The #63 Grasser Lamborghini driven by Mirco Bortolotti took an emotional win at the 77th running of the 24 Hours of Spa. After a gruelling last stint behind the wheel the Italian was obviously spent but was delighted to deliver a first win at Spa24 for Lamborghini.
The start of this year’s Spa24 was clean with all cars getting away trouble free. The #59 Garage 59 McLaren driven by Kirchhöfer held the lead from the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes of Gounon, whilst Abril in the #51 Af Corse-Francorchamps Motors Ferrrai managed to jump the #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes of Götz for third.
All the cars made it round the first few laps. Unsurprisingly, there was an early full-course yellow. The #60 VSR Lamborghini going around at the bus stop chicane and taking a heavy front end collision from the unsighted #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche. The Porsche then shed some sizeable bits of debris on the run to Eau Rouge.
Major drama at the front early in hour two. Vince Abril was running third in the first stint but lost time during his stop when he handed over to Alessio Rovera. The Italian then returned to the pits a lap later and the car was wheeled into the garage for reasons unknown. After some time it headed back out, still on the lead lap, but at the rear of the field!
An enormous crash was to follow when the #112 CSA McLaren whilst limping back to the pits was hit flat out by the #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche, driven by Laurin Heinrich, at Blanchimont. Heinrich was behind another car so didn’t see the McLaren. The Porsche was destroyed but Heinrich walked away. Joshua Mason, who was driving the wrecked McLaren, was taken to the medical centre for checks.
Hour three began under FCY after Antares Au in the #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche was pushed into the gravel by George Kurtz in the #4 Crowdstrike Mercedes. Just as that FCY was called, the #70 AF Corse Ferrari slammed into the back of the #270 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin on the Kemmel Straight. Just before that the #163 VSR Lamborghini passed the #59 Garage McLaren for the lead, only for those positions to swap back again during the pit stops.
Positions after three hours:
Pro #59 Garage 59 McLaren
Gold #33 Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin
Silver #26 Sainteloc Racing Audi
Bronze #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari
Pro-AM #29 AV Racing by Car Collection Porsche
A big hit at Raidillon for the #11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin. Assisted into a spin by the #611 Nordique Mercedes, which crashed there in qualifying. Frederic Jousset was able to exit the car and was okay but the car itself was very definitely out of the race.
Race control issued #611 with a 30 second stop and go for causing a collision but unfortunately that was followed by another 30 second stop and go for not serving the first one correctly.
Just after four hours cars are heading to the pits and there was finally a change for the (net) lead The #17 GetSpeed Mercedes and the #163 VSR Lamborghini overhauled the #59 Garage 59 McLaren.
The #3 GetSpeed Mercedes had an engine problem, producing a major pall of smoke before stopping at pit-in. Luckily marshalls managed to remove the car quickly. That was two GetSpeed cars out and the other in the lead.
At the six hour mark points are awarded, the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes banked maximum points (12) ahead of the #163 VSR Lamborghini and the #50 AF Corse Francorchamps Motors Ferrari. The #59 Garage 59 McLaren had to stop just before points were awarded, so it didn’t score.
Positions after six hours:
Pro #17 GetSpeed Mercedes
Gold #33 Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin
Silver #26 Sainteloc Racing Audi
Bronze #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari
Pro-AM #28 Haas RT Audi
At the eight hour mark, another round of pit stops had cycled through. The order was jumbled, with the #163 Lamborghini ahead of the #17 Mercedes and the #50 Ferrari.
Alessio Rovera in the #51 Ferrari made very quick work of the #65 Ford and the Italian was 14th as he edged towards the front. At this stage 64 cars were still running.
At the ninth hour the #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin came alive. Drudi took P3, passing the #50 Ferrari, just 4.4 seconds off the lead. Almost immediately the charge was over as the car was making an awful sound and was pulled into the box for repairs.
There was also trouble for the #991 Paradine Competition BMW, which initially pulled over at the Bus Stop with its front left wheel missing. Galeal got the car back to Paradine’s box but the car was retired.
A drive through penalty was issued to race leader Stolz! GetSpeed’s Mercedes which had caused the collision that accounted for Paradine’s wheel. That extra stop moved Mann-Filter’s #48 Mercedes into P1, Cairoli was only two seconds behind at that time.
It then went from bad to worse for GetSpeed’s leading Pro car as Schiller pulled the Mercedes over on the inside of Eau Rouge. There was no obvious damage but the driver reported an incident with Di Folco in the Tresor Attempto’s #99 Audi, which was already in its garage.
Positions after nine hours:
Pro #17 GetSpeed Merecedes
Gold #33 Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin
Silver #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes
Bronze #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche
Pro-AM #29 AV Racing by Car Collection Porsche
Hour eleven began under FCY as the #17 Mercedes was removed. At half distance there was nothing separating the leading cars.
Positions after twelve hours:
Pro #998 Rowe Racing BMW
Gold #58 Garage 59 McLaren
Silver #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin
Bronze #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche
Pro-AM #100 Beechdean Aston Martin
Going into the fourteenth hour, the #23 RJN McLaren expired in dramatic fashion, this prompted a slew of technical pit stops amongst the front runners. At this juncture only the #64 Mustang and #46 BMW had yet to change brake discs and pads.
Just after 07:00 local time there was another FCY. Thomas Drouet ditched the HRT Ford into the gravel after very light contact with the #48 Mercedes at the Bus Stop. There didn’t look to be much in the incident but it’s proved to be terminal to the Mustang.
The #48 Mercedes had a drive-through for that contact with the Ford which was a blow to one of the favourites, dropping it to the tail of the lead lap.
At this stage the #63 Lamborghini led by 5.6 seconds which was about as far clear as anyone had been during this race. #998 BMW is second, #51 Ferrari runs third, #50 Ferrari was fourth.
Positions after eighteen hours:
Pro #96 Rutronik Porsche
Gold #33 Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin
Silver #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin
Bronze #81 Winward Racing Mercedes
Pro-AM #29 AV Racing by Car Collection Porsche
The #19 Lamborghini spun and whacked the wall between Blanchimont and the Bus Stop. It’s shed its bonnet, but Baptiste Moulin was able to bring the car back and the race narrowly escaped another FCY.
At this stage four brands were in the fight. BMW looked strong with two cars from ROWE and another from Team WRT. Ferrari had the two AF Corse-Fracorchamps Motors cars, and there were also strong single car attacks from Lamborghini and Porsche. Mercedes and McLaren were also in contention.
Positions after twenty one hours:
Pro #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche
Gold #58 Garage 59 McLaren
Silver #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin
Bronze #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari
Pro-AM #29 AV Racing by Car Collection Porsche
With three hours left to go, nothing was decided in any class. The result would be down to driver skills and strategy to determine the win.
This race has had a very high attrition rate with 23 cars not classified at the flag, most of these have been a result of on track incidents, some (like the McLaren & Porsche crash) definitive and others, cumulative like the #991, which was assisted off the circuit on a number of occasions.
There have also been catastrophic engine failures (#3 Mercedes) and several drivetrain problems.
With two hours to run things looked like this;
#63 Grasser Lamborghini of Mirco Bortolotti
#98 Rowe Racing BMW of Raffaele Marciello,
#51 AF Corse- Francorchamps Motors Ferrari of Alessio Rovera
all in the mix for a victory.
The Gold Cup leader, the #33 Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin driven by Harry King,10th overall, was hotly pursued by the #58 Garage 59 McLaren in the hands of Marvin Kirchhofer.
The Bronze Cup leader was the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari driven by Dennis Marschall in15th.
The Silver Cup was headed up by the #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin driven by Romain Leroux in 17th.
The Pro-AM Cup leader was the #29 AV Racing by Car Collection Porsche driven by Noam Abramcyz in 32nd overall..
Late on the leading #96 Porsche slowed through Blanchiment and the #63 Lamborghini passed on track. The Porsche headed straight into the pits for a scheduled stop, it transpired they had actually suffered a last minute puncture.
Bortolotti brought the #63 in for its stop and the car didn’t fire when the jacks were dropped, costing them valuable seconds, in the end the gap at the top of the Kemmel to the chasing Porsche of Niederhauser was under two seconds.
This was going to be close. Borlotti managed his tyres superbly in the heat of the afternoon and kept the charging Porsche at bay to come over the line to victory with an eight second advantage.
The battle for third between the #51 Ferrari of Pier Guidi and the #98 Rowe BMW of Marciello was hard fought, the BMW crossing the line first but having incurred a track limits penalty, eventually finished fifth, promoting the Ferrari to the bottom step of the podium. Pier Guidi also tppk fastest lap honours with a time of 2:17.006 on lap 352.
The #998 BMW was set for a solid sixth place until Philipp Eng was forced to retire the car in the final minutes of the race allowing the #59 Garage 59 McLaren of Kirchhofer to take the place.
The gold cup honours were closely contested by the #33 Aston Martin of King and the #58 McLaren of MacDonald, victory looked to be going the way of the McLaren until they suffered a tyre blow out at Blanchiment handing the win the #33 team.
Silver Cup victory went to the #35 Aston Martin squad in the hands of Oliver Söderström.
The Pro-Am category (contested only at the Spa 24 Hours) was won by #29 AV Racing by Car Collection Porsche of Detry.
The Bronze Cup honours went to the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Marschall. By Melissa Warren
