As usual the Spa 24 Hours race week kicked-off with the cars parading down to the town, giving fans a chance to see the 60+ GT cars driving on public roads. It was also a chance for everyone to get up close and personal to the teams and drivers ahead of the big race.
DSC caught up with just a few of the drivers to discuss the upcoming race and their thoughts and feelings about the fan-friendly atmosphere the Spa 24 provides:
“The car’s suited to Spa really,” said Steven Jelley, who’s piloting the Oman Aston Martin this season. “It’s great through the high speed and slow speed areas. We are a bit lacking on top end pace, but we are really confident we can achieve a good result.
“The Pro Cup is so competitive here now, it’s a quality field. It’s going to be tough to get through to Super Pole, but we will be satisfied if we manage that. But it is a race of attrition at the end of the day – there’s always a high number of cars that hit problems here for some reason.
“This is the second time I have done the Spa 24, I did it back in 2012. It’s a cool atmosphere, driving the car into town and allowing all these people to see it. It’s very important for the event to be able to interact with all the people in the local towns like this. Motorsport events sometimes aren’t all that popular with the local people so It’s important to give something back.”
Another team coming into the event with a lot of confidence are M-Sport Bentley, fresh from winning at both Paul Ricard and Silverstone in the Blancpain Endurance series.
This event will be the first 24 hour race for the Continental GT3, but they have managed to get a lot of testing done before the event, including a 24 hour test, so still believe that they have a good shot at winning the event.
“It’s always good to come into the 24 with some success. But Bentley has come back after such a long time away, and even with such a good start to the season, we have been knocked back by the BoP [Balance of Performance] tweaks after the test day, so we aren’t entirely sure how the car will perform,” Steven Kane, driving the #7 Bentley told DSC. “We are going to find out in the first couple of sessions where we are.
“It’s great to see so much buzz around our team at the parade this year, I can tell that it is much busier than last year, which is great. But it’s important for us to concentrate on the race now, focusing on the job at hand.”
After a disappointing outing at the Nürburgring last month, BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS are back in full swing for their second attempt at winning a 24 hour race this season. They are eager to get a good result on home soil, but as Jorg Muller – who was lucky enough to drive the #66 Z4 to the town centre – explained, it will be no easy task.
“We’ve been testing at Spa at the Blancpain test, and the car feels good,” said Muller. “There are however some little issues with the setup which we must work on. The team isn’t really in with the car this year, after just doing the Nürburg 24 Hours and now Spa without a full championship the setup is just so different that it will take some time to adjust.
“Driving down to the city centre was amazing. It’s so crowded, and the car is extremely noisy when you don’t have earplugs in! We saw at the autograph session that we are definitely popular with the local fans, we are definitely a Belgian team.”
Stephen Kilbey
