Le Mans Series

Spa 1000 km LIVE at Planetlemans - Chapter 3

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

With just over 3 hours of racing gone and three full course cautions behind we go into the second half of the race with peugeot still on the lead chased by the “young guns” Audi. Battles still very much open at all 4 classes and a bright sunny afternoon as the perfect weather to enjoy this race for the fans out there.

15:54- Speedy Sebah leads LMP2, the IPB Lambo GT1 and now it’s Felbermayr 77 in GT2.

15:56- Big John Nielsen serves the long penalty while Zacchia on the Speedy Lola has to deal with both Saulnier cars which he is lapping. yet another stop for the Charouz Lola-Aston on a dreadful sequence…

15:59- Risky overtaking from van Merksteijn on De Castro exiting Bus stop

16:01- Gene very much faster than anyone else out there, LMP2 running order is Speedy-Sebah, van Merksteijn, Horag, Trading Performance and Saulnier

16:03- The IPB Lamborghini leads GT1 37 seconds ahead of the 72 Alphand Corvette, the Modena Aston in 3rd 2 laps behind. The Barazi Zytek is in the garage and not being worked on… a retirement for sure.

16:05- In GT2 a couple of seconds between leader 77 Felbermayr and the Virgo Ferrari, both Farnbacher cars follow (Porsche ahead of Ferrari) and in 5th it’s the 88 Felbermayr Porsche now

16:07- Creation in for a pit stop as well as the Spyker. The reason for the 3 minute penalty for the Essex car was not keeping distance during the warm-up lap, apparently that was the contact that put the 46 Embassy in the wall….

16:10- Issues for Virgo to get the car out after the stop. Bruni is now on the car and back to the track.

16:12-Virgo is now 4th in class behind the Felbermayr car and both Farnbachers (Porsche and Ferrari). In LMP2 Horag and van Merksteijn lead Speedy-Sebah after a pit stop from the Lola

16:14- Oreca and both works Pescarolos (17 ahead of 16) run behind Gené and Prémat, Horag is 6th overall and LMP2 leader but van Merksteijn is getting closer and is only 12 seconds behind Theys on the Swiss Porsche.

16:16-Lieb will bring the GT2 leader in for a regular pit stop while Alex Davison takes over. Dindo gets a 3 minute penalty for jumping the red light at pit exit! It’s a nightmare again for the #1 Audi….

16:20- Vanina running slow with front damage, she crashed at La Source after trying to avoid the Lavaggi

16:24- Vanina gets into the pits, it seems as Kaufmann on the Lavaggi got on the brakes before what she expected… Davison still awaits Lieb but no pit stop from the 77 yet…

16:26- Vanina back on the garage for a thorough check of the car, Bruni still 4th but lapping almost 2 seconds quicker than the cars in front of him. In the meantime the Lavaggi has stopped somewhere on the track

16:28- Theys and van Merksteijn on the Horag and van Merksteijn Porsches 4th and 5th overall on a great performance behind the fantastic Oreca car on 3rd overall and running very well. vanina has taken her helmet off, probably the repairs are going to take a bit long…

16:30-The Lambo now 47 seconds ahead of the 72 Corvette and pulling away, a very solid race from Kox and Rusinov.

16:31- The 77 car has finally mde its pit stop and Davison is now fourth in class, 91 Farnbacher Porsche leads now ahead of the 90 Farnbacher Ferrari and the 96 Virgo car with a very quick Bruni on it.

16:33- Westbrook very quick as well on that 91 Porsche. Gené on 7 peugeot and Panis on the Oreac are on the pits while Rockenfeller takes over from Prémat as Audi number 2 also stops for a routine fuel/tyre service

16:35- Verstappen takes over from van Merksteijn and rejoins

16:37- The Speedy Spyker is running 6th behind the 88 Felbermayr car while the Modena Aston gets a regular stop staying 3rd in class. The 91 Farnbacher gets to the pits and now it’s Ferrari 1-2 in GT2 with Farnbacher leading Virgo. All top GT2 cars have had 3 stops

16:40- Theys still leading LMP2 having had just 3 pit stops compared to 4 of Speedy-Sebah and 5 of van Merksteijn

16:42- And a 1.59.883 from Minassian is still fastest lap of the race and both Peugeots only cars to go under 2 minutes. Pit stop for Horag where Lammers is immediately overtaken by Verstappen at Les Combes. Westbrook on the 91 Farnbacher on a very long stop and dropping back…

16:45-Gené on a risky pass between the Radical and one of the Spykers…taking a lot of risk. LMP2 is led now by the Speedy Sebah Lola with van Merksteijn and Horag completing the top 3

16:48-Mikael Forsten is now behind the wheel of the Rollcentre Pescarolo which has joined in 19th place overall

16:51- The Farnbacher Ferrari in trouble coming back to the pits really slow….A pit stop from the Speedy-Sebah Lola gets actually now Verstappen on the van Merksteijn Porsche back in the lead with Lammers on the Horag Porsche on second

16:54- Top 5 on LMP1: 7 Peugeot, 2 Audi (40 secs), 6 Oreca(2 laps), 16 Pescarolo(3 laps), 17 Pescarolo(3 laps)

16:57- LPM2: 34 van Merksteijn, 27 Horag (20 secs), 33 Speedy-Sebah (1 lap), 35 Saulnier (2 laps), 41 Trading Performance (2 laps)

17:00- Gt1 is 55 IPB Lamborghini, 72 Alphand Corvette (28 seconds), 59 Modena Aston (2 laps)

17:02- A very slow Lola-Aston coming back to the pits… In GT2 96 Virgo leads 77 Felbermayr by 12 seconds, 88 Felbermayr(2 laps), 94 Speedy Spyker (3 laps), 99 JMB Ferrari (3 laps) complete the top 5

17:04- Verstappen continues to lead Lammers about 20 seconds ahead while the GT1 leader has lost a front cover and is rushing back to the pits, this is the chance for the 72 Corvette to attack

17:07- In fact the hood had opened and completely blocked Rusinov’s view! Amazing how he could bring that car home, and he also had a front right puncture…. the hood is now tore off and substituted by a new one fixed with tape.

17:09- The official would not allow the cover to be taped so they needed to affix a new one, in the meantime Peter Kox is back on the Lambo with the Modena Aston charging now to get second from them

17:12- Gené leads Rockenfeller by over a minute now, clearly the pace of the Peugeot is a notch faster. McNish 8th overall and 6th in class trying to come back to the top positions, even with 5 laps behind the lead

17:15- And a pit stop from the 17 pescarolo brings Audi #1 to 5th in class…

17:18- GT2 still a tight battle, 77 Felbermayr leads Virgo now after a Ferrari pit stop, 88 Felbermayr is 3rd , Speedy Spyker 4th, 99 JMB 5th

17:20- In GT1 the 72 Alphand car leads 1 lap ahead of the 55 Lamborghini which is 1 minute ahead of the Modena Aston. This can be also a tough one to predict. And the leader is in the pits for a routine stop. Gené gives the car to Minassian

17:23- The leader rejoined just ahead of the Audi, we might get some action with the traffic here…

17:25- Pit stops for the 2 Audi and the van Merksteijn porsche, Lammers in the Horag takes over the LMP2 lead