It is now late at night at the 24h of Spa-Francorchamps: on the one hand there are the protagonists of Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli on the track to continue their tight battles, on the other the river of people that continues to surround and animate the Ardennes track, where in the paddock the music manages to dominate the roar of the engines from different positions.
Two other Safety Cars brought together the 55 cars left in action and unfortunately we report the accident that saw Lorenzo Patrese crash into the 7th hour with the Audi # 11 from Tresor by Car Collection. A second Full Course Yellow and subsequent SC occurred at the end of the 9th hour for a car off the track at Blanchimont.
At the restart, the absolute Top10 and all PRO found themselves in the same lap and enclosed in 16 “, with the Mercedes # 88 of Akkodis-ASP (Marciello / Gounon / Juncadella) which took the lead, followed by the Porsche of Estre / Christensen / Lietz (# 221 GPX Martini Racing), while a puncture sent Andlauer / Dienst / Muller (# 100 Toksport WRT) to the rear.
Third is the Ferrari # 71 of Iron Lynx (Rigon / Serra / Fuoco), always chased by the BMW # 98 of Rowe Racing (Catsburg / Farfus / Yelloly) which however has a different strategy than the others.
The Porsche # 47 of KCMG (Olsen / Tandy / Vanthoor) gained the Top5, taking the Ferrari # 51 of Iron Lynx (Calado / Molina / Nielsen) behind in sixth place, while the Mercedes # 55 of the GruppeM ( Engel / Grenier / Buhk) with the Saintéloc Audi # 25 behind (Niederhauser / Mies / Legeret).
The Mercedes # 2 of GetSpeed (Stolz / Schothorst / Gotz) completes the Top10, the BMW # 50 of Harper / Hesse / Verhagen (Rowe Racing), ahead of the McLaren # 38 of the Jota (Bell / Kirchhofer / Wilkinson). On the other hand, the Porsche # 54 of Dinamic Motorsport (Bachler / Ledogar / Preining) stopped.
Valentino Rossi is back in the Audi # 46 that he shares with Frédéric Vervisch and Nico Muller: currently the ‘Doctor’ has moved up to 13th place, but Team WRT has also chosen a somewhat different strategy than its rivals.
Among the retired is added the Lamborghini # 63 of Emil Frey Racing, as Albert Costa went to the wall destroying the car of Sant’Agata Bolognese.
In the Silver Cup Class the Mercedes # 4 of HRT (Love / Fittje / Valente / Bird) climbs to the first position, followed by the Lamborghini # 14 of Emil Frey Racing (Tujula / Lappalainen / White) and the Mercedes # 90 of Madpanda Motorsport (Perez Companc / Walkinshaw / Kujala / Tunjo). The Audi # 30 of Team WRT (Simmenauer / Neubauer / Goethe) slips fourth.
In PRO-AM there is always the Porsche # 24 of Herberth Motorsport (Menzel / Aust / Leutwiler / Picariello) leading operations in front of the McLaren # 188 of Garage 59 (Chaves / Macdonald / West / Ramos). AF Corse Ferrari # 52 (Bertolini / Machiels / Costantini / Rovera) is third furthest behind.
In the Gold Cup the Mercedes # 5 of HRT (Maini / Haupt / Scholze / Piana) remains at the top, with a good margin on the Ferrari # 83 of the Iron Dames Frey / Gatting / Bovy / Pin and the BMW # 34 of Walkenhorst Motorsport ( Dinan / Foley / Klingmann / Heistand). KO the Porsche # 911 of Herberth Motorsport (Bohn / A.Renauer / R.Renauer).
All unchanged also in the Bronze Cup, where the BMW # 35 of Walkenhorst Motorsport (Walkenhorst / Breuer / Yount / Oeverhaus) commands the # 20 Mercedes of SPS Automotive Performance (Muller / Kurtz / Pierburg / Juffali).
#24h #Spa #9th #Hour #Mercedes #Porsche #ahead #Ferrari #BMW