LM GTE @ 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2021
Neel Jani and Kévin Estre have been dominating the GTE-Pro class in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 throughout the whole weekend.
After 30 minutes, Kevin Estre increased his lead to 10”. The race was nevertheless not an easy walk as they had to make an early stop for a right rear tire issue, which also affected the sister car #91. That stop would result in the car having to make an additional pitstop. Luckily an FCY enabled them to keep the lead and keep pace with the Ferrari as for the remaining pitstops, while still having to save fuel and monitor tire wear.
Estre claimed pole position in GTE Pro by more than a second and also set a new lap record in the race. With class win and pole position they clinch the maximum 26 points for the championship.
Pier Guidi and James Calado with their Ferrari #51 ended second 35 sec. after Porsche #92 over a minute ahead of their teammates Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra (Ferrari 488 Evo #52), who were hit by two penalties for over-speeding during a Full Course Yellow. After 3 laps, Alessandro Pier Guidi had already passed Lietz (Porsche #91) and sister car #52 (Miguel Molina). The Maranello cars consistently occupied the podium positions, even moving into the lead at the three-hour mark, taking advantage of Porsche's early stop.
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R #63 finished fourth. Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia were never able to challenge the top 3. This was Oliver Gavin’s last professional race after more than 20 years on board of 4 generations of Corvette (from C5.R to C8.R), winning 5 times GT class of the 24 hours of Le Mans, 5 times the 12 hours of Sebring, the 24 hours of Daytona in 2016 and 4 GT ALMS titles.
The Porsche 911 RSR #91, which was driven by Gimmi Bruni and Richard Lietz, lost time after suffering an impact from #7 Toyota, incurring a puncture. The team was also penalized with a track limits drive-through penalty. They finished fifth, 17.010 seconds behind the Corvette.
After a tight first couple of hours between the leading Am crews, reigning champions François Perrodo and Nicklas Nielsen, joined by Alessio Rovera took the lead and increased their margin over their pursuers until Nielsen crossed the finish line in first with his #83 AFCorse Official Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. An extraordinary performance repeating last year's triumph at 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps LMGTE AM class.
TF Sport kicked off their WEC campaign with a second place GTE Am class finish for the #33 Vantage, at the hands of Keating/Pereira/Fraga, last weekend at Spa. D'station Racing’s #777 scored 7th in their WEC debut, with Hoshino/Watson/Fujii.
A nice way to end the week after a catastrophic debut, as both cars were destroyed in the Raidillon Monday, the first day of the prologue. The team could rebuild the #777 Vantage but had to use the TF’s European Le Mans Series GTE chassis to make the necessary adjustments and switch it to the #33 to WEC eligibility.
Keating claimed pole position during qualifications.
