First 180 ‘of the 24h of Spa-Francorchamps went to the archive with several interesting things shown by the protagonists of Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.
Sun and heat characterized the start of the famous Ardennes race, where the public crowded paddocks and grandstands from the early hours of the morning, with queues at the entrances and numerous groups of people lined up with backpacks and flags along the streets.
At 4:45 pm green light, but it took just under 60 ‘to start having the first headaches. Punctures forced the Lamborghini of Barwell (# 77) and Emil Frey Racing (# 63), which were respectively 1st in the Gold Class and 3rd overall, in addition to the Audi of Attempto (# 66), Tresor (# 12) and Saintéloc (# 26) – the latter with the tire that lost pressure on Blanchimont sending Cesar Gazeau to the wall and forcing him to retire – and the Aston Martin # 23 of Heart Of Racing.
The Bentley # 107 of CMR was instead sent into the gravel by the Mercedes # 75 of Sun Energy1 (punished with a 5 “penalty), while the Safety Car intervened three times; the first for the cover-up of Winward’s Mercedes # 57 Racing, buffered by the McLaren # 188 of Garage 59, the other for the KO of the Audi # 33 of the WRT Team at the restart from the first SC, also reporting the rear-end of the Mercedes # 93 of Sky Tempesta Racing to the Porsche # 9 of Herberth Motorsport at ‘La Source’.
The third SC had to intervene when Beechdean AMR’s Aston Martin # 97 went into gravel at ‘Les Combes’. Furthermore, shortly afterwards, the Mercedes # 777 of Al Manar-HRT – leader in the Silver Class – crashed into the Porsche # 91 of Allied-Racing, which at the exit from the corner ‘Paul Frère) had accused a problem and slowed down suddenly.
Finally, we point out that several teams had to serve several seconds for track-limits not respected (5 “for each infringement); multiple penalties began to rain down after the first 2 warnings, but there are teams that complain of sensor malfunctions in the various points of the track.
With the various neutralizations, the third driver-tire changes and refuelings were also carried out for several teams and at the moment in command is the Mercedes # 2 of GetSpeed, chased by that of Akkodis-ASP # 88, while the third is the Porsche # 54 of Dinamic Motorsport, pursued by the resurgent Ferrari # 71 of Iron Lynx, managed to get rid of the Porsche # 221 of GPX Martini Racing, which stopped in the pits in the third SC.
Fifth was the Audi # 25 of Saintéloc, with behind the Porsche # 100 of the Toksport WRT, the Lamborghini of KPAX (# 6), the McLaren # 38 of Jota and the Lamborghini of Emil Frey Racing (# 19).
The Ferrari # 51 of Iron Lynx completes the Top 10 all PROS, grappling with a wheel-to-wheel duel against the Porsche # 74 of EMA Motorsport. KCMG’s 911 # 47 is also lurking.
In the Silver Cup Class the lead went to the Lamborghini # 14 of Emil Frey Racing, pursued by the Huracan # 563 of VSR. A little further away we find the Audi # 99 of Attempto and the Mercedes # 90 of Madpanda Motorsport.
In PRO-AM the McLaren # 188 of Garage59 is firmly in the lead, the Porsche # 24 of Herberth Motorsport second and the Ferrari # 52 of AF Corse resumes the podium, starting from the pit lane after discovering a loss before taking the grid .
In the Gold Cup he drives the Audi # 10 of Boutsen Racing, which has a decent margin over the Porsche # 911 of Herberth Motorsport. On the virtual podium is HRT’s Mercedes # 5.
The Bronze Cup sees the # 20 Mercedes of SPS Automotive Performance first from the start, followed by the BMW # 35 of Walkenhorst Motorsport.
Finally, at the second hour he got behind the wheel of the Audi # 46 of Team WRT Valentino Rossi for his double stint: Nico Muller had started from 35th position, recovering up to 26th, then after the pinwheel of stops the ‘Doctor’ found himself 21 °, slipping however 29 ° at the last restart from the SC.
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