The 24h of Spa continues to offer emotions as the first quarter of this event valid for GT World Challenge Europe/Intercontinental GT Challenge is gone.
Right at the beginning of the fourth hour, at the restart from the Safety Car, among the various brawls there were immediate multiple collisions: the first between the Porsche #92 and the Mercedes #77 which sent the 911 into the gravel, while in the central sector the The slowdown of the McLaren #158 created confusion among those oncoming and the Audi #26 hit the 720S on the rear and then ended up against the wall on the left, while the Audi #38 swerved to the right to avoid it, hitting the Mercedes #16 which ‘had just joined.
The Lamborghini #63 also had to return with damage to the front having also lost the bonnet, as did the BMW #98, but shortly after a new Full Course Yellow to recover the Lamborghini #78 sent into the gravel by the Mercedes #3.
The worst moment came halfway through the fourth hour, however, when a collision between Christian Hook and Nicolas Baert on the descent after ‘La Source’ saw the latter’s #12 Aston Martin park on the edge of the track in the grass, while the Rinaldi Racing driver tried to move the #333 Ferrari a little further ahead and to safety.
Being too damaged, the blue-white 296 GT3 remained dangerously stationary in the middle of the track, with oncoming drivers scraping the car by the skin, something that Adrian D’Silva failed to do; the boy from EBM swerved too late (having two other cars in front of him) and hit the Ferrari in the left rear, which was sent against the right wall, impacting the rear which caught fire.
The Safety Car was immediately sent onto the track (fortunately the drivers were unharmed) and several minutes passed before they could set off again, but even in this case there was no respite. At the braking point of the first corner, the Porsches of Patric Niederhauser (#96 Rutronik Racing) and Laurin Heinrich (#22 Schumacher-CLRT) came into contact and the latter stopped on the track, again forcing the SC to make its entry on the track.
The #54 Porsche of Dinamic GT also retired due to problems, while the #188 McLaren was forced to return to the pits to replace the brake discs due to a problem. Trouble also for the #111 Audi which punctured the right rear while proceeding very slowly for half the track, and the #992 Porsche which broke a suspension with further consequent damage to the wheel and other things.
Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi took over the wheel of the BMW #46 and also found himself in the lead, but after leading for a few laps he began to suffer when the first drops of rain began to fall. Overtaken by a handful of rivals, the ‘Doctor’ also caused a collision with the #51 Ferrari, sending Davide Rigon into a spin at the ‘Bus Stop’.
Shortly after, Leonardo Moncini got stuck in the sand at ‘Les Combes’ with the #88 Audi hit by a rival and causing another FCY+SC, which was immediately seized by several competitors to pit; some tried to anticipate the arrival of the rain by fitting the grooved Pirellis, including Rossi’s #46 M4, but for the moment the wind continues to move the clouds and the disturbance.
The fact is that with yet another grouping, the classification was further reshuffled, also because some chose to pit again and change tyres; the Aston Martin #7 of Comtoyou Racing now takes the lead, now driven by Marco Sorensen after Mattia Drudi’s turn, but the Mercedes #9 of Boutsen VDS is in second place after the BMWs of WRT #32 and #46 took the lead there are still stops for tire changes.
The same thing was done by the Mercedes #60 of 2 Seas Motorsport, leader in the Gold Cup Class, so third place now belongs to the Audi of Tresor Attempto #99 threatened by the Ferraris of AF Corse-Francorchamps Motors #51 and #71.
In 5th place is the Ferrari #93 of Sky Tempesta which took the lead in operations in the Bronze Cup Class. Further back in this lot is the #52 of AF Corse, which first served a Drive Through for the accident in start of the race and then a 5″ penalty at the pit stop for breaking speed in the pit lane. Barwell’s Lamborghini #72 came third.
Returning to the overall Top 10, we also find the #23 Phantom Global Porsche in eighth and the #998 BMW in ninth.
In the Silver Cup, the #21 Aston Martin of Comtoyou Racing (seventh overall) took the lead over the #57 Mercedes of Winward and the #10 of Boutsen VDS.
In PRO/AM, the #100 Team RJN McLaren leads with a one-lap advantage over the #4 Crowdstrike-Riley Mercedes, comfortably ahead of the #16 Uno Racing-Landgraf, also because the #888 Triple Eight AMG ended up in the barriers after the ‘Raidillon’ at the end of the 6th hour, signalling that Martin Konrad still got out on his own two feet without any problems.
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