Analysis
Planetlemans analyzes the Total 24 Hours of Spa weekend
© Planetlemans – Brecht Decancq
In front of 35.000 spectators the Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12s completed a perfect 1-2 victory. For the German squad it was the third overall victory at Spa-Francorchamps in four years time, while its Belgian driver Eric van de Poele won his fifth ever Spa 24 Hours title. For the Vitaphone and Maserati fans it was a great result, but was the weekend actually that good?
First of all the entries. As the weekend got underway there were 44 cars on the entrylist, including three Coupe du Roi entries under the same banner. It certainly wasn’t the worst entry ever, but in the weeks and perhaps months prior to the race several teams hinted at entries and as the provisional entrylists came out some of those expected teams (Luc Alphand, Kronos Racing for example) had decided to pull out for various reasons. Fortunately some non-FIA GT teams decided to join in and at least keep the number of GT2 cars at the same level.
Around the paddock and in the media centre some complaints were heard about the number of entries but despite being down on last years number the quality in the cars seem to have gone up a bit. The least liked additions were the three Coupe du Roi Ferrari’s. They were extremely slow and did not add anything special to the race, other than an extra chicane. Thus the general opinion around Spa was that the Coupe du Roi in its current form is something the Spa 24 Hours could do without.
When the cars were out on track in the pre-race sessions there was enough action. The Larbre Saleen was a highlight in practice and qualifying and for a day many believed the Saleen would be able to give the Corvettes, Astons and Maseratis a real run for their money. That was before Steve Zacchia wrecked the car at the very end of the warm-up session on Saturday, ending all hopes for the French squad and taking out a part of the excitement for the race. Another team that had just made it into the race after crashing out twice in practice and qualifying was the SRT Corvette. When that car did start, took the lead in the opening lap but crashed out not much later it was another front-runner gone. After that things went worse for teams and fans. First the #5 Phoenix was on fire, bringing out a safety car. Not much later the #6 Phoenix Corvette and the Jetalliance Racing Aston collided and were also out of action. With almost a 75 percent of the race to do the two Vitaphone Maseratis were leading with the Gigawave Aston in distant third. How interesting for the fans…the battle in the GT2 class was ok to follow, but as most people came for the big cars lots of spectators seemed to leave the track just after midnight, many of them not to return on Sunday. Needless to say the top three remained unchanged for the remainder of the race, with only the gaps between cars getting bigger.
But that was something most fans have probably missed too. The big tv-screens around the track were only showing live racing when the tv coverage was “on air” and otherwise either showed the cars going up the Raidillon or a tv test pattern. The circuit speak could be heard on FM 107.5, if your French was good enough or you would be satisfied with a short Dutch update every now and then. In a series that wants to go worldwide and that wants to reach out to more spectators a constant stream of information via the tv-screens and the addition of English radio coverage, like Radio Le Mans, is something that is absolutely necessary. If that is not available people are likely to go (or stay) home and follow it via live timing and the various English websites/forums. Following it via the official total24hours.com website was rather impossible as well, even today the site still has several “Coming soon” messages.
And those websites and even the printed magazines had their troubles as well. Like the spectators outside, the media in the ‘new’ media centre had to work with live timing screens, live video whenever a tv station was broadcasting and only French commentary. The tv screens in the media centre were not working properly for most of the weekend, this was only solved shortly before the race started. There were returning power cuts throughout the weekend (eventually being followed by a loud cheer from the present media). The weird thing is that this happened in 2007 during the Spa 24 Hours as well, even though back then the media centre had just been opened, but only a few months ago during the Le Mans Series weekend there was no problem and there was live video, timing, radio and no power cuts.
While being at the track we also got reports of marshalls drinking alcoholic drinks while sitting just behind the barriers. Only 2.5 months ago this behaviour led to fights between marshalls and media before the start of the Le Mans Series race and the organisation back then apologised to some members of the media for what happened. Looked like the people from the track did not really care though. What would have happened had the Larbre crash or one of the Corvette fires had been more serious and drinking marshalls would have been forced to come into action? The last thing that was noticed by several members of the media was the usage of the media shuttles for other purposes than to transport the press. Let’s just say that the media can not do their job if we have to wait 1 hour for a photographer because he has to let past all media shuttles because they are occupied with children and other people who don’t carry any photographic equipment…and when he finally gets into one there is a kid literally hanging out of the window screaming “C’est la notre!!!!” every time one specific car flies by.
You might wonder, is there anything positive to this race? Sure there is. It showed that GT3 cars are able to complete a 24 Hours race, that the Maserati is still a very reliable car, that BMS Scuderia Italia can win it in either a Ferrari or a Porsche and that all the teams that were there did everything to make it to the finish. And of course thumbs up for the SRO crew for making the best out of this Belgian event again…
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Marcel
Your article pretty much sums up ‘our’ experience of Spa last weekend. The entry was thin, especially in GT1, and not helped by an apparent lack of what Micheal Bartels called “discipline, discipline, discipline” by some drivers in particular practice sessions. The uncertainty of the entry seemed to have kept spectators away. And it was as if the sponsors (Total), circuit owners, RACB, and associated traders had anticipated this because there was little apparent investment in race publicity; the programme officiel was cheap and cheerful, there were no race posters or T shirts to be found, and few traders in the shopping village. But at least the ticket pricing policy reflected the situation with general entry at 20 Euros and stand access free.
The FIA GT blue ribband event and prelude to a World GT Championship ? Perhaps not. A worrying future business and sporting proposition for teams, organisers, sponsors, and fans alike ? Probably yes.
GT1 needs more top level teams (and manufacturers) if FIA GT’s and the Spa 24 Hrs are to survive at the top level of international motorsport. Teams, manufacturers and sponsors need a commercial proposition that promotes image and sells product. The issue is the same for both Le Mans Series. M Ratel has a tough job on his hands. GT3 provides valid support races but is not a solution to poor GT1 entries and it does not attract the ‘fans’. And GT4 is probably a diversification too far.
‘We’ made our eigth consecutive 1,200 mile return journey to enjoy the Spa 24hrs and support FIA GT’s. The probability is that we would have obtained better VFM and witnessed a greater sporting spectacle if we had opted for the forthcoming Nurburgring 1000kms. We generally visit five FIA GT and Le Mans series races across Europe each year. The risk is that fans will desert FIA GT’s unless the entry and sporting proposition can be improved. Quite how M. Ratel can square the circle of manufacturer committment and spectator interest poses some difficult sporting and economic questions. As spectators we seem able to do little more than maintain brand loyalty and wish him genuine good luck.
And yes, we did see a few marshals drinking cans of Jupiler and driving quite dangerously through walking spectators on the perimeter roads.
I have been fortunate enough to attend all the Spa 24 hr races since 2001 and my impression of this event was just how “low key” it all was. I remember previous years the place, on the Saturday especially, being very, very busy. This year it wasn’t. I also noticed that the Official Programme was very low on quality compared to previous. The GT1 entry was no thinner than in 2006 (where we had a marvellous race) and no less on quality, although the uncertainty surrounding several teams didn’t help matters.
In my opinion starting from the F1 position appeared sterile. I appreciate that the F1 pits offer much better facilities, but it certainly took away some of the spectacle.
Yes, no official T-shirts and the German bloke who sells loads of BBR, Provence etc models (not the usual Spark or Ixo mas market stuff)wasn’t there either. A bad sign.
Yes – I saw Marshalls drinking (even at the post on the inside of Radaillon…the post with all the George Cross flags as well…).
All in all a rather tepid affair. Very disappointing.
Good feedback Marcel and 2Jags!
Same here – we were amazed that about a dozen marshalls had a little party at the vending houses at the Kemel entrance. It was early in the afternoon when they first gathered and when we left at 22:30 they were still there. I know that drinking beer is deeply rooted in the Belgium culture but that is no excuse. Either as a driver, spectator, fellow marshall or race series organiser I would not tolerate this during the race and the RACB should keep their act together.
We left the track when it got dark as there was no way to follow the race. The big screen only showed a still picture and the speaker was in French only. On many cars you could not even see the number…
Still a great event but please improve information around the track. The bill of my blackberry (roaming) will be quite high I guess as only planetlemans was providing a sufficient stream of information.
Manufacturers can’t really commit to the FIA GT as they really would wish. Because the FIA bans too much factory involvement in order to prevent a situation like you have in the ALMS GT1. When Mercedes had their CLK GTRs they killed the whole GT1 field. and the Oreca Vipers didn’t leave much hardware behind for the opposition.
However believe it or not, this is the healthiest GT1 field anywhere. And these are solid teams with top drivers. The only top team that needs this series more than the others is the Vitaphone team since this is the only place they can fully showcase themselves. The ALMS now accepts them but since the embarassment the corvettes gave a full factory effort in 2005 they won’t be back soon. I think They’re also the only team in GT1 that regularly fields factory drivers.
There might have been problems but deserving teams still won. The rest however is just an organizational problem that needs to be looked at by the race committee. But don’t downgrade the show the drivers and teams put on.