RACE CENTRE SPA 24 HOURS
Winkelhock, taking over from Vervisch,
claimed fourth in Sainteloc AudiSROAUDIThe team has been running in the class
for crews made up of silver-rated drivers
so far this season and, remarkably, only
did half a day of running with its superstar
crew at the official Spa test days early in
July. It had to leave early to take the car to
the Algarve circuit in Portugal to compete
in a round of the Creventic 24H Series.
“The first couple of pitstops were a bit
shaky, but the team just needed to get
going,” explained Christensen. “Everythingagain after just one lap, and this time there
were only 5s and two cars separating the
Porsches. But with only four and a bit
minutes left on the clock – enough for two
laps – time had run out for Tandy, who
followed Estre across the line 3.3s in arrears.
“When the penultimate full-course yellow
came out, and then the safety car, and I saw
the line of traffic, I knew we were done,”
said Tandy. “Most of them were pro cars,
and there were 10 in the queue, so at this
point the race was over. It ended the race.”
Rowe had arguably lost the race hours
before during the night. The car was at the
sharp end of the pack through a topsy-turvy
period of multiple yellows, but crucially it
made its so-called technical pitstop under
green-flag conditions. The GPX car, on
the other hand, completed this procedure
(designed to allow the teams to change
brakes in a controlled and non-competitive
environment) while the cars were trailing
around at 80km/h with yellows on display.
The rules do not allow a car to begin its
technical pitstop under yellows, but if it
happens to be in the pits when they are
thrown, then all well and good. Estrepre-empted a call from race control when he
saw an accident at Blanchimont late in the
10th hour and ducked straight into the pits.
It was an inspired move by a team that
barely put a foot wrong all race. There were
a couple of slow pitstops early doors, one
that included an infringement resulting in a
drivethrough penalty. It was a performance
that belied lack of experience at this level
of the Dubai entrant with a European base
at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.was there to do the job. Together with
Porsche the team brought in a new engineer
and a data engineer and I have to say the
whole team did everything right.”
Mercedes ended up third, a further 15s
behind, with the factory Black Falcon entry
shared by Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and
Luca Stolz. They had looked like potential
winners right up to the race stoppage –
and had been 40s to the good around
midnight – and immediately afterwards.
Their problem was that the front-engined
Mercedes-AMG GT3 wasn’t a match for
the Porsche on a damp track.
“I think in the wet we were a little bit
better,” said Engel, “but in mixed conditions
on a damp track they were quicker. I’m not
sure we had the car to win at the end, but
I’m still very proud of what we did because
the weather made it such a tough race.”
Merc’s challenge for a first Spa victory
since 2013 rested with the lead Black Falcon
car and the factory GruppeM entry in the
Intercontinental GT Challenge driven by
Maxi Buhk, Maximilian Gotz and Lucas
Auer. It was in the mix for the first half
of the race before a botched driver change
between long-time team-mates Buhk and
Gotz lost the car a lap. It would never“I’m very proud
of what we did
because the
weather made it
such a tough race”