FIA GT Championship

FIA GT Spa 24: Race Hour 24 - Carsport Holland wins!

© Planetlemans - Frank Feenstra

We are into the final hour of the Total 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Instead of a Vitaphone victory it is now Carsport Holland with the advantage. Let’s quickly move back to the race
15:01- Van de Poele apologises to the team for his mistake. A win has gone up in smoke.

15:08- Carsport Holland has been given a warning for not having their lights on. They are on in some corners and off in some other corners. What will happen…

15:10- Pier Guidi has lapped the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette again, but in these treacherous conditions every simple overtaking manoeuvre might end up in tears.

15:11- In the Vitaphone pit box Eric van de Poele can not believe he has thrown it all away. All he can hope for is a miracle and a super drive by team mate Pedro Lamy.

15:13- Fässler still has a lap and almost 50 seconds advantage over Lamy. Lamy is pushing hard though.

15:16- The Carsport Holland Corvette has entered the pit lane!

15:17- Pedro Lamy has passed the pitlane…he is back on the lead lap.

15:18- After a short check of the rear lights the Carsport Holland team sent Fässler back out.

15:20- Lamy has gone wide at Les Combes but returns to the track. The rear lights on the Corvette seem to work…the lights on the Alphand Aventures Corvette are identical and they have no problem.

15:25- The gap is now 1:39 between Fässler and Lamy.

15:29- Fässler’s last lap was tweo seconds quicker than Lamy’s.

15:30- For those of you that are interested in GT2 at the moment…BMS Scuderia Italia leads, 5 laps ahead of IMSA Performance Matmut and 10 laps ahead of Tech9 Motorsport.

15:31- Christian Montanari is in for his latest regular stop. He comes out of the box, just ahead of Fässler…

15:35- The nr 97 BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 997 is in the pit lane. They have a five lap advantage.

15:36- Giambattista Giannoccaro goes off in a violent way at Eau Rouge. The front of the car has gone under the tyre barriers.

15:38- The lights on the Carsport Corvette are 100% working. Giannoccaro has gotten out of the car without any injuries.

15:40- Twenty minutes left, the yellow flag is still out at the Raidillon. Most likely it will be there the remainder of the race.

15:42- PK Carsport Corvette in for its final pitstop. Longin and Bouvy are already celebrating their third position.

15:45- Fifteen minutes left. Fässler is closing in on Montanari. Let’s just hope Montanari will not play a key role in these remaining minutes.

15:50- While Hezemans and Deletraz seem to be confident about an upcoming win Gollin is still praying…only ten minutes left.

15:52- Collard (BMS Scuderia Italia) takes no risk and lets Pompidou (Ebimotors) get around him. All Collard wants to do is win the 24 Hours.

15:54- Lamy is trying whatever he can, but instead of getting closer he runs straight at Les Combes again.

15:57- As Fässler passes the line there is 2:31 left. With laptimes around 2:38 this should be the final lap.

16:00- Fässler crosses the line in first place. Carsport Holland has won the Total 24 Hours of Spa!

16:01- Lamy has crossed the line taking second place for Vitaphone Racing. Kumpen takes the final podium spot for PK Carsport.

BMS Scuderia Italia has won the GT2 category. Their win here is the first Porsche 997 GT3 RSR victory in the FIA GT Championship. IMSA Performance Matmut (2nd) and Tech9 Motorsport (3rd) made it a Porsche cleansweep in GT2.

Local team Muehlner Motorsport has won the G3 category. Prospeed Competition completes a Belgian top two. Finalising the top three is the Emeraude Racing team.

Also a Belgian 1-2 in G2. Mosler teams G&A Racing and Gravity International have finished first and second, Champion Racing is officialy third.

JMB Racing has won the Coupe du Roi category.