TOTAL Spa 24 Hours – Free Practice Sessions Report
A Welcome From Janos
© Janos Wimpffen

Bonjour from a surprisingly warm day in the Ardennes. It was in the mid-20s yesterday and expected to climb a tad higher today. Spa being Spa the clouds should be back by tomorrow with rain expected over the weekend, as well as sun, more clouds, sun here, rain there, Walloons in balloons—in short a typical Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours weekend. Indeed, we even have the prospect of thunderstorms later today and possibly tomorrow—but temps still at about 30 degrees—sauna anyone? We’ve already had a power outage—can earthquakes and locusts be far behind?

We’re in the midst of the opening 90-minute free session. There will be another such period this afternoon, “pre-qualifying” in SRO-speak, then the first of three qualifying sessions beginning in the cool evening at 20:30 (an hour, and then 90 minutes in the dark). The final qualifying session takes place in the early afternoon tomorrow.

Mike Hezemans was the first to feature this morning. His 2:17.864 in the No. 6 Phoenix Corvette set the standard, followed by Andrea Bertolini at 2:18.966 in the No. 1 Vitaphone Maserati MC 12. We had three marques represented in the top three with Karl Wendlinger’s No. 33 Jetalliance Aston Martin at 2:19.873.

The relative sparseness of GT1 cars can be noted by the fastest GT2 car at 8th overall. It’s Toni Vilander in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari at 2:23.488. He then improved slightly to 2:23.231, just holding off Emmanuel Collard’s 2:23.673. The versatile French driver is aboard the No. 61 Prospeed Porsche, a definite threat for class, if not overall victory. Matteo Malucelli was the early bird in third in the GT2 class with a 2:24.584 in the No. 77 BMS Ferrari.

We have a good set of 15 cars competing in G3, the catch-all class for the various national categories and some GT3 cars. Another Prospeed entry, the No. 160 Porsche Cup car of David Loix leads that group at 2:28.770, followed by the No. 112 AS Events Ferrari Challenge car of Christopher Campbell at 2:28.291.

I now give my obligatory mention of the Coupe du Roi (aka Coupe du Why) class. This year there is but one three-car relay team (JMB) fighting to outlast themselves—thrilling. Pascal Ballay is having fun playing race driver as he’s the fastest of the group at 2:30.747—22nd overall—not bad actually.

The session comes to a halt when the No. 59 Trackspeed Porsche stops on course and is hauled back. After about a 10-minute interruption the No. 7 Larbre Competition Saleen moves to the front of the pack with a 2:17.542. Hezemans’ earlier time holds for second while another Corvette, No. 3 of the Selleslagh team slots into third at 2:18.062. Moving past the 60-minute mark there are no other changes among the top spots—oh wait, another JMB CdR runner (No. 182) is up to 2:29.138

Activity begins to pick up going into the final 20 minutes of the period with the No. 7 Larbre Saleen quickest at 2:16.981 and the Jetalliance Aston second at 2:17.289. Hezemans’s very early fast lap still holds up as third quickest.

The top two remain the same in GT2 but the CR Scuderia Ferrari pair is making noise. Tim Mullen has put No. 55 third best in class with 2:23.992 and the sister car, No. 56 is about a half-second slower.

The session is stopped again, thanks to debris on track at Rivage. As there are only 10 minutes left, it effectively puts paid to the period.

The debris in question was the bonnet of the No. 3 Selleslagh Corvette, which parted company with the car when it went off into the barriers. There was also a minor fire in the pits of the No. 112 AS Events Ferrari. Both of these cars, along with the Trackspeed Porsche, are fit and ready for further action.

Wolfgang Kaufmann and PMB team owner Jean-Marie Taymans wish that their car was more fit, but the No. 102 Porsche Bi-turbo has been arbitrarily burdened with an additional 60 kilos of ballast—no reason was given. The Piranha likened the handling to that of a farm implement. Moreover, they have to run on the harder GT3 spec Michelins. All this to keep them on a par with the only other car in the G2 class, the Vertigo.

The second free, pre-qualifying, session begins with Hezemans again quickest, at 2:16.759 after an earlier 2:17.258. Then comes Bouchut in the No. 3 Corvette at 2:19.067. Miguel Ramos has moved into the top three with a 2:20.197 in the No. 2 Vitaphone Maserati.

The GT1 times are quicker than in the a.m., but this is not yet the case in GT2. There Gimmi Bruni set a 2:25.539 in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari. The CR Scuderia Ferrari continues to improve, with Andrew Kirkaldy second in the No. 56 entre at 2:25.901. Then comes the No. 51 AF Corse entry, Thomas Biagi’s 2:26.161 making it a Ferrari 1-2-3.

David Desbrueres is fastest in the G3 class. His No. 111 Exagon Engineering Ferrari is at 2:30.158.

The next half-hour witnessed a wholesale shift among the GT1 runners. As in the morning, the No. 7 Saleen moved to the fore thanks to Vincent Vosse’s 2:20.423. The No. 10 Gigawave entry (Allan Simonsen) at 2:22.100 and Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer (No. 33 Jetaliance) at 2:22.355 make it an Aston Martin 2-3.

It took about two hours of total practice before we have a Porsche on top in GT2 as Richard Lietz has recorded a 2:23.573. His No. 76 IMSA Performance 997 sports the new 4.0-liter engine. Rob Bell is next 2:24.645 in the No. 56 CR Ferrari, followed by Jamie Davies in the No. 62 Scuderia Ecosse F430. The G3 leadership has passed to Duncan Huisman, with a 2:28.299 in the No. 124 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche.

At the halfway mark of the session GT2 reverted to a Ferrari leadership when Matteo Malucelli’s 2:23.552 in the No. 77 BMS Ferrari topped the others. The IMSA Porsche, followed by No. 56 CR Scuderia and No. 62 Scuderia Ecosse cars continued 2-3-4. While the No. 7 Saleen continues best in GT1, we have a surprise for second overall as veteran Alain Ferte wheels the No. 15 JMB Maserati to 2:20.607.

The last 20 minutes saw some scrambling as it’s the last run-up before a 3-hour gap to qualifying. The No. 6 Corvette turned the fast time of the session (and day so far) at 2:16.759, with the SRT C6.R ending at 2:17.259. The quicker of the Maseratis (No. 1) recorded a 2:17.464. The Ferrari-Porsche-Ferrari order held in GT2, BMS over IMSA Performance over AF Corse. The two Mühlner Porsche Cup cars are the best in the G3 class.