FIA GT Championship

Total 24 Hours of Spa: Qualifying 1 Report

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

Jetalliance Racing is on provisional pole position for the Total 24 Hours of Spa after setting the fastest lap time in the first qualifying session of the day. Karl Wendlinger was the quickest driver before the session was marred by a lenghty red flag period after Christophe Bouchut went off heavily at Blanchimont.

During the first part of the first qualifying session the Corvettes, Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin and Larbre Saleen stayed in and let the GT2, G2 and G3 cars battle it out with the other GT1s. As the sun had set and the area became darker and darker the frontrunners got out on the track and took advantage of the cooler temperatures. The Kessel Racing Ferrari the Belgian Racing Gillet Vertigo were not able to use the cool air to improve their lap times as they suffered problem. While Fabrizio del Monte parked his car next to the track and walked back the Vertigo suffered a broken left front suspension failure but managed to get back in the pit lane.

When the big guns started to take part in the session the provisional pole time was quickly improved and it was Karl Wendlinger who was quickest with some ten minutes to go. With Pedro Lamy and Christophe Bouchut both on a flying lap there was a big chance that the fastest lap time would be improved again. Pedro Lamy was two tenths of a second quicker than Wendlinger at the second sector, but it wasn’t to be. Coming through Blanchimont something seemed to break on the SRT Corvette and Bouchut slammed hard into the barriers. The car was heavily damaged and the red flag came out to make it possible for the marshalls to reach the damaged car.

After a thirty minute delay the session was restarted but none of the teams was able to beat Wendlinger’s fastest lap time. After the 9 remaining minutes were completed the chequered flag came out. Wendlinger’s fastest time of 2:14.581 was still on the top of the timing sheet. Despite crashing out the SRT Corvette was second fastest and the #1 Vitaphone Maserati was third fastest.

In GT2 it was the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT2 that is on provisional pole after setting a 2:21.504. The BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari is only a quarter of a second behin while the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche is in third place at three-quarters of a second.

Due to the crashes the second session will start at 22:20 rather than 22:00. Christophe Bouchut was meanwhile taken to hospital in Liège for some precautionary checks. More info when available.