news: sportscars

27.07.2003  PROXIMUS 24 HOURS OF SPA: BIAGI AND BOBBI'S WINNING STREAK COMES TO AN END AS ENGINE FAILURE HITS THE FERRARI


PROXIMUS 24 HOURS OF SPA: AFTER 12 HOURS

Night time action from SpaWeather and track conditions changed over and over, as the nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS and the nr 1 Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper swapped the lead several times. From 22:00 to 04:00 a lot of cars ran into technical problems or visited the gravel traps, while the safety car showed up three more times. But the biggest news was the official retirement of the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello, due to engine problems. This stopped the winning streak of Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi who had won all the first five rounds of the Championship.

At mid race, 34 cars were still running. The nr 50 Porsche of Ortelli, Lieb and Dumas was leading the race and the N-GT with a margin of 90 seconds ahead of the first of the GT class, the nr 1 Chrysler of Bouchut, Huisman, Vosse and Dumez. 

At the end of the third safety car period, the nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche was still leading both the overall classification and the N-GT Class. At 22:30 BMS Scuderia Italia officially retired their nr 23 Ferrari 550, which had been in the pits for some time due to engine problems. The fight for the lead intensified, as the nr 1 Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper and the nr 9 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 were chasing the leading Porsche. A few minutes before the seventh hour expired, the nr 68 Peter Kutemann Ferrari 360 crashed at the Raidillon and retired. This accident brought the safety car out for the sixth time.

The race resumed half an hour later, still under heavy rain. Five minutes after midnight the nr. 73 Seikel Motorsport Porsche, which was 10th in the N-GT Class, came into the pits and retired because of a technical problem. Just afterwards the nr 84 T2M Motorsport Porsche went off into a gravel trap, and the safety car reappeared for the seventh time. The neutralization lasted only 15 minutes and the race restarted at 00:27. The following hour was relatively calm: the rain had stopped and the drivers were very cautious on the slippery track. Then, at 01:35, the nr 6 Creation Autosportif Lister Storm and the nr 67 Autorlando Sport Porsche collided at Blanchimont. Bobby Verdon Roe managed to get back to the pits at the wheel of the British car, despite extensive damage. On the contrary, Marco Facchetti’s Porsche stopped on the track, and the safety car intervened for the eighth time to retrieve it.

The green light restarted the race at 02:06. Eight minutes later, race leader Christophe Bouchut came back into the pits in his nr 1 Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper; the crew changed the windscreen wiper and fixed the bonnet with bands of adhesive tape. The weather changed to drizzle and the nr 5 Force One Chrysler Viper was given a drive-through penalty because a mechanic changed the windscreen wipers during the refuelling; the car was lying in 9th position overall and 5th in the GT Class. This was the beginning of a series of stops due to electrical and transmission problems. The nr 89 TMC Ferrari 360 was also in trouble, and came into the pits to change the gearbox.

Despite intermittent light rain, the racing lines were drying. Twenty minutes before the end of the 11th hour, some cars pitted for slick tyres, including the leading nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche. The nr 1 Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper took the lead again, but it was still on rain tyres and this enabled the nr 50 Porsche to reduce the gap by several seconds per lap. The nr 1 Chrysler pitted again for slick tyres at 03:07, and this resulted in the 15th lead change with the nr 50 Porsche back in command. At the wheel of the nr 17 Larbre Competiton Chrysler Viper, Vanina Ickx emerged as the fastest driver with slick tyres on the damp track, and recovered several positions. 

At 03:23 the nr 5 Force One Chrysler Viper stopped at the Eau Rouge, then rejoined and came back into the pits with gearbox problems. At 03:30 two cars went off the track and remained stuck in the gravel traps almost at the same time. The nr 74 Team Eurotech Porsche at Stavelot, the nr 61 EMKA Racing Porsche at Rivages. Both cars rejoined after a few minutes, but the nr 61 Porsche lost the third position overall and dropped down to 10th. Rain intensified again as the first half of the race was expiring. 

At 04:00, after 12 hours of racing, the second allocation of Championship points took place.  Larbre Competition claimed 6.5 points in GT, with Lister Racing adding 2.5 to their score.  However, both BMS Scuderia Italia and the Bobbi/Biagi duo still have a healthy lead.  In N-GT, maximum points for the nr 50 Freisinger Porsche increased the Championship lead of Ortelli and Lieb. 


Race after 12 Hours
Pos Car Class Drivers Car Time Laps Gap Avg speed
1
50
N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 12:00:42.134 220 169,682
2
1
GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 12:02:07.998 220 1:25.864 178,293
3
9
GT JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 12:02:02.523 217 3 T 178,080
4
24
GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 12:01:55.620 216 4 T 172,055
5
72
N-GT Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3 12:03:18.272 216 1:22.652 167,312
6
126
G2 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTSR 12:01:51.702 215 5 T 174,963
7
15
GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 12:02:20.146 215 0:28.444 176,384
8
22
GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello 12:01:13.947 214 6 T 176,801
9
61
N-GT EMKA Racing Porsche GT3 12:01:21.008 214 0:07.061 170,697
10
57
N-GT Menx Ferrari 360 Modena 12:00:47.166 213 7 T 164,266
11
17
GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 12:01:58.328 213 1:11.162 169,905
12
77
N-GT RWS Yukos Motorsport Porsche GT3 12:02:28.109 213 1:40.943 169,191
13
117
G3 Land Motorsport Porsche GT3 12:02:24.225 210 10 T 162,383
14
102
G2 AD Sport Porsche GT3 12:02:24.650 209 11 T 163,381
15
74
N-GT Team Eurotech Porsche GT3 12:01:25.901 207 13 T 167,326
16
160
G2 Ice Pol Racing Team Porsche GT3 12:02:33.713 205 15 T 161,548
17
105
G2 RTM Porsche 996 12:02:44.430 205 0:10.717 155,906
18
11
GT Roos Optima Racing Team Chrysler Viper 11:53:25.036 203 17 T 172,952
19
53
N-GT JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena 12:01:17.217 203 7:52.181 167,251
20
89
N-GT Team Maranello UK Ferrari 360 Modena 12:01:23.510 203 7:58.474 169,283
22
110
G3 Almeras Freres Porsche GT3 12:01:47.920 201 19 T 160,283
23
106
G2 Escelsior Chevrolet C5-R 12:02:19.138 201 0:31.218 174,940
24
113
G3 James Ruffier Porsche GT3 12:03:03.259 200 20 T 160,783
25
69
N-GT Proton Competition Porsche GT3 12:00:21.083 196 24 T 160,797
26
7
GT Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R 12:00:38.153 195 25 T 176,096
27
66
N-GT Autorlando Sport Porsche GT3 12:02:15.451 195 1:37.298 167,758
28
100
G2 Racing Team Belgium Vertigo Streiff 12:00:42.741 194 26 T 160,449
29
111
G3 Signa Racing Team Porsche GT3 12:00:49.422 192 28 T 150,880
30
171
G2 Didier Caradec Porsche GT3 12:01:16.641 189 31 T 150,973
31
5
GT Force One Racing Festina Chrysler Viper 11:18:39.838 188 32 T 171,711
32
118
G3 Campus Automobile Lotus Elise 12:02:47.045 173 47 T 147,944
33
67
N-GT Autorlando Sport Porsche GT3 09:21:37.710 162 58 T 165,971
34
6
GT Creation Autosportif Lister Storm 09:25:10.530 152 68 T 177,374
35
109
G2 Van Moerkerke Laurent Porsche GT3 08:46:10.391 146 74 T 157,485
36
84
N-GT T2M Motorsport Porsche GT3 07:56:04.981 128 92 T 162,865
37
25
GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 12:01:02.195 124 96 T 171,567
38
73
N-GT Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3 06:40:11.468 115 105 T 165,912
39
68
N-GT Peter Kutemann Ferrari 360 Modena 06:41:17.565 111 109 T 161,705
40
88
N-GT Team Maranello UK Ferrari 360 Modena 05:55:14.527 104 116 T 169,731
41
52
N-GT JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena 05:08:20.353 96 124 T 170,852
42
14
GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 04:53:17.358 93 127 T 179,338
43
16
GT Wieth Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 05:03:52.729 87 133 T 172,240
44
23
GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello 04:28:29.366 81 139 T 178,223
45
104
G2 Perspective Racing Mosler MT 900 04:14:42.265 75 145 T 170,051
46
2
GT Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R 04:15:29.084 74 146 T 177,239
47
51
N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 02:48:28.926 52 168 T 168,476
48
107
G2 Aero Racing Morgan Aero 8 02:48:18.939 45 175 T 158,837
49
103
G2 Darro Motor Racing Seat Toledo 02:11:23.349 38 182 T 171,175
50
75
N-GT Team Eurotech Porsche GT3 01:49:00.042 33 187 T 162,158
51
115
G3 JMT Racing BMW Z3 01:14:21.920 23 197 T 150,717
52
18
GT Zwaan's Racing Chrysler Viper 00:48:47.753 17 203 T 172,148
53
4
GT Force One Racing Festina Chrysler Viper 00:43:59.175 12 208 T 177,380

After twelve hours of racing at Spa the no22 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello lies in eighth place

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