Analysis

The Planetlemans Spa 24 Hours GT1 preview

© Planetlemans - Brecht Decancq

The first weekend of August is quickly approaching and that means it is time for the FIA GT blue ribbon event, the Total 24 Hours of Spa. Fourty-seven cars still feature on the entry list for the 2008 edition of the classic race. Twelve of them are GT1 entries and some impressive driver pairings will be going after the win next weekend.

In 2007 the race saw changing weather conditions on the Belgian circuit. Several periods of heavy rain meant the safety car was out on he track more than once. Jetalliance Racing led the race for the six hours, before retiring after completing 158 laps. At the halfway point six cars were within two laps of each other with Carsport Holland leading the race ahead of the #1 Vitaphone Maserati. After that the Vitaphone Racing Maserati took control of the race, until the final hour of the race. Eric van de Poele in the leading Maserati went off into the gravel trap and while his car was being pulled out of the gravel it was the Carsport Holland Corvette that took over the lead and kept that lead as the chequered flag came out.

Twelve GT1 cars are entered for the 2008 edition of the Spa 24 Hours, which includes the Team RBimmo/B-Racing Saleen that has not been seen for a while.

Like in 2007 the Jetalliance Racing team has decided against entering a second car and Wendlinger, Sharp, Müller and Lichtner-Hoyer are grouped together in the #33 Aston Martin DBR9. Having won the opening round at Silverstone and scoring a dominant 1-2 at Oschersleben earlier this month they are the team to beat it seems. Let’s hope for the Austrian team the DBR9 will be reliable for 24 hours this year.

Never change a winning team is also what the Phoenix Carsport squad thought. Last year’s winners Hezemans, Fässler, Deletraz and Gollin have once again been put together in the #6 Corvette C6.R. This year the squad has had its problems in the first couple of rounds of the championship, but they hope they can put all of this behind them and repeat last year’s result. The team’s second Corvette will be driven by Jos Menten, Alex Margaritis, Uwe Alzen and Robert Schlünssen. A potentially strong line-up, with the only unknown factor Danish Touringcar Championship driver Schlünssen.

© Planetlemans - Brecht Decancq

Like in recent years Eric van de Poele has joined the #1 Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12 of Michael Bartels. With Andrea Bertolini having returned to the team after a year at Scuderia Playteam Sarafree in 2007 the winning squad from 2006 has been reunited. The three will be joined by Team Peugeot Total driver Stephane Sarrazin for the Spa 24. Needless to say that the #1 Vitaphone Racing Maserati is one of the main candidates to win the Spa 24 once again. In the #2 Maserati MC12 regular drivers Miguel Ramos and Alexandre Negrao will be joined Stephane Lemeret again, while Alessandro Pier Guidi will join the #2 as fourth driver after competing for Scuderia Playteam Sarafree in 2007.

Another car that should do well, if it does not get any technical problems, is the Gigawave Motorsport Aston Martin DBR9. Regular drivers Philipp Peter and Allan Simonsen are joined by highly experienced Aston Martin Racing driver Darren Turner, who won the GT1 class at Le Mans for the last two years. His experience should really help the team. Andrew Thompson is the team’s fourth driver. Being the Gigawave test driver he also knows the team well.

Also returning to the FIA GT Championship after missing the previous two rounds is the IPB Spartak Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Murcielago. Peter Kox needs no introduction as he has driven in nearly all available cars and series around the world. Team mate Roman Rusinov can also be called a veteran having raced in sportscars and GTs since 2003 with wins at Le Mans (LMP 2003) and even the GT2 championship in the LMES in 2004. For Spa however Rusinov will be the least experienced driver as no other than Jan Lammers and Tomas Enge complete the Lamborghini line-up. For Lammers it will be the first time ever he will race in the Spa 24 Hours, but his experience in endurance racing should make up for that, while Enge also brings a lot of sports car engineering. For this squad the quality of the drivers is certainly not a problem, the reliability of the Lamborghini could well be one though.

Hoping to have some home soil advantage is Selleslagh Racing Team. The #3 Corvette C6.R did however have a dramatic dress rehearsal during the FFSA GT race weekend when Soheil Ayari crashed the car heavily. At the moment of this article going online the team was still working on the car at their workshop in Merchtem, Belgium. For the Spa 24 Hours Christophe Bouchut and Xavier Maassen will be joined by Maxime Soulet, who also raced for SRT in the 2007 edition and Swiss driver Christophe Pillon. Pillon last competed in the FIA GT in 2005 when he drove the JMB Racing Maserati.

Another Belgian squad hoping to change their luck at Spa is PK Carsport. So far their decision to go to the Saleen S7R has not been a successful one, with only three points scored in Monza. Like in 2007 Anthony Kumpen an Bert Longin are joined by fellow Belgian drivers Kurt Mollekens and Frédéric Bouvy. Rather than its usual white and black livery the car has gone red, thanks to sponsor Gordon.

© Planetlemans - Brecht Decancq

The second Saleen in the event will be entered by Jack Leconte’s Larbre Competition. The team won the 24 Hours of Spa in 2001 and 2002, but after a podium finish in 2005 the team did not enter the race in 2006 and 2007. On their return to the Ardennes Larbre’s Belgian drivers Vincent Vosse and Greg Franchi are joined by Steve Zacchia and another Team Peugeot Total driver, 2005 Larbre regular Pedro Lamy. It remains to be seen what the Saleen can do at Spa though.

A third Maserati MC12 will be entered by JMB Racing. Aucott, Daoudi and Ferté will share the wheel of the Italian supercar, just like they do in the FIA GT season but now all together in one event. Certainly not a team that will be going for the win, but it could well beat some of the other GT1 entries.

Finally the entrylist shows the Team RBimmo/B-Racing Saleen S7R. So far this season the car only managed to do a couple of laps each race and at Oschersleben the car went missing in action. Regular drivers Jos Menten and Andrea Piccini have joined other squads for the Spa 24 Hours and at Oschersleben rumour had it that iPOS GmbH had stopped the sponsor contract and ordered the team to take off its logos from the car. As a result there was no fund, no drivers and no track action. So even though it is on the provisional list, we do not expect it to actually be there.

So, several GT1 cars will be race win contenders but it is more than likely to go between Jetalliance Racing, Phoenix Carsport and Vitaphone Racing Team. At the moment the weather forecast for the race is good, but some rain is expected on Thursday night and Friday when the teams are out on the track for qualifying. We’ll see what happens as it is Spa and everything can change in a moment over there.