LM GTE @ 6 Hours of Spa 2019

Second edition of the 6 Hours of Spa as the famous Belgian race track opened the Super Season in May 2018. The race is the final rehearsal before the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the perfect event to make final preparations for Le Mans as the rollercoaster-like Spa circuit is an uncompromising test of man and machine. Spa-Francorchamps exceeded its reputation of generating tough races for the seventh of the Super Season. It was even a chaotic race with alternate weather conditions dry, rain, snow, sleet, hail… the four seasons during the 6 hours!

The start was delayed due to the cold until the track temperature reached the requested minimum of 5°.

Lap 1: Priaulx with Ford #67 kept the lead in front of Martin with Aston Martin #97 and the two BMW #81 and 82.

Eight minutes later (lap 3) a storm blew in and before long the snow was falling again. Sam Grid took the lead with Ferrari 4888 GTE #71, in front of Felix Da Costa (BMW #82) followed by Estre (Porsche #92) who had passed Priaulx (Ford #67 and Martin Aston #97).

2 hours after the start, sun and wind dried the track so that every one had to pit again for slick tires. And that is pretty much how the race went on, as weather conditions cycled between clear and sunny to wet and windy and virtually every form of water fell from the skies.

📷  Luc Warnotte @ Spa May 2019.

A well-chosen strategy made the difference as it was a gamble on the tyre choice because the track was drying so fast, and rain or snow were falling so suddenly. The Aston Martin Vantage GTE #97’s Maxime Martin and Alexander Lynn tandem was also lucky that the race stopped with 15 minutes to go as the leading Belgian would have had to pit one more time before the chequered flag. They eventually won the penultimate race of the SuperSeason, after qualifying second. They are thereby signing the second Aston Martin Racing victory of the season and first win with Aston Martin for Maxime Martin.

The LMGTE Championship third-placed Ferrari #51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado ended the race in P2, less than a second behind the Aston #97 winners. It was one of the craziest races ever, with snow and continuous weather changes. In these conditions, the Balance of Performance (BOP) had less of an effect than usual and the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE was very competitive, after qualifying 9th under dry conditions.

The GT FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship leaders Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen of Porsche GT Team ended third after a great battle on track between Porsche #92, sister #91, Ferrari #51, Aston #97, Ford #67 and BMW #82. They finished with a narrow gap of 2.915 sec. behind their Ferrari rivals in the Championship, losing only 3 points.

Despite qualifying 3rd, #82 BMW Team MTEK BMW M8 GTE driven by Farfus and Felix da Costa, ended fourth, only 4.313 sec. from the podium.

The #67 Ford GT crew of Priaulx and Tincknell had more success this year with a P5 contrary to last year, when they did not finish the race as Tincknell crashed at Raidillon in the second hour. Just like in 2018 (then racing with Tony Kanaan) they qualified on pole position after fighting for victory, but the gambling on tires was not fully in their favor.

BoP was not in favor of the AF Corse cars as they both ended last of the qualifications, but the rain and snow conditions enabled both cars to be on top. After the first neutralization, Sam Bird running the AF Corse #71 Ferrari 488 GTE was working his way into a podium position but was sent out of the running for victory when the car got a puncture, which left Davide Rigon to try and fight back from the rear of the field. In the end, the Italian driver came home sixth. 

The Aston Martin Racing Vantage #95 driven by Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim ended seventh of the LMGTE Pro class after an off-road before the mid-term of the race.

Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz with their Porsche 911 RSR #91 finished at a lowly eighth at Spa-Francorchamps.

#81 BMW Team MTEK BMW M8 GTE  with Martin Tomczyk and Nick Catsburg looked very strong for the race as they qualified 4th just behind sister #82.  In the final half-hour, they had a lot of pace on new tires and were hoping to make up some places, but they did not get their chance to climb because the red flag came. They were nineth of the class.

Stefan Mücke (GER) and Olivier Pla (FRA) in the #66 Ford GT did not renew their win of last year (then together with Billy Johnson), ending last of the class as they were the only ones not terminating in the same lap as the winning Aston Martin #97.