Total 24 Hours of Spa - Hours 12-13

03:07
Rast pits from the lead. Andrea Piccini takes over.

03:08
Safety bloody car #10!!

03:09
Possibly due to the #9 Gulf McLaren, which is reported stopped at T17.

03:17
"Team manager and driver Wainwright car 9 to race control immediately"

03:20
Green

03:23
Matt Griffin pits the MTECH Ferrari from 14th. Niki Cadei takes over.

03:44
The #9 Gulf Racing McLaren is a confirmed retirement following accident damage. The reason for Michael Wainwright's summoning to race control was his failure to extinguish the headlamps after his car came to rest facing traffic.

03:49
From the pitlane:

Albert von Thurn und Taxis, #24 Reiter Lambo: "The car is going very well. Unfortunately we had a problem with a wheel nut earlier - it didn't come off immediately, so we know it wasn't fitted wrong; Peter noticed a vibration after a couple of laps and by the time he got back to the pits it had damaged the bearing. Changing that cost us four laps and dropped us to 25th - we're now 16th.

"We're P10 in the category, but just a lap away from the next four cars and two laps away from the next three; so now it's a case of pushing on and clawing back places."

03:52
Safety car #11 - debris at T1. "Drivers coming out of F1 pitlane must go around accident and reenter pitlane." No word yet on who is involved.

03:58
Green

04:00
From the pitlane:

Matt Griffin, #21 MTECH Ferrari 458: "That was a good stint - I double stinted and we also managed to double stint the tyres; that's especially pleasing as I was still able to consistently lap in the 2:24s at the end of the second stint. We seem to be getting there now and the car is getting stronger and stronger - the more rubber that goes down the better.

"We lost out on the first couple of safety cars as we pitted just before each of them, while most other people pitted under caution - that cost us a lap each time.

"There's a dry line, but it's damp offline. It's also foggy - and the fog's moving around - and in places you can't see the apex. It's okay for the pro drivers as we know the track so well, but those gentleman drivers that don't know it so well can easily get caught out and that's why we've had so many crashes. You have to keep the heat in the tyres and I'm feeling a bit nauseous now after weaving so much behind the safety car.

"Niki and I are double stinting through the night and we'll see how it's going in the morning."

04:00
The latest caution period ends as the first half of the race comes to a close. 12 hours to go!

04:03
The #23 United Autosports Audi has been forced to retire after 12 hours.

04:06
The #23 was apparently the car that crashed at pit exit causing the latest caution period.

04:09
The #29 Roal BMW has spun and stopped at T12, while the #47 ASM McLaren has found the gravel somewhere.

04:13
"Another one bites the dust" is being played somewhere on the roof....

04:13
SAFETY CAR!!!!!

04:19
There appears to be a concerted attempt underway to go for the shortest distance completed record!

04:20
5 safety cars in the first 8 hours when it rained - then 7 in the next 4,5 hours without rain! PLEASE BRING BACK THE RAIN!!!!

04:26
Maxime Martin pits and Markus Palttala finally gets aboard. One of his first duties - once the race goes green again - will be to serve his 30s stop/go penalty.

04:26
Safety car in at end of lap.

04:29
Green flag! Just waiting for the safety car to come out at the end of this lap...

04:31
Fi Miller confirms that the #69 Gulf Racing McLaren is also a retirement with crash damage. Roald Goethe - like Michael Wainwright - was caught out by the wet astroturf and span into the barriers.

04:31
Contact between MTECH #21 and Sainteloc Racing #41 at turn 12 - but continued.

04:32
We think that there are now 21 retirements.

04:34
The #41 Audi has pitted but the #21 Ferrari has stayed out.

04:37
Palttala serves his penalty and the #3 BMW drops to fifth. Piccini leads from Kechele, Haase and den Boer.

04:47
Yellow flag....

04:47
Green again....

04:48
Contact between #52 Ferrari and #34 Porsche at turn 9 - both have rejoined. No safety car needed.