FIA GT Championship
FIA GT Total 24 Hours of Spa Test Day report
© Planetlemans - Brecht Decancq
The official test day of the Total 24 Hours of Spa took place today at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. While the morning session was hampered by rain the afternoon session was less wet and times went down in the second session. As the chequered flag came out at six o’clock this evening it was Phoenix Carsport on top.
During the morning session 31 cars took to the track and as the rain came pouring down the lap times were far from fast. At noon the two Phoenix Carsport Corvette C6.Rs were quickest. The number 5 set a 2:31.453 while the number 6 was close in 2:31.490. Third fastest was the #1 Vitaphone Racing Maserati, over a second behind the two Corvettes. CR Scuderia’s #56 Ferrari 430 GT2 was quickest in GT2, just over eight tenths of a seconds quicker than the #61 Prospeed Porsche and the #76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche. AS Events was quickest in G3 with its Ferrari 430 GT3.
In the afternoon the weather changed and even though it was still mainly wet there were some dry periods as well. Once again Corvette topped the timing sheets although this time there were three of them. The #6 Phoenix Corvette set the fastest lap time of the test day, Fässler stopping the clocks on 2:14.375. Second fastest was the SRT Corvette in 2:15.799 and third fastest was the #5 Phoenix Corvette in 2:16.933. In GT2 it was a Ferrari top three. AF Corse put its #51 on top in 2:21.216, with CR Scuderia taking the second (#56) and third place (#55). The CR Scuderia cars were 0.004s apart from each other, but still six tenths behind the AF Corse car. In G3 it was the #40 Mühlner Motorsport car taking the lead.
Aston Martin Racing took its Aston Martin Vantage GT2 to Spa for development testing, but only took part in the wet morning session. The car did 24 laps before coming into the pit and ended the first session in seventeenth place overall, ninth in GT2. It did not take part in the afternoon session and will not race in the Spa 24 Hours.
In what could be a shock announcement for some it was also confirmed that all the cars that will be taking part in the 24 Hours will be placed in the new (F1) pit lane and that the start will no longer take place on the run down to Eau Rouge.
Brecht Decancq was at Spa for Planetlemans and returned with lots of pictures. A selection of them can be found in our gallery.
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Horrible news to hear about using the F1 garages. The older pits is what made the race what it is. They need to rethink that. Also I thought more than 55 cars are running. The F1 area only has 45 slots.
I am also sad to hear about that change! Also I will miss the run down the Eau Rouge..
To add on my disappointment, I have just learned from Jan, that Corvette racing factorydrivers Jan Magnussen, and the Ollies will not participate. Their entry was pulled by Luc Alphand.. Huge disappointment for all, not least for the drivers..
I thought only 8 C6Rs existed: 2 for alphand, 2 for Phoenix, 2 for the factory, 1 for PSI, and one for SRT.
Is the DKR engineering C6R the PSI Experience car? Or did the Boys at Pratt & Miller churn out another chassis (#009 perhaps)
Anyone knows?
DKR is PSI. The mechanics who ran the PSI car in 2006/2007 formed their own team and is only running in the FFSA. No confirmation on if they are running, however they are on the official entry list for the race. More information is in our team page for the C6R.
Hope this helps….
Thanks Tyler. And nice website. Of all C6R teams DKR/PSI has had the worst livery. Phoenix has the best looking cars.
With the results the customer teams are having this year, it’s no doubt the C6R has been improved. Too bad the factory team couldn’t celebrate the improvements at LeMans, because their own chassis are running on E85.
Quite different than racing fuel. I don’t think anyone realizes that running on E85 the factory corvette team gets less mileage than racing fuel the Astons were using at LeMans. So fo them to still finish on the lead lap was still a feat.
I don’t want to be annoying but when Corvette Motorsport chose to run on E85 they knew that is was a disadvantage. If you keep in mind how close the GT1-battle was last years it was not the right choise I think.
I dont mean to correct you here, but we are a separate entity from the Factory.
The team at Le Mans ran the regular petrol, not E85. They use that fuel only in the ALMS.
Here is an easy way to remember us:
Corvette-
Racing: Factory
Motorsport: non Factory
I was pretty sure that was the case but didn’t want to correct anyone without knowing for sure. The Corvettes were actually getting one lap more per tank of fuel than the Astons and I knew there would be no way they did that if they were running E85.
O.k i guess I was wrong. But still they were still at a disadvantage because they had to change their whole season strategy for just that one race. That’s a lot of engine remapping and system component changes.