2018 TOTAL 24hrs of Spa…

The 70th edition of the Total 24 Hours of Spa race (Round 7 of the Blancpain GT Series) began with drama…

The #1 WRT Audi R8 LMS, setting the fastest time by 0.6s in the top-20 SuperPole qualifying shootout at the hands of Dries Vanthoor, would be excluded from the session due to a technical infringement. Scrutineering deemed that the modifications to its air intake gave an advantage in performance and thus the car was forced to start ahead of cars that did not participate in the SuperPole (and handed a 3-minute stop-and-go penalty). As a result, the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage driven by Maxime Martin in SuperPole would inherit pole position in the grid of 63 cars and 221 drivers.

Miguel Molina at the wheel of the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 488 would lead the race after the first hour and while the polesitter (#62) would reclaim the lead as the second hour elapsed, it and its sister car (#76) would both be plagued by heavy brake wear as well as numerous punctures later in the race. By a quarter of the way through, in spite of having a performance balancing ballast, the van der Linde brothers and Jeffrey Schmidt (#29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS) would head the field after exploiting its joker pit stop earlier in the race as well as a strategic pit stop under a full-course yellow. Kelvin van der Linde would be able to extend his lead after the race went back to green.

In the early hours of the following morning, the 24 Hours of Spa would be red-flagged for over an hour due to an accident between Andy Meyrick’s #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 and Jürgen Krebs’ #666 Attempto Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 at Raidillon. Both drivers were alert and understood to have sustained fractures but otherwise their injuries were not life-threatening though they were rushed to intensive care due to the “high speed nature” of the collision. After the restart the #34 Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3 and the #29 Land Audi would gain considerable advantages by minimising time lost for a mandatory pit-stop as they were able exploit rules permitting the stop under yellow flag conditions following another accident involving the #90 AKKA Auto Sport Mercedes AMG GT3.

Three-quarters of the way into the race the #25 Sainteloc Audi R8 LMS would be pursued by the #34 Walkernhorst BMW M6 GT3 and while in contention for victory a late pit stop cost the #25 car a considerable amount of time. 24 hours, 511 laps and a world of attrition later, Philipp Eng would claim the chequered flag along with his team mates Tom Blomqvist and Christian Krognes – Walkernhost’s first victory in the event was also its first entry in the Pro category and handed BMW its 23^rdvictory in the 24 Hours of Spa. Alexander Sims, Kens Klingmann and Nicky Catsburg of the #99 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GTR secured a 1-2 finish for BMW, just 10 seconds behind the winner. Kelvin van der Linde, Sheldon van der Linde and Jeffrey Schmidt in the #29 Land Audi took the final step of the podium in the Pro category. Overall the 2018 Total 24 Hours of Spa was one of the closest-fought as the top-5 finishes completed the race on the same lap.

Round 8 of the Blancpain GT Series will run from 31^stAugust to 2^ndSeptember at the Hungaroring.