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Total 24 Hours of
Spa - Hour 1
15:09
And we're LIVE
from Spa-Francorchamps for the 65th Total 24 Hours of Spa. The pit exit is open
and cars can now get to the grid - or do some extra installation
laps.
We're expecting intermittent
showers until around seven o'clock. After that some reports say more rain, other
say dry until late at night.
15:31
Packed grid -
cars, drivers, pit crews, VIPs and media all there.
15:42
Officially it's a
wet track - but the sun is out now.
15:49
Cloudy...but no
rain.
15:50
The grid is being
cleared now - 10 minutes before the start of the race.
15:54
Kechele and Martin
are ready to fire up their engines and lead the entire field onto the formation
lap.
15:56
Formation lap
underway - we're hearing of some sort of damage inflicted to the Gulf Racing
McLaren #69 on the grid. More on that later!
15:59
Safety car and
lead cars at the Bus Stop.
16:00
Green!!!
16:00
Four wheels off
the track for Martin - as he takes the lead from Kechele at the top of Eau
Rouge.
16:04
One of the cars
into the pit - the Ferrari of Toni Vilander it seems to be.
16:05
Has rejoined at
the back of the grid - not the best way to start a 24 hour race.
16:07
Quiet start for
the #1 WRT Audi - Mies down to sixth after two laps from a start position of
third.
16:07
Jelley and Tappy
both into the pit for their penalties.
16:10
Frank Kechele 1
second behind Maxime Martin at the moment. Alvaro Parente another five seconds
further behind in third. Maxime Soulet overtakes Christopher Mies for
seventh.
16:11
Incident involving
car #70 (Race Art BMW) - no further action.
16:11
Christodoulou gets
eighth from Mies with a brave move in the Lapidus Racing McLaren.
16:13
Stephane Lemeret
is another to lose ground in the early stages - down to 14th from fifth after
five laps in the DB Motorsport BMW.
16:16
Nico Verdonck
looks to be on terms with the #88 Von Ryan McLaren of Alvaro Parente and is
closing on third in the #5 Boutsen-Ginion Racing McLaren, but only at the rate
of a few hundredths per lap.
16:17
Bernd Schneider is
going well in 11th in the Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS after its overnight
rebuild.
16:20
Martin is unable
to pull out a gap on Kechele - although the two leaders have pulled out eight
seconds on third - and the they remain separated by just over a
second.
16:23
Uwe Alzen in the
Haribo Porsche is now right with Peter Kox's Reiter Lamborghini in their fight
for fifth.
16:23
"All cars must
have their lights on - track is wet"
16:25
Update on the #69
McLaren startgrid damage: Jamie Campbell-Walter stopped on the grid, opened the
gullwing door of his McLaren and that was then hit by the Preci-Spark Mercedes.
Fortunately the team had enough time to repair it before the grid was
cleared.
16:25
Alzen gets the
place at Les Combes. Maxime Soulet tries to follow through in the #74 ProSpeed
Porsche but Kox closes the door.
16:26
Slow Black Falcon
Mercedes #18 on track - Bleekemolen passed by several other cars.
16:27
Bonnet on the #21
MTECH Ferrari loose
16:29
-
Left rear damage on the #83 Porsche - shredded wheel arch and bodywork.
- #18
pushed back into the box by the Black Falcon team
16:30
Rob Bell is making
steady progress in the #9 Gulf Racing McLaren - up to 34th from 51st after 11
laps.
16:32
Jeroen
Bleekemolen: "Car is stuck in second gear, the problem we had all weekend
returned after half an hour of racing. Sure we will be back, but a podium finish
is impossible now."
16:32
Schneider up into
the top ten at the expense of Mies' Audi.
16:34
Soulet has found a
way past Kox and now Christodoulou is threatening the LP600+.
16:36
Gap between Martin
and Kechele still only 1.5 seconds after 15 laps of racing here.
16:36
Rob Bell - after
several laps in the 2:26/2:27 range - has suddenly posted the fastest S1 time of
the race so far.
16:39
Van Lagen has spun
the Race Art BMW #70 - but has rejoined.
16:39
Traffic is now
working against the Marc VDS BMW leader, with Kechele closing to within a second
for the first time.
16:41
The car holding up
Martin is the Toni Vilander AF Corse Ferrari - exactly a lap down after his
earlier stop - which is itself lapping slower cars. Marc VDS are not
amused.
16:43
The #14 KRK SLS of
Koen Wauters is knocked into the gravel by the #37 DB Motorsport BMW of Jochen
Habets, which suffers a puncture as a result. The Merc is recovered without much
delay - no more than two minutes.
16:44
Martin has found a
way past Vilander and has the lead back up to 1.6s.
16:46
Koen Wauters
returns to the pit after being pulled from the gravel trap.
16:46
Mark Blundell in
the #23 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra has just taken 41st position from
the older GT3 Racing Audi of Aaron Scott.
16:49
Rob Bell moves up
to 28th with a lap that includes another fastest first sector time.
16:53
Frank Kechele pits
after just 52 minutes - isn't that a bit early?
16:53
MTECH makes an
early stop - Griffin gets out and Duncan Cameron gets in; and presumably the
front bonnet gets some attention.
16:55
It
transpires that the two McLarens that had to serve a stop/go in the opening laps
had had to be stationary for two minutes and lost a lap as a result.
16:58
The KRK SLS has
been in the pits for some time now and losing laps. Wauters looked to have
handling difficulties after the earlier collision and may have suffered more
damage than was immediately apparent.
16:58
#6
Audi pits with damage - André Lotterer reporting someone 'got into
him'.
17:00
That 'someone' was
the #62 Lapidus Racing McLaren of Adam Christodoulou, making a late entry into
the pit and clipping the nose of the Audi. McLaren hit the wall - but continued
(into the pit).
17:00
One hour
completed.
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