Spa 24: Optimum wins Gold and Huber Bronze

SROSPA24

Jul 4

Among the non PRO entries, #5 Optimum Motorsport Mc Laren (Gold) end among the top 10 overall and pole Porsche #20 from Huber Motorsport (Bronze) ends 13th overall. Two cars of those classes (Gold and Bronze) are ahead of the first Silver in the overall ranking. We therefore look at the top five for Gold and Bronze Cups.

Gold Cup

With 7 entries, the Gold class was the least represented but their lineups are very homogenous with fast drivers as the maximum line-up is Gold-Gold-Gold-Silver drivers for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The top three end within the top 21 overall.

de Haan/Gamble/Fagg/Macdonald with #5 Optimum Motrosport McLaren 720S GT3 EVO wins the Gold Cup.
Sunday morning (17th and 18th hour), the #5 team were among the PRO in P7 overall in the leader’s lap and ended the race in P10 overall with the Gold Cup trophy after clinching class pole during the Super Pole.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at **Crowdstrike** **24 hours of Spa.** #5 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO.

2. Simmenauer/Williams/Krütten with #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

Starting from P6 in class, the #30 BMW running second in class after four hours and remained in contention for a podium seat until the end of the 24 hours race.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at **Crowdstrike** **24 hours of Spa.** #30 BMW M4 GT3.

Niklas Kruetten (car #30): “Overall, a good race for us. Of course, we would have wanted to win, but second is good as well and means a lot of points after not finishing at Paul Ricard. We started down in P46 overall and fifth in the Gold Cup, so finishing 14th overall and second in the Gold Cup is not bad at all. We didn’t have the ultimate pace, but the team did a perfect job in strategy and in the pit stops.”
Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (car #30): “It’s been a really long race! It’s a shame we had some little issues in the last six hours, otherwise we could have been better. There are of course a lot of mixed feelings after what happened yesterday [the fatal crash of Dilano van ’t Hoff in the Formula Regional race]and now I really look forward to some rest…”
Calan Williams (car #30): “The weekend started off quite tricky, but in the race, we maximised the result we could achieve. We stayed strong, did no mistakes, kept pushing and were consistent. Eventually, it paid off, and we got good points for the championship.” Source: Team WRT

3. Baert/Soulet/Hofer with #21 ComToYou Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO.

It was the Belgian Audi customer team first edition of the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa. The three entries at start finished the race with P7 overall for #11, P3 in Gold cup for the #21 and P2 in silver cup for the #12.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at **Crowdstrike** **24 hours of Spa.** #21 *Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO*.

Bronze Cup

The Bronze lass has the highest number of entries with 21 cars. The maximum line-up of Platinum-Silver-Silver-Bronze drivers was the rule at Spa.

Remember that Matteo Cairoli with #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche clinched overall pole Friday. A confirmation that the fastest entries of this class would pay within the top 20 overall. Actually, the top three of class ended within the top 18th overall with Porsche locking out the top two positions of the Bronze Cup.

1. Au/Heinemann/Fittje/Cairoli with #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

Start driver Matteo Cairoli then catapulted off the line from pole into first place, which the former Porsche Junior from Italy defended until the driver change after just over an hour. With his teammates Antares Au from Hong Kong and the Germans Jannes Fittje and Tim Heinemann, Cairoli finished 13th overall. This result also handed the quartet victory in the Bronze Cup. DTM driver Heinemann set the fastest lap of the race in 2:17.087 minutes.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Test Day 2 of **Crowdstrike** **24 hours of Spa.** #20 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Tim Heinemann (Porsche 911 GT3R #20): “That was simply a great race – and kind of crazy too because I only got a call on Tuesday afternoon to ask if I could compete. It was great fun. Matteo turned heads on Friday with his pole position but we knew that a lot can happen in a 24-hour race – and it did. At one point we were no longer in the same lap as the leader but we fought our way back. To be honest, we didn’t really expect to win our class, which makes this success even sweeter. I’m also delighted for Antares Au. On top of that, I set the fastest race lap. What more could you ask for?”Source: Porsche

2. Bachler/Malykhin/Sturm/Seefried with Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) #911.

The #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche led the class at various times but ended second and 15th overall.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Test Day 1 of **Crowdstrike** **24 hours of Spa.** #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Klaus Bachler (Porsche 911 GT3R #911): “Just after the halfway mark, we damaged our Porsche 911 GT3 R quite badly. After that, the aerodynamics was a bit off. The most important thing at that point was to make it to the finish line. We had to fight hard for that. The fact that we were able to stay at the front of the Bronze Cup standings until the end under these conditions is a major achievement for the team.” Source: Porsche.

3. Schmidt/Hui/Froggatt/Cheever with #93 Sky - Tempesta Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO.