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FIA GT – TOTAL Spa 24 Hours – Hours 7, 8 & 9 22.18 and the Safety Car is still out. Enge is OK – but the tyre wall needs attention. 22.22 and they go racing again. Sharp leads for JetAlliance, 60 seconds ahead of Deletraz in #5, who is 12 ahead of the #11 Playteam Maserati (Bertolini – catching fast, a 2:17.9), then Gavin, back on the lead lap, and less than a minute off the lead. The BMS Scuderia Italia team have played a very smart tactical card, aided no doubt in no small part by Norbert Singer, to grab the maximum available points at the quarter distance mark. The team brought the #97 car in from the lead in the class with 20 minutes to the 6 hour mark. No doubt keeping an eye on the leading Porsche’s pit routine AF Corse immediately pitted the #51 car for a full routine stop. What they hadn’t realised though was that the BMS squad opted for a splash and dash to retain the advantage, sold the dummy beautifully and not only led at the quarter distance mark but also profited from the Safety Car period to make their full routine stop under yellow. Inspired tactics from the Grand Master. Ryan Sharp seems to be in trouble in the #33 JetAlliance Aston, reports are that he has spun into the barrier, or simply just stopped, and he plummets down the order from the lead. Andrea Bertolini hits the front of the race in the #11 Playteam Sarafree MC12, #11 is still pulling away from Jean-Denis Deletraz in the #5 Corvette with Oliver Gavin now closing in on Deletraz in the #3 Corvette, these three all still on the lead lap, Gavin now 41 seconds off the lead. The Tech 9 team has had a narrow escape, Sascha Maassen pitting out of sequence with smoke coming from the left front of the car, it seems a faulty oil tank cap. In GT2 Malucelli is beginning to pull away a little from the pursuing Ortelli. The gap is around a minute in what has been an excellent race long battle thus far. The GT2 order is now #97, #51, #76, #74, #52, #99. Sharp continues to tumble down the order, the car still apparently off the circuit and stationary – and as I type this the circuit commentary confirms that the #33 car has retired. Perhaps worth a mention that Pirelli runners currently lead both GT1 and GT2. Gavin makes a routine stop, the #3 car drops back to 6th position with Beretta now back at the wheel, the Monagesque immediately reclaims fifth place from Frederic Bouvy. With the retirement of the JetAlliance DBR9 the top six is now a Maserati and Corvette only zone, the #23 BMS Scuderia Italia car is now the only remaining Aston Martin. Deletraz pits to hand the #5 car to Fassler and the battle of the C6.Rs resumes immediately with Fassler fending off Beretta for fourth place with the three Maseratis ahead (#11, #2, #1) all due to pit soon. Karl Wendlinger reports to Joost Custers that the team believe that the problem for the #33 was caused by an electronic issue with the fuel system – Either way the team will be heading for an early (ish!) night. Deletraz was unhappy with the trres on the #5 Corvette, suggesting that he needed soft rubber, “but Michelin only has the medium hard rubber. The Corvette likes soft rubber.” The three MC12s pit at about 23.30, and Fassler leads. Pier Guidi slips into second, Beretta third, then the two Vitaphones. These five are separated by less than two minutes. 23.38 and Alessi in #23 is in the gravel – Aston Martin’s race, while better than Lamborghini’s, gets worse. The Peka problem before the six hour mark was a brake pipe that was damaged by rubber debris in the wheelarch. “You see, I told you – we should be called Drama Racing,” says Bert Longin. “We looked like scoring five points at six hours….” All the Maseratis and Corvettes are still racing. One Aston Martin left racing (#23). Both Lamborghinis have had really bad delays (listed 30th and 40th at the moment). #28, in 30th, is still going, 30 laps off the lead. We think #7 has been retired. Drama Racing at Trackspeed for a while – as the #118 comes in with front brakes worn down to the metal. A piston seized, wearing out 24 hour pads in “under five”. Michele Quaife, sister of Phil, daughter of Mike, girlfriend of Phil Keen, was cleaning up calipers.. as was her brother. “She’s a good old girl, isn’t she?” suggested her brother. Here they are, brother and sister - both a blur of activity.
Marcel Fassler is storming along in the lead, every lap under 2:20. Tomas Enge is fine, we understand, after his accident in the Ferrari – which demolished the car, we believe. 23.50 and Alessi gets #23 back to the pits. Andrea
Bertolini: “Everything is really ok in the car. We do not take risks as it is so
easy to make a mistake. But the team has a really good strategy." Phillipe Roussaud (Porsche #106): "We've got the smallest car in the race, a 996 GT3 Cup that already raced here in 2005 when the team finished 2nd in class. We have our rhythm and count on the reliability of the little Porsche to beat the Moslers. We almost can't believe that we already lead the class after 5 hours of racing."
The team is
a VdeV regular and sometimes races in FFSA-GT. By eight hours, they’d dropped to
second, three laps behind the #103 Mosler. In the
gripping Coupe du Roi, Jan Charouz is currently second, behind the Peter
Kutemann Ferrari. Fassler
begins a round of stops before 00.30, and leads again once the Maseratis have
pitted. Fassler is still blasting round in 2:18s. Then a 2:17.7, “like a
carnivorous animal sniffing out weaknesses in its
foes”. Babini is
making progress through the leading GT2s, the surviving Aston Martin 10 laps
down after Alessi’s error. Fassler
sets a 2:21 – which is slower than Menten, in 28th place in #28
Lamborghini, lapping in 2:20. We’ve got a
pattern now – Corvette, three Maseratis, three Corvettes. Longin now leads these
three ‘Vettes, ahead of Beretta – but #4 will owe us a pit stop
soon. GT2 is
Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Porsche,
Ferrari. Fassler
(our man of the race so far), a 2:17.636. Somewhere in this hour he has lapped
Bobbi and van de Poele. Enge: “I want to say sorry
to the team for going off tonight and ending the race for car 62. I made a
mistake at the top of Eau Rouge and couldn’t keep hold of the car. Tim (Mullen)
did a fantastic job at the start of the race and got us right up into
contention. I wanted to continue the good job he started. The crew worked very
hard this morning to repair the car after warm up so I am sorry we couldn’t get
a good result for them.” Tim Sugden: “That was a pretty
uneventful run for me. I had no choice but to drive across the debris from
Tomas’ accident when I first went out so I was a bit concerned that I had picked
up a puncture. The tyres were all okay while we were under the safety car but as
soon as we started racing again I could feel there was something wrong so I
pitted for new rubber.” Approaching
01.00, the surviving Ecosse Ferrari is eighth in class, a minute behind the JWA
Porsche. Sean
Edwards sets Tech 9’s best lap of the race so far, a 2:24.498, #99 lying sixth
in class. Marc Lieb
pits from the lead of GT2, with two minutes plus over the AF Corse
Ferrari.
Ferrari leads
Porsche in G3 Third is the ProSpeed Porsche, complete with Dailysportscar stickers that have given a modelmaker a right old headache! He had all his photos 'in the can', and then the dsc logo appeared... Still fighting back after early delays, the Trackspeed Porsche is currently eighth in class. One of the big dissapointments in G3 is the performance of the Dodge Competition Vipers, both well out of it early on. |
