  James Cottingham is now back to the top of the pile in GT3 ahead of the Iron Dames Lamborghini.  The McLaren had a six seconds quicker pit stop than the Lamborghini.

United Autosport turned the car over very quickly on the stop.  Brazilian driver Nico Costa now at the wheel of it, and he has an advantage over Rahel Frey in the Lambo, albeit a minimal one.  Sarah Bovy did a phenomenal stint and we are about to hear from Sarah.  She is confident, the car is handling well, and they wanted the gap to remain, but cannot anticipate everything.  She did not see the accident after the contact and what she hopes is that her teammates run well because it is in their hands.  Sarah Bovy has completed her drive time for this race.

Rahel Frey will be determined to get to the front.  McLaren are leading.  This is the third race for the car in GT3 and the third race with United Autosports running it.  They will be leading.  Two GT3 cars have not pitted yet.  I have jumped the gun, talking about McLaren.  They will be at the top end of town in GT3 in due time.  Iron Lynx with Claudio Schiavoni have not pitted yet nor has TF Sport with the #82 Corvette of Hiroshi Koizumi.  I think they might need a stick of dynamite to get Koizumi out of the car and let either Sebastien Baud or Daniel Juncadella take over.

Now, it was a very late call just before the season began in Qatar back in March, for United Autosport to be the confirmed program with the McLaren GT3 cars.  We have seen the Bronze drivers start in GT3 and now we are going to see the higher rated drivers for the rest of today's race.  He isn't in Race Control right now, but the man in the white dress shirt with a dark jacket on is in fact our Race Director Eduardo Freitas, who si overseeing the barrier repairs that are still happening.  He is not only Race Director but construction foreman in this case.  

You are more likely to see safety cars earlier in the race with the Hypercars negotiating the tightly packed GT3 field.  Strategically, it works to get the driver time done for the Bronze drivers early.  Now, we have most of the professional drivers on track as we are over two hours into the race.  The driver lap time difference has a far larger discrepancy.  Neel Jani is now under investigation by the stewards for ignoring the black and orange meatball flag.  How many times does he have to miss pit lane before that becomes an issue?  He fixed the issue of course.  He ignored it because he fixed it.  Eduardo Freitas is out supervising the barrier repairs, but if he has a radio, someone in Race Control should get through to him.

They need to say "Eduardo, remember that the #99 car has fixed their door problem, so they do not need to be assessed a penalty."  He fixed the issue on the move.  A regulation is set in stone but it is subject to interpretation as we have been under the safety car for half an hour but the repairs of the barriers are close to completion.  Now, I also believe that the black and orange flag is nonnegotiable.  So, the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 must still come to pit lane and serve the aforementioned penalty.  This is not an advisory.  It is an absolute law, just like traffic laws on the road, for example, obeying speed limits.

We see the Ferris Wheel, and we had the Ferris Wheel at Imola as well.  I wonder how they transport the Ferris Wheel from race to race.  The Ferris Wheel is absolutely free, I think.  We are still under safety car conditions.  BMW #20 is in the pit lane.  Rene Rast will do a double stint, I think.  He is still being blamed for the crash we saw.  We see the #93 Peugeot 9X8 blast away from a pit stop.  Now, we have the Porsche drivers, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor playing the role of the two cranky senior citizens in the Muppet Show movie theater always critiquing the stage performances of the Muppets, Statler and Waldorf, here represented by the two Porsche drivers.  Estre and Vanthoor are not so old and no so cranky.

We have, Statler, or is it Waldorf?  In reality, it is Kevin Estre.  Estre says things are working out well for Porsche thus far.  The Ferrari has come back and can overtake.  There are tons of straegies everyone is using and it is hard to have a clear picture with this long safety car scramble.  They are fighting indeed for the podium as we have been under the safety car for 33 minutes.  The barrier repairs are still underway.  The support posts for the barriers are being repaired.  The Armco ripples and bends to dissipate energy but when a car smashes the barriers hard, the posts need to be moved back into place for safety compliance.

The sun is beating on the windscreen with no air conditioning.  Use a fan?  Yes.  It is taking energy but does not matter at slow speed.  There is a cockpit temperature limit that must be adhered to so the drivers do not become roasting chickens.  Onboard with Earl Bamber in the #2 Ganassi Racing Cadillac.  Some Hypercars and some GT3 cars are running air conditioning.  Toyota do not use air conditioning nor do Lamborghini.  Peugeot uses air conditioning.  The air conditioning saps power from the motor.  But, at speed, the breeze flows through the car so it can indeed keep the drivers cool without having to run the air conditioning system and sapping horsepower.  

A whole host of cars have very fresh tires with fairly fresh drivers at the wheel.  Every driver is hot and impatient saying, "ugh!  Let's go racing!"  Everyone is going to be in a whole new race when the green flag drops here with three hours and 40 minutes left on the board this afternoon.  Make the most of fresh tires.  The best way to keep temperature in the tires is to not weave back and forth.  As we always say in an endurance race under yellow, your best bet is working the throttle against the brake to maintain tire temperature.  Zigzagging the car back and forth may clean the junk, the clag, the marbles, off the tires.  But it has no impact on putting heat in them.

We see the #11 Isotta Fraschini stopped at the end of the pit lane at the traffic light which is currently red.  Now it is green, and he can go back on track.  He is joining the back of the queue.  All of the equipment has been cleared away, so we are getting set to go back to green.  At Toyota, Ryo Hirakawa is readying for the restart and Sebastien Buemi says he got touched going to the outside and was all wiggly and wobbly through Eau Rouge, not knowing if the car was damaged.  Then, he copped a penalty, and they went out of sync.  Now they are back up to ninth or tenth.  Tire degradation will be key.  Saving tires, Toyota went for a double stint.

Going long on a set of tires means a lot of deg or degradation, and that must be managed.  It is not just what you've got but it is how you use what you've got.  Toyota have the experience in double stinting tires and not taking left side tires as often.  You build up the tire advantage in the locker and this is the way that you gain track position and other advantages over your competition.  The #82 TF Sport Corvette, and no, I cannot remember who is driving, is being told by the assistant Race Director, to close the gap to the safety car.  Both Toyota's are in the top ten.  #7 in ninth and #8 in tenth as mentioned.  

The Cadillac #2 has new tires and they ditched a set of tires they ran in qualifying and in the first stint of the race, first or second stint, or both.  Everyone will have more tire margin for the remaining three and a half hours.  Finally, after a long wait, we see Claudio Schiavoni pit from the class lead in GT3.  He stays in the car, or rather, maybe there was a driver change.  Or, is it Matteo Cressoni, or Franck Perera?  I don't know.  Safety Car in this lap.  Matteo Cressoni is at the wheel of the #60 and Claudio Schiavoni burned up a ton of his remaining drive time behind the safety car.  Prepare for fireworks on cold tires in the GT3 class.

We are ready to go back to green.  Neel Jani in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 leads the Hypercar field and Nico Costa for McLaren and United Autosport leads the GT3 field.  We are back to green flag racing!  Three cars playing catch up to everyone else, the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini in GT3, the #11 Isotta Fraschini, and one other car that I am not sure of.  Green flag.  Green flag.  50 laps now complete, 218 miles.  The top half dozen made up of Porsche 963's and Ferrari 499P's.  We are closing in on the halfway mark in the race in 35 minutes.  

Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche is charging after Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari for second place.  Miguel Molina in Ferrari #50 makes the pass on the #83 Ferrari of Yifei Ye.  This is for fifth place.  His next target is Porsche #6 with Andre Lotterer at the wheel of it.  Will Stevens remains the only driver who started the race still in the car, aboard the #12 Jota Sport Porsche.  Nicolas Costa leads GT3 for McLaren under pressure from Rahel Frey in the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini and behind her is Zacharie Robichon in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3.  Daniel Mancinelli is next up in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.

The rest of the Hypercar order after Andre Lotterer is what we are seeing now.  It is two Ferrari's followed by the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche, the #35 Alpine and then the two Toyota's.  Nyck de Vries is in the #7 Toyota hounding Charles Milesi in the #35 Alpine A424.  Who has a tire advantage?  I don't know.  Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 is on new tires, and so are (in GT3), the #27 Aston Martin of Mancinelli, and the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael, they all have fresh tires.  Several cars are using tires that put i laps during qualifying as Miguel Molina remains glued to Andre Lotterer.  It is a Porsche vs. Ferrari battle that is heating up, look.

Trouble for Toyota as Nyck de Vries in the #7 will cop a penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement.  Additionally, the second United Autosport McLaren, the #95 car, has a penalty called in fifth place, for Chilean Nico Pino.  I don't know what Pino has been pinged for by the stewards.  Meanwhile, the battle rages for 13th in the Hypercar class and in the overall as we see Andrea Caldarelli aboard the #63 Lamborghini SC63 monstering the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 currently in the hands of the Swiss Italian, Raffaele Marciello.  Now, Caldarelli has one of the Peugeot 9X8's all over him like the proverbial cheap suit.  

That is Mikkel Jensen, the Danish racer, in the #93 Peugeot who is the proverbial el cheapo suito that is all over the tail of the lime green Lambo.  Caldarelli is hung out to dry on the uphill and Mikkel Jensen says, "thanks, mate" and whistles right by.  You know it is climbing, running, or cycling uphill.  Any faltering, you lose a ton of time.  Oh, hello.  Achtung.  Attention.  We have a battle for the lead in GT3.  Iron Dames Lamborghini vs. United Autosports McLaren!  Ring, ring.  Hello.  Who is it?  Uh um.  This is... Get off my back!  Rahel Frey side by side with Nico Costa!  Oh boy.  This might end in tears.  Costa, the Brazilian, gets his nose back in front of Rahel Frey.

McLaren have been nowhere in 2024 so far and now, they are scrapping with the Iron Dames, and right behind this pair, Zach Robichon, the Canadian, in the Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3, the #77, he too, wants a bite of the cherry, without a doubt.  Wonderful battling here as Frey did make the pass on Costa before Costa was a day and a half late on the brakes and he still made it stick!  King of the late brakers, Nico Costa, the Brazilian.  Now we look at the battle for fifth place in Hypercar.  This is Nicklas Nielsen, Andre Lotterer, Yifei Ye, and Will Stevens.  Ten seconds added to the next pit stop for the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 for a pit stop infringement.  OK.

Raffaele Marciello has that automobile in 13th place currently.  The onboard camera, and everything else, shows the clear evidence the #20 BMW caused the incident that brought out the safety car.  But there's nothing that has been brought forward yet.  Porsche 963 #99, the Proton Competition car is under investigation for refusing to come into the pit lane and serve a penalty for the meatball flag.  We have the #95 McLaren 720S GT3 in the lane now to serve it's penalty, and the #7 Toyota does have a penalty looming for Nyck de Vries.  We might see some changes in the order.  At the top of the shop, it is Neel Jani, 2.2 seconds clear of James Calado.

Daniel Mancinelli in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin makes the move for third on the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 of Zacharie Robichon.  Aston ahead of Mustang.  Meanwhile, the battle s on in Hypercar between Ferrari and Porsche.  James Calado vs. Michael Christensen.  Christensen flashing the headlights and Calado is ignoring it.  Claudio Schiavoni said the aerodynamics really help the Lamborghini.  Again, in GT3 we see a ton of different combinations for cars and engines.  Different race tracks favor different cars.  Horses for courses.  But, there is no one dominant force.

Speaking of dominant forces though, we have one in Hypercar, and it is Neel Jani aboard the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 in the lead of this motor race.  The one dominant force in Hypercar is Neel Jani, pulling away from the field, three and a half seconds to the good over everyone else.  Calado is easing his way into this stint.  We are watching Yifei Ye in the #83 Ferrari 499P, and he might have reversed his name.  We are used to calling him Yifei Ye but now he may be referred to as Ye Yifei.  That is all very confusing.  Nico Costa is now the GT3 leader.  He is told by his crew chief that he is building a gap and that his rivals are "killing their tires".  

That is not necessarily so because Daniel Mancinelli, the Italian in the Aston Martin for Heart of Racing, he is motoring.  Speaking of motoring, Rahel Frey is right on Nico Costa's six up the Kemmel straightaway.  This is king, or queen, of the late brakers.  Frey on the outside.  She makes the move stick.  When will the GT3 class come alive?  It is a different kind of racing tan we are used to in the FIA WEC.  It has been alive.  I think maybe we have overegged the pudding in Hypercar, and not paid as much to the GT3 races in this last handful of events.

At Imola, the BMW M4 GT3 was the dominant force.  But now, the best BMW here at Spa is fifth and the sister car is out of the race.  James Cottingham was in the thick of the lead battle earlier.  Now, he is in the pit lane set up for an interview with Bruce Jouanny, so, let's hear from him.  James Cottingham knows that Iron Dames has great pace.  The McLaren is coming together, and the team is managing their tires through double stints.  They have a slight engine concern being pegged back compared to the Lamborghini.  They are in a great place which they have earned themselves.  Now, Neel Jani is still your leader.

As we said, McLaren have pegged back the power, turned down the boost, and this is why it seems like the Aston Martin with Daniel Mancinelli at the wheel of it, has reeled them in little by little.  A drive through penalty to be served by the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 and that was the car indeed driven into the tail of the #38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 of Phil Hanson.  The #7 Toyota has yet to serve the penalty that it incurred earlier on.  The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang is also under investigation for a pit stop infringement.  That is the better placed of the two Proton Competition Mustang's, #77 being the Hardwick, Robichon, Barker car, and the sister #88 is down the order with Dennis Olsen, Mikkel Pedersen, and Giorgio Roda.

The #20 BMW of Robin Frijns is under investigation for going off the road and gaining a lasting advantage.  In the drivers' briefing, Edoardo Freitas told the drivers, if you gain an advantage particularly on the inside at a corner like Les Combes, you will make very clear you have lost ground. There are no excuses.  Don't give me the 'I lifted off and saved a thousandth of a second', nonsense.  That isn't going to cut the mustard, sunshine.  More drama in the #20 Team WRT BMW camp as Robin Frijns is under investigation by the stewards for... yes, you've guessed it, going off the road and gaining a lasting advantage.  

The drivers are using too many everlasting gobstoppers here and those candies seem to be a cheat code.  Well, mate, this isn't a video game.  This is real-life, full metal motor racing.  Real-life, full metal endurance racing, and these tactics are just unacceptable.  But why?  Because the Race Director said so, several times.  He will tell you off if you do it again.  You do not mess with the Race Director or the Clerk of the Course.  They are the all knowing and all seeing eyes and so are their associates, the stewards.  No everlasting gobstoppers, no get out of jail free cards.  When it rains, it pours.  55 laps, 239 miles now complete.  

Loic Duval in the delayed #94 Peugeot is lapping quickly in the 2:09 range.  He is in the ballpark of the rest of the Hypercar field as Neel Jani is now in the 2:08 range.  Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari, the top six in Hypercar.  There must be a pattern developing here.  Reminiscent of the old GTE Pro days not too many years ago.  The only pattern at the moment is that the #99 Porsche is pulling away from everyone but James Calado, last year's Le Mans winner, one of those drivers on this same team that won Le Mans, he is getting into his stride as we watch the seventh place GT3 battle with Joel Sturm in the #92 Manthey Pure Racing Porsche 911 GT3R harrying Mikkel Pedersen in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3.

The sole remaining Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 #31 is the car we are looking at.  Sean Gelael, the Indonesian driver, at the wheel of it.  I believe it was Englishman Darren Leung who started that car.  Mikkel Pedersen in the Mustang has now made his way by Joel Sturm in the Porsche.  Morris Schuring, the Dutchman, is ahead of them in the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R.  Right now, Iron Dames leads United by nearly 1.8 seconds with 52 laps completed, 226 miles.  Meanwhile, the man on the move is the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver, at the controls.  

Alex Malykhin behind the wheel of the #92 Manthey Pure Racing Porsche has made zero progress and we are used to seeing him right at the pointy end, at the top end of town in GT3 but that just has not been the case today as we near the halfway mark in the race here at Spa Francorchamps.  That is the car destroyed yesterday and rebuilt around a replacement chassis.  Side by side up and over Eau Rouge between the #777 D'station Aston Martin and the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3!  Holy smokes!  Talk about gaining a lasting advantage going off track!

Here comes the Corvette whistling past the Aston Martin as well, look.  He stayed there, and the Aston made contact with the Corvette.  With the contact, the Corvette has a puncture.  Frenchman Sebastien Baud is in limp home mode on the downhill side of the circuit crawling the car back to the pit lane.  Baud went off the track to overtake and has paid the price for it in the form of a punctured Goodyear Eagle tire.  The Ford Mustang's built by Multimatic from Canada and who are based in the United States, they have indeed strengthened both the rear decklid and the rear diffuser, so those parts don't fly off the cars like we have seen earlier in the season on numerous occasions.  

The Aston Martin vs. Lexus scrap rages on as Erwan Bastard makes the pass back on Clemens Schmid.  Now we watch a battle in Hypercar for eighth place.  This is Alpine vs. Cadillac.  Earl Bamber in hot pursuit of Charles Milesi.  Bamber passes on the inside into the braking zone and had a massive run on the Frenchman.  That was through Eau Rouge and up through Raidillon, he almost made a banzai move and right behind them is the #8 Toyota as #7, Nyck de Vries has now served his penalty as the #82 Corvette has made it's way back to the pit lane with the punctured left rear tire.  

That pass was as clean as a whistle.  Milesi did not fight it.  For fifth place, Yifei Ye in the #83 yellow AF Corse Ferrari 499P is giving Andre Lotterer in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 some serious pressure!  They squeeze past the GT3 class AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 on the inside.  Yifei Ye has his former teammate at Jota Sport Porsche right behind him and coming in a big hurry it is Earl Bamber in the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.  Then comes the #51 red AF Corse Ferrari 499P of James Calado, with Miguel Molina next up.

The Cadillac is like a heat seeking missile and is just flying right now!  Uh oh.  We've got problems here, look, for the #63 Lamborghini SC63!  That car has just emitted a plume of very expensive smoke.  It is not an engine failure as we first thought.  The engine is fine.  But it is a tire puncture.  One of the Michelin tires has let go.  The right rear tire is flat and it has just come past the pit lane.  Clemens Schmid, meanwhile, under investigation by the stewards for the pass we just saw.  So, the #78 Lexus might have to take a penalty here in the short term.  

Andrea Caldarelli slowly trundling up the hill.  The #99 Proton Competition Porsche is now 3.6 seconds to the good over the #51 Ferrari.  Andrea Caldarelli must be careful.  The Cadillac has caught the #12 Jota Sport Porsche 963.  Meanwhile, for ninth place, Ryo Hirakawa in Toyota #8 is monstering Charles Milesi aboard the #35 Alpine.  We have the Cadillac, the Alpine, and the Toyota all running together and further up the road is the Porsche, Ferrari battle which really encompasses the top six or seven places in the running order right now.

Everyone has been bunched back up thanks to the safety car.  #99 now four and a half seconds up on #51 completing 59 laps, 257 miles, as Andrea Caldarelli's crew chief at Lamborghini tells him "If you can't get the car back, pull over and stop driving it.  Don't add extra damage."  Caldarelli says, "I can drive the car back."  His crew chief gives him some vital information.  He points out there is no tire damage but rather, more seriously, there is broken rear suspension on that lime green SC63.  He better not drive too fast or he will have a punctured tire without a doubt.  

Andrea Caldarelli has the whole rest of the field bearing down on him.  Soon, the race leaders in both classes will be right there.  Neel Jani and Rahel Frey plus the rest of the GT3 contenders.  When the #99 Proton Competition Porsche comes to do another driver change, what will they do with the door?  Be sure it is closed.  How many doors are closed?  One, or two?  It is just like getting on an airplane and making sure all the doors are closed before you take off for crying out loud.  But, of course, the management style of Proton Competition has always been an "open door" policy.  Ba boom, swish!  Hardy har har.

Proton Competition have opened the gap to five seconds as we have had cracking battles throughout the Hypercar field all the way down to 16th spot as the Lamborghini has made it back to the pit lane, and once again, to clarify the situation, it is not a tire that has gone flat.  Rather, the car is suffering from suspension damage.  Meanwhile, Earl Bamber ducks to the outside of Will Stevens.  The Cadillac has had the straight line speed all week here at Spa and it undoubtedly pays dividends up the Kemmel straightaway.  Seventh place.  Meantime, the #63 Lamborghini is headed for the garage with the aforementioned suspension trouble.

Meanwhile, the #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R is pitting, Rui Andrade at the wheel of it.  They are also in trouble, but that is not the car they had trouble with.  They are getting the car set to go to the garage.  Mikkel Jensen aboard the #93 Peugeot with the pitot tube facing the wrong direction, so they cannot correlate their road speed currently running down in 13th spot.  The pitot tube is there to assist with road speed.  Aircraft also use them to measure air speed.  The pitot tube also measures aerodynamic attitude of the car as well as the speed.  The engine cover comes off the #81 Corvette as the mechanics set to work.

We are going to hear from Bruce Jouanny in the pit lane all about how things are working out for the Lamborghini Hypercar.  The mechanics cross their arms to say, "it's game over.  We are out of the race."  Just ten minutes shy of halfway, it is game over without doubt due to the broken suspension.  Peugeot now under pressure from Toyota.  Mikkel Jensen has Nyck de Vries right on his six.  de Vries whistles up the inside.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  Like taking candy from a baby.  Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson looking on from their pit box.  She is joined by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares.

A loose rear diffuser on the #81 Corvette and that has been a trouble spot for them with the new GT3 class Corvette Z06 GT3.R.  I take that back.  It is not the diffuser we are having a Captain Cook at.  It is indeed something different.  Christian Ried is not here this weekend instead choosing to focus on Proton Competition's IMSA effort at Laguna Seca Raceway in California, which of course, ran the same weekend as this event, oh, such is the conundrum of modern day sports car racing, with schedule clashes.  

We are closing in on the halfway mark of the race here at the 6 Hours of Spa.  Proton Competition leads by four seconds heading for the halfway mark in the race as we see a battle now for sixth place between Yifei Ye in the Ferrari and Earl Bamber in the Cadillac.  Alex Lynn lived in the world of pain on older tires and now Bamber is reaping the rewards as he is reeling in Yifei Ye hand over fist.  Ye Yifei, pardon me, sir.  Speaking of catching hand over fist, the battle is afoot for second.  Factory Porsche vs. factory Ferrari.  Michael Christensen right on James Calado's back door.  Different strategies available to different teams currently.  Earl Bamber has run for 23 laps on the same tires and the same for Yifei Ye, 23 laps old.  

Most cars in the Hypercar field have newer tires, they don't have used tires on the cars while the GT3 cars do.  The #81 TF Sport Corvette is another retirement.  The gearbox is cooked.  Rui Andrade, Charlie Eastwood, and Tom van Rompuy will come back again another day.  We will see them at Le Mans for the 24 hours, for the next race on the championship trail.  But for now, it is game over.  Bamber got caught in traffic through Stavelot corner as we are about to have an interview queued up with Antonio Giovinazzi.  

Giovinazzi says he had a great start and a great opening two stints but a long way to go with high tire degradation.  Calado is turning up the wick and decreasing the gap from an even four seconds to 3.7 seconds as we watch the GT3 battle for sixth place.  Sean Gelael in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 has it and Joel Sturm in the #92 Manthey Pure Racing Porsche, wants it.  Because of the safety car the Hypercars and the GT3's are all separated and the GT3 cars are glommed together in one big clump.  2:09.6 for Jani and 2:09.4 for Calado, with no traffic for either car at the present moment.  

We watch a replay of Bamber in the Cadillac chasing Yifei Ye in the Ferrari.  Yikes!  Bamber's Cadillac twitches in a big way and he very nearly lost control of the automobile!  Wowzers!  That was massively close!  I think those front Michelin tires on the Cadillac are now begging for mercy.  In the GT3 class and we didn't even notice this earlier, but Zacharie Robichon in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 has gone ahead of both Sean Gelael in the BMW and Joel Sturm in the Porsche.  So, #77, #31, #92 in a battle for position, for fifth, sixth, and seventh in class.

Gelael has been ahead of Joel Sturm.  Sturm is trying hard to put his nose ahead of Gelael as Antonio Serravalle, the Canadian, at the wheel of the #11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6C Hypercar has a front row seat for all this action.  Serravalle on hot tires, is going to play through come hell or high water!  He launches past the GT3 cars almost in the grass, on the downhill run to Eau Rouge!  Sturm does not want to give away a place to Gelael because Porsche #92 leads the GT3 points, and the Porsche 963 is off the track!  That's the #5 Penske Porsche 963 of Christensen, off on the grass!  He's stopping because he has a punctured left front tire!

Turning in through Blanchimont, he rattles over the curbs, and has a major clatter into the barriers!  You cannot take Blanchimont flat out!  He snapped sideways, alnost caught it in a tank slapper, destroys the Michelin billboard, and the left rear tags the concrete barrier on the other side of the road.  Very little runoff room at Blanchimont.  Hopefully they can get that Porsche fixed but that one might have suffered enough damage to lead it directly into retirement with no questions.  He tagged the wall the the legft rear catapulting the car into the fence.  The Ferrari passed after that and the Porsche has not made it to the pit lane.  He is now moving but there is a local yellow.  

He needs to drive it to the pit lane.  Full Course Yellow in 15 seconds.  Ryo Hirakawa moves the #8 Toyota to eighth spot.  Full Course Yellow.  We are under Full Course Yellow.  Everyone is doing 80 kilometers an hour and the gaps will not be any bigger through traffic.  Not this time.  What a massive mistake by Christensen.  He will be kicking himself for that move.  Christensen would have been better off going over the curb rather than staying on top of it.  The margins are tiny and he was just a passenger, on a wild thrill ride he'd just as soon forget.