Total 24 Hours of Spa - Wrapping That One Up
Audi Rewrites The Record Books

Even with the benefit of a couple of days’ grace, it’s not going to be easy to properly assess the 2012 Spa 24 Hours, largely because it was such a disjointed event. The safety car was required to intervene on no fewer than 16 occasions (11 of them in the first half of the race alone), with the situation becoming almost farcical during the hours of darkness as barely an hour of green running was possible at any one time.

Yes, the weather was awful at times, but crashes were the main reason for the high number of caution periods as the attrition rate soared. It also meant that the distance covered was 250km shorter than last year and the second-lowest since the GT era began in 2001. Through all the chaos, however, a race did manage to break out, with the ultimate winner only becoming clear in the final hour.

PRO (Started 14 Classified 8 Not Classified 6)

On the face of it, this was an Audi benefit – the official results showing the #16 Audi Sport Performance Team R8 LMS ultra leading for the final 15 hours and finishing a lap clear of the #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT ultra. However, it was much, much closer than that, with the lead swapping on numerous occasions; usually as each car made its next scheduled stop.

It was the #3 Marc VDS BMW that made the early running with Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin sharing the Z4 for the first eight hours and leading for pretty much all of it, including at the six-hour mark and the 12 championship points that came with it. Markus Palttala joined in shortly after midnight, but by then the car had developed a reluctance to restart after each stop and the team reckoned they were losing about a minute each time. With the pace such as it was, not even the numerous safety cars could help the Belgian team and the car fell to fourth by the end – still only two laps off the leader.

Also in the thick of the lead fight for much of the race – but never actually leading – was the #66 Vita4one Racing team BMW of Greg Franchi, Mathias Lauda and Frank Kechele. Having seen their pole position converted to second place by the time Eau Rouge was reached  on the opening lap, the car stayed in contention until the first safety car period (when the heavens opened) when the car lost a lap in the confusion and dropped to 20th. The trio fought their way back up the leader board over the course of the race and fully deserved their third place.

Not everything went to plan for the Audi juggernaut at Spa. The #6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix “All Star Team” of Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Tom Kristensen dropped out of contention in the second hour after being assaulted by the Lapidus Racing McLaren and losing a dozen laps while the necessary repairs were undertaken. The trio responded magnificently to their predicament, however, by dragging the car back up to sixth place overall – fifth in class – by the close, having recovered four laps. Had it not been for the shunt, the Phoenix car would undoubtedly have been in the hunt for the win.

The Lapidus McLaren driver, Adam Christodoulou, was excluded from the race for his part in the incident, with the official ruling being; "The driver entered the pit lane in dangerous manners and caused a collision". So what were his thoughts on the exclusion? "There's not much I can say really," he told DSC. "I don't think I'm a dangerous driver, it was just a bad calculation on my behalf - it cost us the race and I just have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

The demise of the #2 WRT Audi was apparently self-inflicted, with Edward Sandström perhaps a little too eager to make up for lost time after a quick visit to the garage and a few more seconds lost owing to loose belts needing to be tightened – a too-tight exit from Eau Rouge led to a brief and violent encounter with the Raidillon tyre wall after 417 laps.

The #75 ProSpeed Porsche had featured briefly in the top six in the early hours of the race, but transmission issues dropped the car out of contention while suspension damage kept the #74 away from the front. The cars looked to have the pace, but on this occasion were too fragile and 13th and 20th positions are results to forget for the local team. 

The two Gulf Racing McLarens were making steady progress through the field and were both inside the top 20 as the race approached the halfway mark. Alas, the conditions caught out Mike Wainwright and Roald Goethe in separate accidents within an hour of each other and both shunted with race-ending consequences. “It’s obviously really disappointing for everyone, especially as we know how much hard work the Gulf Racing team put into preparing for and competing in the 24-hour event,” said Rob Bell.

“In spite of the result, I think we should take away some real positives from the weekend.  Our Gulf Racing McLaren GTs were running smoothly and completely problem free, and the engine was strong – it made it easy for me to overtake and cut through the field in the first couple of hours.  The conditions after that were awful but we all did stints and got through it, and I think we should be very encouraged by the cars’ performance at Spa.”

So it came down to a duel between the #1 and #16 Audis, and as the hours ticked away it became quite a tense one. Neither car looked like making a mistake and both stayed within a lap of each other as the race entered its final stages. With just over two hours remaining, however, it was clear that it was going to be a close call.

The advantage lay with the #16 R8 of Rene Rast, Andrea Piccini and Frank Stippler, but they were pitting about 15 minutes ahead of the #1 of Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies and Stephane Ortelli and would need to stop two more times. The #1, however, would only need a splash ‘n dash for its second stop and should there be a safety car the 65-minute rule (the maximum stint allowed between refuelling) would be extended to 70 minutes; and as the car had pitted with 67 minutes to go, this could be a significant development.

And there was a safety car, caused by the #72 Kessel Racing Ferrari hitting the tyres and flipping. Stippler headed straight for the pits for his final stop and managed to get out before the safety car came round – it looked like there would now be a straight fight for the lead. But Ortelli also headed for the pits for fuel and wasn’t so lucky; the WRT car getting caught in the queue at pit-out and having to sit and wait while the snake went by.

And that was the moment the #16 Audi won the race. Could the #1 have eked out its fuel to the end without the stop, or was a chase not a real possibility on the existing fuel load? We can only speculate.

But Audi was too busy celebrating another victory in 2012 to worry about such things; the marque becoming the first to take the Spa, Nürburgring and Le Mans 24 Hours titles in the same year. "Winning three 24-hour races within just 71 days is another milestone in the successful motorsport history of our company," said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

"The field at Spa was unique and enormously competitive. There were more than 20 vehicles in contention for victory. In the end, the combination of quality, reliability and speed for which Audi is known prevailed yet again.

“Everybody who was involved in achieving this historic treble can be proud - first and foremost of course our teams and drivers, but naturally all of our employees in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Biberach as well."

PRO-AM (Started 39 Classified 19 Not Classified 20)

For the Pro-Am class, it was very much a case of ‘last man standing’ to decide the winner as attrition tore through its ranks (with at least one of the 19 classified cars having retired). As in the Pro class the lead changes were numerous, but at least five cars led at some point.

The pole-sitting #88 Von Ryan Racing McLaren MP4-12C retained its strong third overall from the start until the first pitstop in the hands of Alvaro Parente. The car then dropped to fourth in class, but had fought its way back into second by the time of the first safety car period; at which point the leader was the #8 Haribo Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R. By the time the race went green again, the #88 had dropped to ninth in class, 16th overall, in the chaos.

Despite the ensuing 12 hours of safety car madness, the Von Ryan car emerged into the daylight in a solid third place and in the top ten overall. By this point seven of the nine McLarens that had started had bitten the dust, but the #88 was running strongly in the hands of Parente, Rob Barff, Roger Wills and Chris Goodwin. In the 22nd hour, however, a brake-pad change cost them a lap and dropped them to fifth. They recovered a place before the end, but were 25 seconds shy of what would have been a well deserved podium by the time the flag fell.

"To finish so well in such difficult conditions - and looking at the damage up and down the pitlane - is testament to the care all the drivers took over the 24 hours," said Rob Barff. "It's disappointing to miss the Pro-Am podium, but a top 10 place and fourth in class is something to be genuinely proud of. It's just a shame that Leon Price wasn't there to see it. Huge thanks to all the Von Ryan team and we look forward to the future with both Von Ryan and McLaren GT." 

The Haribo Porsche led the class for a couple of hours after inheriting the lead from the #88, but gradually lost ground as the safety car was constantly recalled through the night. But the #8 was another to emerge from the darkness still in one piece and worked its way up to second by the finish after sterling work from Hans Guido Riegel, Mike Stursberg, Christian Menzel and Uwe Alzen.

The #24 Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini LP600+ was another strong contender in the hands of Peter Kox, Marc Hayek, Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Jos Menten and led the class for three hours on Saturday evening before two separate wheel-related issues cost the car significant time in the pits. It fought its way back to sixth by the end, but had accumulated a 19-lap deficit on the class winner by this point.

“It was a perfect weekend for us," said Hans Reiter. "I was pretty surprised about the fact that we were able to keep up at such a high level. We were at the top after the first 6 hours which shows our fantastic pace. Neither the drivers nor the team made any mistakes and everybody deserves praise. We had two technical problems which is too bad. However, we will continue working in order to avoid things like that and to be able to win races."

The #34 Pro GT by Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R of Roland Berville, Henry Hassid, Anthony Beltoise and Nicolas Armindo was another car to lead the class – from Hours 9 to 12 – and it was in fact a class double at one point as the sister #32 car led the Cup class. Again, the car was still in the hunt as dawn broke and stayed in contention throughout the race; and by the end of the 22nd hour was challenging the #8 Porsche for second in class.

Disaster struck midway through the 23rd hour when Beltoise had a coming-together with the #89 GPR Racing Aston Martin. The car was able to get back to the pits, but the damage was enough to see the car drop to 13th in class by the flag.

The Porsche’s demise was enough to hand the final podium spot to the #10 Sofrev-ASP Ferrari 458 of Olivier Panis, Fabien Barthez, Eric Debard and Morgan Moulin Traffort. This was very much a ‘stealth’ effort from the French team, who were there or thereabouts for the entire race but without really appearing on DSC’s radar. Both the #10 and #20 sister car (last year’s Pro-Am winner) finished inside the top ten overall, making this one of the most impressive performances of the entire race. “Technically, we did not have any problems and no errors on the drivers’ side,” said Team principal Jérôme Policand. “The whole thing was almost perfect!”

As the race ended its 13th hour, it looked as though Amato Ferrari was already orchestrating a photo-finish, as three of his AF Corse Ferrari 458s filled the top three places in class, and in the order 50, 51, 52. This perfect picture was spoiled somewhat as the #50 began to fall back with technical problems in the second half of the race – eventually finishing 17th in class and 29th overall – but the #51 and #52 stayed healthy and were soon fully engaged in an internecine struggle for class honours.

The #51 458 of Giuseppe Cirò, Gaetano Ardagna Perez, Dan Brown and Toni Vilander had begun the race by having to serve a 30 second stop/go for a qualifying infringement and this had cost them a lap almost as soon as the race was underway. Over the course of the next few hours, however, they pulled back this deficit and led the race in the 14th hour. Thereafter, the car swapped places with the #52 of Niek Hommerson, Louis Machiels, Andrea Bertolini and Alessandro Pier Guidi at virtually each subsequent stop, as was the case with the Pro leaders.

In the 23rd hour, however, Dan Brown had a coming together with the #60 Von Ryan Racing McLaren of Julien Draper and incurred a damaged radiator that would lead to the car’s retirement soon afterwards; "I'm still gutted now...that type of opportunity doesn't come around very often!" was Dan Brown's reaction to the retirement the day after. "The win was almost guaranteed due to how the final pit stops would have taken place.

"I was driving cautiously and being careful when lapping cars, then the #60 McLaren blocked me for a whole lap even though I was faster, and he then spun on the exit of Rivage and blocked the circuit. I tried my best to avoid him but caught our front left corner on his car which broke the radiator. The team attempted to fix it but too much damage had been done.

"It was so annoying to have our race ended by a car that had no chance of getting a result."

For his part, Julien Draper saw things differently; "My car was a long way down, so I was aware that I was in a different race to most cars out there; but Dan made no attempt to get by me on that lap - he wasn't flashing his lights or anything - and it was just unfortunate that I then lost the backend. I found out later that the car had been dripping oil and it was probably this that caused the spin."

A racing incident, then, but one with significant consequences.

The #51’s demise took the pressure off the #52 Ferrari and the car came home to take the flag with a comfortable five lap-margin over the Haribo Porsche. For Louis Machiels, this was redemption after his bizarre exclusion from the 2011 race.

As has already been mentioned, the Pro-Am class was subject to a high degree of attrition over the 24 hours, with many cars crashing out. Five of the seven McLarens in the class failed to finish, with two cars – #5 Boutsen Ginion Racing and the now infamous #62 Lapidus Racing – taking each other out, which won’t have pleased the powers that be back in Woking; “The start was a gamble, but in no way an excessive risk, as I truly wanted to link up with the cars up front in order to be amongst the top-5 in the race," said Boutsen racer Nico Verdonck. "And we succeeded. Our car was brilliant and we were up in the race, entirely as planned. The team also perfectly anticipated the showers and the tyre changes were perfect. In all honesty this was a dream race. Everything ran as scheduled and during my second stint in the terrible rainstorm I was able to clock up my fastest lap. Without a doubt I was on my way to a place in the top three.

"Unfortunately it all went wrong just before midnight when a slower McLaren did not see me coming at La Source and I was rammed off the track; first place was gone, and gone were any hopes of a brilliant result. I’m truly disappointed, but the team’s good work, the car’s reliability and everyone involved in this project, have given me the strength to start the countdown to next season.”

The second Boutsen car had already crashed out at this point after Marlène Broggi aquaplaned off the track while following the safety car in the #15 and damaged the chassis. Thierry and his many guests thus had little option but to head for the bar with less than seven hours of the race having elapsed.

The #12 ART GP McLaren succumbed to the damage incurred during its pit fire, while the ASM car was forced to retire with clutch problems shortly after midnight. Both Von Ryan cars reached the flag, however, although the #60 of Julien Draper, Matt Draper, Stephen Jelley and Stef Dusseldorp had had such a torrid time that it was parked up before the end and only wheeled out again to take the flag. It was classified 30th overall.

Other notable casualties of the race included the British GT quartet comprised of the #21 MTECH Ferrari 458, the #90 Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS, the Beechdean Aston Martin V12 Vantage and the #35 RJN Nissan GT-R.

The Nissan was one of the race’s first retirements, lasting just 53 laps before expiring out on track with an untraceable electrical problem. Officially the car had lasted four and a quarter hours, but for two hours of that the GT-R has languished in the garage as the team tried desperately to solve the issue; “We pulled the car into the garage to have a good look for the problem,” explained team boss, Bob Neville. “We couldn’t trace the fault at first but eventually got the car going again.  Chris (Ward) went out and did two installation laps, which were competitive so we thought we were going again. Unfortunately he then stopped at Raidillon and in the torrential rain there is little he could have done to try to get moving. The mechanics all went up to try to help him in some way but ultimately it was game over.  It’s a real shame as we could have had a great result here."

Prior to the problem arising, the car had gone very well in the hands of its usual pilots Alex Buncombe and Jann Mardenborough, with both drivers impressing. Unfortunately, the retirement left Lucas Ordoñez a mere spectator and with a long wait before his flight back home on Monday morning; “That’s motor racing!” he sighed on Sunday morning.

The Preci-Spark Mercedes had also shown great promise in the hands of Bernd Schneider, who had the car up to eighth in the opening hour. However, it was a blown tyre that led to the car’s retirement during the fourth hour.

The MTECH Ferrari – a brand new car for the race – had struggled to find its pace in qualifying, but quickly settled down during the race and looked to be getting ever stronger in the hands of Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron, Mike Edmonds and Niki Cadei. By the race’s midpoint the 458 was up to 14th overall and seventh in class and things were looking good. Unfortunately, Cameron had a high speed off at Raidillon during the 14th hour and although he escaped uninjured the same couldn’t be said for his car.

“It is disappointing not to have finished our first Spa 24 Hours as a team particularly as we were on course I think to secure our pre-race aim of a top ten finish,” said Team Owner Edmonds.

“Most of all though, I’m relieved that Duncan Cameron is okay after the shunt. The Raidillon Corner is scary enough in the daylight let alone at night. It really is one of those places where you hope you’ll never have an accident.

“I would though like to thank my teammates and everyone at MTECH for their efforts both this week and during the race. We brought a new car to Spa and generally speaking it has run very well. That is down to first class teamwork and preparation. The race then threw up some of the worst wet weather driving conditions I’ve ever experienced and on one of the most daunting tracks in the world too. Duncan was unlucky to drop the car where he did. Prior to that his driving and that of Matt Griffin and Niki Cadei was quite remarkable.

“We’re bruised not having finished but we’ll be back to put that right next year."

The Beechdean Aston – running in conjunction with Aston Martin Racing – had a mixed race, but was heading for a finish when a wheel parted company early into the 19th hour while the car was in the hands of AMR MD John Gaw. A battery issue had previously caused Phil Dryburgh to come to a halt at the pit entrance – necessitating a safety car intervention – which had cost a good half-hour. Nevertheless, the car had run well in between these issues and was unlucky to go out in the manner it did. Gaw at least had the satisfaction (whilst wearing his MD hat) of seeing the #89 GPR Racing V12 Vantage complete the race in 16th position to record the first 24 hour-finish for the new car.

United Autosports recent run of appalling luck continued in Belgium. Having replaced its two-car McLaren entry with a solitary Audi R8 LMS ultra for Mark Blundell, Mark Patterson, Alain Li and Richard Meins soon before the event, the team struggled with electrical issues in qualifying (possibly due to a data-logging issue that was common to all the Audis) and then on race day found Blundell to be unwell for the first time in his long racing career. Despite this, the English veteran started the race before handing the car over to his colleagues, who were then forced to shoulder the burden while he went back to his hotel to try and recover.

The trio of gentlemen drivers handled the situation well and the car was running perfectly, and they were gradually starting to rise up the standings. However, Meins was hit twice from behind around midnight and punted into the La Source wall, with the car suffering severe rear-end damage as a result. A heroic effort from the UA mechanics saw the car rebuilt and back out on track after a lengthy delay, but their hard work was to go unrewarded. Just before 4am Meins came upon a spinning McLaren at La Source and had to take avoiding action; and in doing so hit the La Source wall (again) at high speed, ending the race.

“Despite the challenges we have had a great car," said Richard Dean, Team Owner and Managing Director. "it has not let us down at all which is what we expected from the Audi. The car is rock solid right up to the point where you hit a brick wall, and there is not a lot you can do at that point. We’ve had 12 hours where it has not missed a beat so I take some satisfaction from that. The team did a brilliant job as always. The pit stops were great, and everyone has worked well together. The Audi support we have received this weekend has been exceptional. We have had some extremely changeable conditions on track coupled with a huge grid and a few people making mistakes. There has been a higher attrition rate at this stage of a 24-Hour race than I can remember. It’s disappointing for the team, but equally the unpredictability is what keeps us all racing.”

But it wasn’t doom and gloom for all the British entrants, with the GT3 Racing Audi R8 LMS of Craig Wilkins, Aaron Scott, Peter Belshaw and Phil Keen recording an excellent 14th place overall at the finish, ninth in class. They were also the top customer Audi home – not bad considering that this was only their fourth ever race with the car and that they had intended to contest a Viper in the BES.

"To finish 14th overall and be the first customer Audi team home in what I'm sure everyone will agree was a bloody tough event is testament to the team and drivers," said a proud Team Manager Jim Hersey. "It was only our fourth running of the car and our first 24 hour event with it. I sat Craig down prior to the start and asked him what he wanted to achieve, "a finish" was the answer. You only had to look at the teams on the entry list to know you would have been fooling yourself for anything more for a small team from Birmingham!

"It's easy to lose sight of the initial goal when all of a sudden you're in the top 20 with five hours to go and start thinking "wow, we could get this or that position", but we stuck to our plan in the hope that others would come unstuck and that proved to be the case.

"The support from Audi was unbelievable and to be recognised by them on their official press release on where we came and to get invited to the celebration party after the event was the icing on the cake for all of us!

"On a final note, the UK Met Office really needs to hire their weather guy - he was only ever five minutes out on his predictions which we were receiving via text message throughout the race!"

GTR (Started 8 Classified 5 Not Classified 3)

The Gentleman Trophy perhaps didn’t receive the attention it deserved in a race with such a large entry and with so much going on, but it turns out to have been as hotly contested as the top two classes.

The #73 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia of Paolo Andreasi, Pablo Paladino, Beniamino Caccia and Giacomo Piccini took a commanding class pole and immediately converted that into a healthy lead over the #82 Bull Fight Racing Dodge Viper of Gilles Vannelet, Christophe Decultot, Gael Lesoudier and Pierre Fontaine. Indeed, the opening couple of hours saw the class get quite widely spread.

However, as we got deeper into safety car territory and into the hours of darkness, the class suddenly began to close up, with the #81 ALFAB Racing Audi R8 of Erik Behrens, Daniel Ros, Magnus Ohman and Patrik Skoog, and the #25 First Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S of Steve van Bellingen, Bert Redoint, Armand Flumal and Johan Vanloo coming into contention; the Porsche in fact leading during hours five and six. The Kessel Ferrari regained the  lead in the seventh hour, but just before the end of the hour lost a wheel at the pit entrance and was forced into retirement.

The Viper then took over at the head of the class and stayed there until almost the midway point, but lost the lead to the First Porsche. The #25 then spent the rest of the race pulling out a lead – at first only by a small margin, but by more and more laps as the other cars hit trouble. By the time the Porsche took the flag it was 13 laps clear of the second placed car.

This was still the Viper, although it was only two laps clear of the #41 Sainteloc Racing Audi of Philippe Marie, Robert Hissom, Pierre Hirschi and Jerome Demay, which had run strongly and come back into contention after losing several laps early in the race.

The VDS Racing Adventures Mustang ended the race being pushed across the line by its driver, but it was too far behind to be classified. 

CUP (Started 5 Classified 1 Not Classified 4)

How does the old saying go? “To finish first, first you have to finish.” And never was this better illustrated by the Cup class, which saw a solitary Porsche – the #94 SpeedLover 997 GT3 CUP of Kevin Balthazard, Christophe Bigourie, Rik Renmans and Raf Vleugels – which outlasted its closest class competitor by a full 12 hours.

The other four Porsches all retired early through various means – Philippe Salini exiting the race in particular violent fashion in the fourth hour in the #86 RMS car, fortunately without serious injury – and that was pretty much it for the class.

So was the 2012 Spa 24 a good race? Yes. A great race? No. The weather and the numerous safety cars just made it too fragmented for it to be that. However, it was clear that there were many potential winners and luck – both good and bad – was a key factor in determining the overall winner.

Let’s just hope that the 2013 edition – the 65th – is drier and perhaps a little less crash-strewn.

MH