Le Mans Series

1000KM Spa – Hours 1-2-3

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

The opening hours of the 1000 KM of Spa-Francorchamps were one of the most bizarre hours in the history of the Le Mans Series. Even before the green flag had been waved things went wrong already out on the circuit.

On the warm-up lap behind the safety car Andre Lotterer spun his Audi R15 TDI and hit the wall at Les Combes. The German got back on track and drove back to the pit lane on a low speed, with the rear of the Audi in a bad shape.

As the safety car pulled in the cars raced to the first corner, with the number 3 Peugeot overshooting the corner and losing several positions. The number 29 Racing Box Lola crashed at Eau Rouge, causing severe damage to the back of the car. With the car stuck on top of the corner and debris all over the place the safety car was sent out on the track.

At the end of the fourth lap the safety car pulled in and the field was released again, with the leading Peugeot way ahead of the rest of the field. Soon after the race was restarted there was contact between a Rebellion Racing Lola and the number 4 Team Oreca Matmut Peugeot. Olivier Panis was sent into a spin and slammed into the wall. Despite the pit exit being blocked only a local yellow was waved as the marshals worked on getting the wrecked car removed.
While under yellow the number 43 DAMS FLM car spun at the top of Eau Rouge.

On lap 10 the battle between Peugeot and Audi heated up, with the number 7 Audi and number 3 Peugeot going side by side, but it was McNish who got ahead of the Peugeot going into Eau Rouge.

47 minutes into the race Ebbesvik in the Bruichladdich Ginetta-Zytek made contact with the JMW Aston Martin Vantage and veered off into the wall. The car rolled to a stop on the Bus Stop run-off. The Norwegian driver was unable to get out of the car and the safety car was sent out again to allow the medical team to do their job in a safe way.

At 12.35 the race was restarted again and it was McNish who was really quick, flying past cars including those of his teammates. Most teams came in for their pit stops. The BMW Team Schnitzer number 78 spun coming out of La Source, but was able to rejoin quickly. The FLM number 47 came to a halt and had to be pushed to a safe place.

Just over two hours into the race the number 2 Peugeot made contact with the KSM Lola Judd, but only a few minutes later something bizarre happened. A power outage had already struck the F1 pitlane/paddock area, but 30 minutes later the back-up system also failed, knocking out the timing systems as well. As a result the race was red flagged and cars were stopped at the end of the straight just before La Source.

Over thirty minutes later the power was back and the cars were restarted. After another safety car lap the race got underway again at 14:15.

Three hours into the race the number 7 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDI was leading the race, ahead of the number 3 and number 1 Peugeot.
In LMP2 RML was leading, ahead of the Quifel ASM Team Ginetta and the number 24 OAK Racing Pescarolo.
Marc VDS Racing Team was leading in GT1, with the number 60 Matech Ford in second place and the Larbre Saleen in third, while in GT2 it was the Felbermayr-Proton number 77 ahead of the number 95 AF Corse and the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche.