Spa 24 Hours - Hour 10

The #2 AF Corse Ferrari and #50 Phoenix Audi are closing in on the second placed #16 IMSA Porsche

The Trackspeed Porsche has reclaimed 9th meanwhile from the #99 Marc VDS Ford - It loses the place again though with a spin at Turn 12 but rejoins and takes up the chase again.

The #86 Lamborghini has been stationary in the garage for over 90 minutes as we pass 1 am

The #67 United Audi has hit the tyre wall at Turn 7

01:20 And we have the safety car deployed, presumably for the recovery of the #67 Audi 

There's a flurry of pitlane activity as the 2nd, 3rd  and 4th placed cars plus the 6th and 7th placed Audis and the 9th placed Trackspeed Porsche all pit - The #51 Phoenix Audi is waved by the Safety car and will get back most of one of its lost laps.

The leader pits next time around too 

The #67 United Audi makes it back to the pitlane and the Safety Car will be withdrawn at the end of the lap after a 10 minute SC period.

The #50 Audi is up to third, right on the tail of the #16 Porsche but with the #2 AF Corse Ferrari right behind - Bruni grabs both places at the restart as the #16 and #50 squabble.

The Phoenix Audi goes by for third but the delayed #13 Prospeed Porsche is in the midst of another long stop

The 21st placed #55 Alpina has lost a wheel at the Bus Stop but pits and rejoins

The leader pops in a 2:24 to put the pressure on the chasing Ferrari as the AF Corse Team Manager is summoned for an interview with the Race Director

01:55 and we have a fire alarm in the press centre - This better not be a drill! - It's stopped - either it was a false alarm or the power's failed!

The #78 BMW goes by the #53 Muehlner Porsche for 12th - A routine stop for the #51 Phoenix Audi allows the #68 United car up into 7th

WRT #73 Despite the damage to the windscreen (caused by hitting debris falling off another car) they will not change the screen, as the time penalty is too great. The area of the screen through which they can see is less than one third of its width.

Pat Long (IMSA Porsche #16):

"I think these are the most trying, yet my favourite conditions. It’s between slicks and dries, and with the humidity, the track’s not really drying out. It’s a real toss up on which tyre to run. It’s all finesse and driving by the seat of your pants – it’s the closest thing to driving in the dirt.

"Seems like the AF Corse Ferrari is in a class of its own this race for whatever reason. I just tried to focus on driving to the limit of my own car. Raymond has really defied odds as to what a gentleman racer can achieve.

"Communication is key right now; with four drivers and changing conditions we need to communicate well with the team, and cover each other’s back about which tyres to take, tyre pressures and things. There are a lot of new driver line-ups out there and it could turn out to be a strength for us that we all know each other so well.

"Fuel consumption is fine; we can run hard and get as many laps as our competitors. Certainly it was a surprise to see the GT3 Audis stopping as soon as they did. They’re supposed to be able to run an hour’s race, but maybe there’s a little different configuration now on how they’re run?"

Dirk Adorf (BMW #78):

"It’s really crazy because it’s normal rain, so you can’t go with slicks, even though there’s a dry line, so you try to drive there, but it’s so slippery that you think you must be really slow, but then you look at the other cars’ times, and they are even slower than you, so it’s completely crazy. I never did this race before, normally I drive at the Nurburgring, but you can’t find these conditions there. There when it’s dry you can go faster, but here when it’s dry, you can’t go faster! It’s crazy.

Gimmi Bruni (AF Corse Ferrari #2)

"It was tough. It’s difficult, particularly with this weather, but we are up to the lead now, so we will see what Toni (Vilander) can do. Now they are starting to do barbecues at some corners and it looks like fog when you get there. Toni’s problem earlier was from contact with a GT3 car, which broke the left rear rim. That cost us two and a half minutes – more than one lap."

Richard Dean (UA Audi #68):

"No problems at the moment, just stopping for fuel. We’re not always on the right tyres at the right time, but who is? We’ve just been braving it out, sticking with what we’ve got on until it gets round to fuel time. Sometimes it hurts us, but this weather, you can’t chase it. You don’t know what’s coming, so if you find yourself out on the wrong tyres, it’s better to live with it and see what comes in the next ten minutes. So far it’s been more luck than bad luck, so we’re doing ok."

Mike Rockenfeller (Phoenix Audi #50):

"We are looking quite ok. Of course if it’s dry we are struggling more against the BMWs, Porsches and Ferraris. In the wet it looks like we are really strong, so we are praying for more rain! On pure speed and strategy we have no chance, because they can go five or six, maybe seven laps more on one tank, so therefore they save a few stops. Right now we are fighting for the lead, the overall lead. The GT3 class win is our goal. That would be really good, and everything else is a bonus."

Andrea Piccini (Phoenix Audi #51):

"After the early problem, we are still running without ABS and without traction control. I’m really surprised, but the car is fantastic. We had a puncture in the rain, at Eau Rouge, just to choose the worst place, the furthest from the pits. I came in very slow, like 100kph, not to damage the car, seeing what happened to Xavier Maassen this morning with the Corvette. The problem is we have no speedo in the car, so it was difficult to know how fast I was coming in; I just had to keep talking on the radio.

"The car was really good. I thought we took slicks maybe a couple of laps too early, but that gave us a chance to warm them up! For us it’s better when it’s wet; in those conditions our car is really well balanced. People thought it was because of the ABS and the traction control, but it’s just the car itself."

Richard Westbrook (Prospeed Porsche #13):

"Coming through Eau Rouge, going down the straight, there’s a very slow Aston Martin in front of me, No 64, and it went through Les Combes very slowly, pulled to the left like it was letting me past because he was going very very slowly, then going through the next right he just pulled onto the racing line, but I was already there and already alongside him, and he hit my back and spun me round which put me in the wall. They’ve repaired it, but I don’t think the car’s going to feel the same, so we’ll make the decision as to whether it’s really all worth it. Apparently he’s a singer, so he should stick to singing."

Romain Dumas (BMS Porsche #23);

"Everything’s going ok. We lost a little bit of time in the last period of rain unfortunately, but we’re still running, still on the same lap as the leaders, which is really important. When it’s heavy rain or when it’s dry it’s ok; it’s just when it’s in between it’s not very good."

We're taking a break from hourly updates now for two or three hours - Back up between 5 or 6 am local we think

Running Order After 10 Hours

#79, 2, 50, 16, 23, 73, 68, 51, 99, 7, 60, 78, 53, 17, 98, 4, 1, 67, 13, 56, 55, 71, 91, 64 (Pit), 81, 66, 85, 59, 58, 86 9Pit), 52 (Out), 74, 100 (Out), 70, 69, 84 (Out), 72 (Out), 61 (Out), 63 (Out), 62 (Out).