Spa 24 Hours – (Dark and Stormy) Night Qualifying Report
Wet And Pointless

Actually, it has stopped raining, but it is dark and wet out there. Rules are rules and most cars have headed out to at least cover the mandatory three laps per driver in the night. Kumpen (No. 4 Corvette), Turner (No. 35 Nissan), and Longin (No. 3 Corvette) are the three quickest drivers, and the only ones to crack below 2:50. All 37 of the remaining cars have taken to track to officially record qualifying times.

With ten minutes remaining in the first night session, Pedro Lamy joined this select group with a 2:48 in the No. 2 Maserati. There was even more excitement when Jos Menten improved No. 4’s already  fastest time by a nudge. As I was already glass-eyed with the thrills of this session, I missed it.

Thanks to David Addison for noticing this. It’s the lot of a track announcer to be forced to pay attention to such detail.

Of course, none of these times are anywhere in the league of the few quick laps that came during the first moments earlier this evening. The No. 175 BMW did formally improve on its earlier time, but only because it was unlucky not have completed a lap before all hell broke loose.

Thus ends the first 45 –minute session. At least the intermission will be easy on the track crews. The drivers have worked to keep the cars on the shiny parts with only a few harmless mudbaths to break the monotony. Thankfully, only 45 minutes of this pointless exercise remain.

Maxime Soulet erupted out of the pits and set a 2:48.7 at the start of the final qualifying session. No. 4 is thus fastest again and is the only one better than 2:50. Then it happened—what else, the rains have returned. All the cars have gone to bed. Only the poor marshals are left in the woods.  The clock is ticking, 21:59 remaining in the session, 21:58, 21:57 . . . There is one incredible bit of excitement. The track goes full course yellow—why now? Why not, it puts something flashy onto the screen. Incredibly, some 3-4 cars were still circulating at the time. It’s over—thank heavens –  good night.

As David Addison noted, qualifying effectively ended at 17:49. That’s when all the cars ducked for cover. So there were 150 minutes reserved for qualifying while only 19 of them mattered. It was reduced to the same length as your basic ALMS, LMS, FIA GT event. The other 131 minutes were for chatting and socializing. I could’ve written a chapter or two.

I’m off tomorrow (Friday) —going to a honkball game in Rotterdam. Honkball is Dutch for baseball—they’re pretty good at it. With my luck, the game will be rained out.

Janos Wimpffen