TOTAL Spa 24 Hours - Evening & Night Qualifying Report
Wendlinger Fastest, Big Bouchut Off At Blanchimont
© Janos Wimpffen

Only the FIA GT could issue a statement like this. As might be found elsewhere, there are Stewards Decisions released from time-to-time. This is the exact text of Stewards’ Decision N. 4, issued at 15:10 on 31.07.08 and signed by the FIA Steward Chairman, Michael Schwägerl.

“After a report from the Technical Delegate and after hearing the Team manager of cars No 140 and 141, the Stewards decided to take no further action.”

A branch of a tree was chopped down to print out copies of the above.

There was one thrash going on during 3-plus hour interim between sessions. The No. 175 Sport Garage Ferrari had a slight excursion into the gravel and was undamaged—until the tow truck arrived. In trying to pry the multi-colored car out of the litter the entire right front fender along with assorted wiring was towed away, leaving the rest of the car still trapped.

There are three Porsches here with the new 4.0-liter motor, IMSA Matmut (No. 76) and the two Prospeed entries (Nos. 60 and 61). The French team had a problem with the new gearbox that is associated with the motor and had to replace it during the interim between the two practice periods.

The evening qualifying began under still quite warm temperatures, with only high cirrus clouds, a slight breeze to offset the heat, and of course a lowering orb in the sky. Peter Kox (No. 8 Spartak Lamborghini) and Wolfgang Kaufmann (No. 102 PMB Porsche Bi-turbo) had the honor of entering the track first with the former setting a 2:17.945 and the latter a weight-laden 2:29.752 on their initial flyers.

It was Darren Turner (No. 10 Gigawave Aston Martin) who first set a representative fast la at 2:16.937, down to 2:15.547 two laps later. Alexandre Negrao had a tentative hold on second spot with a 2:17.140 in the No. 2 Vitaphone Maserati. This dropped Kox to third, then to fourth when Andrea Bertolini recorded a 2:15.763 on the first flying lap in the No. 1 Vitaphone Maserati. Negrao and Kox both improved their times marginally, but not enough to move up the order.

In GT2 the early order was Richard Lietz (No. 76 IMSA Matmut Porsche), Matteo Malucelli (No. 77 BMS Ferrari), and Richard Westbrook in the No. 61 Prospeed Porsche. Marc Basseng’s No. 123 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche had a strong lead in the G3 class at 2:26.108.

After about 15 minutes of action all of the G3 runners had taken to the track while in GT2 all the cars had also gone out although a few only made some preliminary in-an-out setup laps before starting to qualify in earnest. Only about half the GT1 cars had emerged, the remainder coming out just before the 60-minute session reached its halfway point.

Karl Wendlinger was the first to create a stir as the Austrian set pole on first flyer in the No. 33 Jetalliance Aston Martin at 2:14.581. Christophe Bouchut followed suit with a 2:15.085 in the No. 3 SRT Corvette, giving note that the chase was on. The next time around Bouchut edged closer with a 2:14.755.

In GT2 Malucelli moved to the top with a 2:21.854, trailed by Lietz at 2:22.888. Rob Bell announced his presence with a good-for-third in class 2:22.747 the first full time around in the No. 56 CR Scuderia Ferrari. Alexandros Margaritos (No. 5 Carsport Corvette) and Marcel Fässler in the similar GM product of the same team (No. 6) were the last of the GT1 cars to take to the circuit while Thomas Biagi was the last in GT2 (No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari). These three were just getting up to speed while Bouchut kept ramping up the speed. It became a bit too much as with about 10 minutes to go in the session the French driver plowed headlong into the tire barriers at the very high-speed Blanchimont sweeper. He had just set fast times through the preceding a sectors. So it was clearly a pole lap.

The rear of the car was largely destroyed. All four corners received some sort of damage. The roof was also cracked. The central tub remained intact and even the tires did not deflate. Bouchut was concussed and may have had back injuries. He’s been airlifted to hospital in Liege and is most certainly out of action. The team plans to try and rebuild the car around components taken from the non-running DKR Corvette. If successful, it will take between now and the time to form on the grid Saturday before the car would be ready. Their participation thereafter would need to be cautious with a goal set towards garnering some points at best.

The session was halted for some 20 minutes. Then the final 10 minutes were completed before the normal checkered flag fell. The start of the second qualifying session was delayed about 20 minutes and thus started under complete darkness.

Most of the times during the 90-minute second session are running about 5 seconds off the pace of daylight segment. Teams are busily working on nighttime settings and in getting all the drivers their minimum required laps in the dark.

Miguel Ramos (No. 2) and Eric van de Poele (No. 1) led a Maserati 1-2, with Jean-Denis Deletraz third in the No. 6 Carsport Corvette. GT2 had the all the usual suspects at the front, Emmanuel Collard (No. 61 Prospeed Porsche) leading two Ferraris, respectively Andrew Kirkaldy (No. 56 {CR Scuderia) and Fabio Babini (No. 62 Scuderia Ecosse). The G3 class entry of Prospeed leads that class with Franz Lamot at the wheel.

The noteworthy developments during the final 30 minutes of the night session included seeing the GT1 order rearranged to better reflect that of the earlier periods. The No. 33 Jetalliance Aston Martin (Wendlinger) took over the top from the two Maseratis. However, the times were all well off the daylight pace. The Fassler set the session's quick lap before having a slight spin at Les Combes.

The No. 55 CR Ferrari (Gordon Shedden) became stranded in the gravel in the same vicinity and spread some of the rocks onto the track surface, necessating a local yellow through the region and thwarting some quicker laps.