Blancpain Endurance

Audi Sport Team WRT wins the Total 24 Hours of Spa

© V’Images

Audi Sport Team WRT has won the Total 24 Hours of Spa with their Audi R8 LMS and drivers Mattias Ekström, Greg Franchi and Timo Scheider. The team secured what can be described as a truly deserved Audi victory in the Belgian Ardennes.

Despite having a Marc VDS Racing Team BMW Z4 GT3 and a ProSpeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3 R on the front row, a Ferrari 458 Italia leading after one hour and a Lamborghini Gallardo leaving after two hours the Audi’s rolled into the lead during the third hour. From that moment on until the finish on Sunday at 4 pm there was always an Audi R8 LMS in the lead. The #33 was one of the few cars not having any (major) problems and eventually finished the race two laps ahead of the Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 and ten laps ahead of the Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

The 2011 edition of the Total 24 Hours of Spa was one with highs and lows. With some drivers behaving like they were doing a one-hour sprint race an incident was bound to happen. And indeed there were several incidents on the opening laps. First Ludovic Sougnez thought he could pass everyone into La Source, but the ProSpeed driver ended his attempt in the side of team mate Marc Goossens. Both had to come in with damage. The pole sitting Marc VDS Racing Team BMW Z4 GT3 had already lost its first place by then.

Only a couple of minutes later – after serving a 5-minute stop and go penalty for an engine change – the McLaren MP4-12C of Andrew Kirkaldy went off hard coming out of La Source when it clipped the front of the #100 BMW M3 GT4. The car was wrecked and Kirkaldy was taken to hospital for precautionary scans – which turned out to be clean. In order to clear the track the safety car was sent out and stayed out for almost half an hour.

In the second hour Matt Griffin was given a drive-through for not respecting the track limits and the erstwhile leader dropped down the order. The WRT Audi #32 was given a penalty for contact with a Black Falcon Mercedes, whilst in second position at 5.45 pm the safety car had to come out again when Niki Mayr-Melnhof crashed his Lamborghini on the pit entry. The car ended up on its side and was retired on the spot. Mayr-Melnhof had “no idea what happened”, but teamboss Hans Reiter thought that Mayr-Melnhof had been too aggressive coming into the pit. After exactly two hours the other Lamborghini of Peter Kox was in first place.

The Audi’s moved up into first, second and third when Kox pitted just when the green flag was shown again. It wasn’t going to be the Reiter team’s day though as just after three hours both cars were out – when the #24 blew its engine in spectacular style on the run down to Eau Rouge. The #98 Phoenix Audi hit problems when it reported gearbox issues – this after already being hit in the second hour. David Hart hit the wall on the endurance pit entry, resulting in the DB Motorsport team replacing the front bodywork and steering arm. With the Manthey Porsche also hitting a problem and dropping outside the top 3 there were three Audi R8 LMS leading after four hours.

Things got worse for McLaren GT in the fifth hour when the #58, driven by Tim Mullen, caught fire at Malmedy. Fortunately Mullen got out of the car in time, but it meant the second retirement for the McLaren MP4-12C GT3. In pitlane the RJN Motorsport crew quickly fixed a problem, sending the Nissan 370Z back on the track still very much in contention for the class win. Blancpain Endurance Series leader AutOrlando Sport hit trouble at 9.15 pm when it came in and was pushed back into the box with radiator issues. Minutes later the #40 Marc VDS BMW was officially retired.
United Autosports Eddie Cheever parked his car in what was now full darkness on top of Eau Rouge and walked back, his car retired…and visible there for the remainder of the race. After six hours Audi Sport Team Phoenix was in the lead, followed by the #33 WRT Audi and the KRK Racing Team Holland Mercedes-Benz #15.

Into the seventh hour the #54 Graff Racing went off into the tyres at turn Fagnes, damaging the front of the Mercedes. Minutes later there was heavy rain reported at the same corner and several cars went off. The #42 Sport Garage Ferrari went off into the gravel, followed by the #18 De Lorenzi Racing Porsche. 4 minutes after the report of heavy rain the safety car was sent out again. And then the second Sport Garage Ferrari 430 Scuderia went off at Fagnes – under yellow and safety car. Almost twenty minutes later the track was green again.

The next car to hit trouble was the KRK Mercedes that had been sixth at the six hour mark, a wheel came off and the car ended up in the gravel near Stavelot. It meant the #15 was another retirement. Several cars were pitting for penalties or with problems, but the Audi R8 LMS kept lapping, resulting in an Audi 1-2-3 after eight hours. The #888 Porsche dropped out of the top 20 after (another) long stop.

At 12:44 am there was another safety car and heavy rain. Even though not clear if the safety car was weather related it soon became clear that it wasn’t. In fact it was the much troubled Sport Garage #42 Ferrari that had caught fire at Les Combes. The fire put the car out of its misery for this race. As the #98 Audi also returned to pit the Need For Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3, which had started from way down the field, moved into the top three.

At 1:00 am the green flag was shown, just as the #99 Phoenix came in to pit. This handed the lead to the #33 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS. Only one of the top 10 cars at the start was still there, the rest started outside the top 10. With their #98 car still in the pit and dropping out of the top 30 the Audi Sport Team Phoenix #99 also came in, resulting in losing the second position. Attempts to find out what happened at Audi Sport Team Phoenix by dailysportscar editor Graham Goodwin were unsuccessful, he was physically removed by three Audi gorilla’s from standing outside the paddock site of their allocated pit boxes.

With lots of members of the media trying to find a place to sleep and several parties still going strong there was drama out on the track. At 2.15 am the safety car was sent out when the #99 Audi Sport Team Phoenix hit the wall at Les Combes. The car was returned to the paddock on the back of a transporter – the end of that car’s ambition to win at Spa. 30 minutes after it came out the safety car came back in, but just 16 minutes later it was back out when the AutOrlando Sport Porsche crashed at the Radillon. Another 23 minutes were lost behind the safety car.
At the midway point of the race it was still the #33 Audi that was leading, now ahead of the BMW #76 and the Vita4One Ferrari #2.

Towards dawn there wasn’t a lot of action on track, other than some unwanted collisions between the #23 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS and the #1 Vita4One Ferrari at Pouhon as well as the #16 KRK Mercedes and the #41 Marc VDS Ford at Blanchimont. The United Autosports Audi was quickly repaired in the pit, the #1 was more seriously damaged and was retired not much later in the race – with a broken gearbox. The #41 dropped from tenth at the midway point to 35th at 5.30 pm – just when it had started raining again. Half an hour later the top three remained unchanged.

In GT4 the Lotus that was leading retired just after 9 in the morning when it was reported to have suffered a fire at the pit exit. As a result the RJN Motorsport Nissan moved back into the lead. ProSpeed retired the second of its cars with a clutch problem, resulting in no Porsches in the top 10.

The next to hit trouble was the #55 Graff Mercedes as it came to a stop at Stavelot. It was unable to rejoin and abandoned at the spot. In the pit the #2 Vita4One Ferrari suffered problems whilst trying to restart. After being checked by mechanics the car eventually managed to get back – but only after its engine was started without all the wheels on the ground. This resulted in the team being given a drive-through just after returning to second position just before the end of the eighteenth hour.

Unfortunately for Vita4One the radio on the #2 car did not work anymore and Louis Machiels for some reason did not see his team doing whatever they could to show him he had to come in. The team manager even running to the finish tower to signal him. After passing the pit on his final attempt the car was black flagged. On the next time by Machiels finally came in – but not to go to the penalty box but to do his drive through. A lap later he did stop and the gesture by the official at the penalty box said it all – the second placed car was excluded from the event. As Machiels parked his car at the Vita4One box the faces said it all. The #4 Hexis AMR Aston moved up to third place as a result, with the #76 BMW moving firmly into second. In Pro-Am the exclusion of the #2 Ferrari meant the battle between SOFREV ASP and Team Preci Spark was now for the class lead.

DB Motorsport lost their #44 BMW Z4 GT3 when Harrie Kolen slammed into the wall at the Bus Stop, no other cars involved. With marshals still on the track the #22 Sport Garage Ferrari managed to get in trouble just a few meters further down the road – the car briefly blocking the pit lane. It was retired not much later.
There was also contact between the #4 Hexis AMR Aston and the #23 United Autosports Audi – the #23 coming into the pit with damage to the rear of the Audi. At 1 pm there was no change in the top three, but there was soon to be as the #4 Aston was in with power steering issues – unrelated to its incident with the #23 Audi. At 2 pm it was already down in 13th place with the #35 Black Falcon Mercedes having taken its place in the top 3. The #888 Manthey Racing Porsche was back in the top 10.

But with just 1 hours and 40 minutes left in the race the Porsche suddenly burst into flames as it left the box. Westbrook quickly parked the #888 at the pit entry, briefly blocking the #43 BMW Z4 GT3. Soon after the Hexis AMR car returned to the pit soon after its long stop, with smoke or steam pouring from the Aston.

In the final hour the #32 Audi rapidly closed in on the Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 and with just under 20 minutes to go the Audi R8 LMS was all over the rear wing of the Mercedes…but then it pulled into the pit for a splash-and-dash. When it returned to the track the Mercedes was long gone and as the Audi did not push afterwards the Mercedes-Benz was able to secure the podium finish.

After 24 hours – 1 hour and 46 minutes of which behind the safety car – the #33 Audi R8 LMS of Greg Franchi, Mattias Ekstrom and Timo Scheider crossed the line to take the first 24 hour race win for Audi. Four abreast the R8’s crossed the line. The Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW finished second and the Black Falcon Mercedes took third.

In Pro-Am it was the #20 SOFREV ASP Ferrari – ahead of the Team Preci Spark Mercedes and the #50 AF Corse Ferrari. Gentlemen Trophy was won by the Level Racing Porsche, whilst RJN Motorsport won the Spa 24 Hours in GT4.