The Belgian night has given way to a new dawn in the Ardennes in which the 24 Hours of Spa maintains its protagonists. The BMW #98 continues to lead the test after dominating the peloton’s passage through the turning points that mark the first six hours of the race and its halfway point. Of course, the Mercedes #88 in which Dani Juncadella competes is a shadow of the GT3 of the Munich firm. The #47 Porsche closes the podium after moving like no one else between the incidents, which has allowed it to climb more than 60 positions.
Halfway through the race and with the points awarded, the leading GT3s faced a new turn of stops in which the BMW #98 came out ahead of the Mercedes #88 and the BMW #50. The #71 Ferrari gave up some ground after making its technical stop, although other teams also took advantage of this point in the race to change brakes. The race elapsed once again in the alternation of stops between the leadersa feeling that was increased by the technical stops.
Nevertheless, the leading group did not lose any member when the first fourteen hours of the race were completed. The Ferrari #71 after bringing forward its technical stop and taking advantage of a new period of ‘FCY’ occupied the lead at this point, followed by the Porsche #47 and the BMW #98 and their ‘group’, which also included the Mercedes #88 and the BMW #50. Tall with a different rhythm of stops, after going through different incidents like Isaac Tutumlu’s little run off the track with the #27 Lamborghini, but running head-on into the WRT drama.
In a matter of seconds, the #32 and #46 Audis lost any chance of rejoining the leading group. Charles Weerts suffered an accident with the #32the GT3 of the champions for hosting in its lineup the current winners of the GTWC Europe and the Sprint Cup. the Audi #46 also appeared with damage to the front, in this case with Nico Müller at its controls. The ‘FCY’ period and the presence of the subsequent Safety Car allowed for the last technical stops and they took the #47 Porsche to the first position.
A leadership of the Porsche #47 with Nick Tandy at the wheel that was not a trivial mattersince this GT3 started the race at the bottom of the grid and to reach the leadership it has managed to gain 64 positions. An impressive comeback based on the periods of ‘FCY’ that did not allow the race to take flight, since the eleventh came due to the stop on the track of the Mercedes #4in a sad ending for a GT3 that even led the race and the Silver Cup in its moment of glory.
In this game of fitting pit stops as far as possible into the ‘FCY’ periods, ROWE Racing and Akkodis-ASP failed to stop #98 and #88 when one of these neutralizations was finished. Both GT3 lost a bit of ground, more so the #98 BWM losing position with the #88 Mercedes. Nick Yelloly reversed the situation on the track in a brilliant stintperhaps the strongest of the race. The BMW driver overtook the #88 Mercedes to alternate in the lead with the #47 Porsche depending on the stop shift.
With everything, Nick Yelloly’s pacing at this point was outstanding and the #98 BMW hunted down the #74 Porsche, the first of the vehicles with a changed stopping order. Yelloly overtook him to place third, a key move in the development of the following minutes of the race. And it is that the exit of the track of the BMW #34 gave rise to another period of ‘FCY’ that this time they did manage to take advantage of both #98 and #88. In fact, With the stop already completed, the two great protagonists of the race returned to the track in first and second position.
With this movement, the 18 hour barrier was reached with the leaders together, but with the stops ‘adjusted’ for the first time since the middle of the race. Circumstance that allows the #98 BMW to lead the race hand in hand with Nicky Catsburg with 2.3 seconds ahead of the #88 Mercedes, in the hands of Dani Juncadella. The #47 Porsche is in third position with Dennis Olsen 5.9 seconds off the lead. The ‘top 5’ are completed by the Mercedes #55 and the BMW #50although not far away is Miguel Molina’s #51 Ferrari.
It could be said, although here the stops are already out of adjustment, that the leading group is closed by the JOTA’s #38 McLaren and GetSpeed’s #2 Mercedes, with the permission of the #95 Aston Martin and the #71 Ferrari, closer to losing a lap than actually joining the leading pack. Beyond this, the #99 Audi is the new leader in the Silver Cup, while the Iron Dames Ferrari remains at the forefront of the Gold Cup. Finally, it should be noted that the McLaren #188 is in command of the Pro-Am Cup.
Photos: GT World Challenge Europe