1733: Vanthoor pits the leading #1 WRT Audi for the first time and hands over the car to Winkelhock. Maxime Martin inherits the lead in the #66 VDS BMW.
1735: The #188 Fach Auto Tech Porsche has been dealt a drive-through penalty to add to the car’s woes.
1735: Martin pits the #66, Farfus climbs aboard for his first stint, Winkelhock regains the lead as the cycle ends.The #50 AF Corse Ferrari has slipped to fifth from second, but it still leads Pro-Am. It is now an Audi 1-2-3.
1741: Mies in the #3 WRT Audi takes sec on place from Ortelli’s #26 Sainteloc R8.
1745: Knap continues to fall down the order, the #50 get’s passed by the #66 VDS BMW of Farfus at Pouhon and now sits sixth.
1747: Werner in the sister #77 VDS BMW has caught Ortelli’s Sainteloc Audi for third place overall.
1750: Lotterer is the next driver to get past Knap in the #50 AF Corse. The #2 WRT Audi is now up to sixth in the standings.
1750: DSC spoke to Laurens Vanthoor after his first stint in the #1 Audi: “Everything’s going to plan, but tyre degradation is very high at the moment, it’s a stretch to do a single stint on a set of tyres.”
1755: After starting dead last and suffering a puncture, Parente has managed to get the #98 ART McLaren back into the top 40 once again.
1759: The battle for third overall between Werner (#77) and Ortelli (#26) continues, but the VDS BMW loses out in traffic, giving Ortelli some breathing room.
1801: So after an hour and a half of racing here at Spa, the top four are separated by less than 20 seconds on track.
1802: A huge incident at Radillon, the #100 SMP Ferrari with Maleev at the wheel has hit the tyres on the outside after losing the car on the way up the hill. He’s out of the car, it’s an on the spot retirement.
1805: Safety Car deployed.
18:19: Green flag out and after a few stops and just under 15 minutes of stoppage we are under way again.
18:20: Safety Car out again, after another big shunt involving the #101 Von Ryan McLaren of Tim Mullen (as shown on timing) at Blanchimont, seconds after the race restarted.
1847: Green flag again, the driver has been taken to the medical centre, updates on his condition to follow.
1848: And yet another accident, safety car deployed for a third time. The #15 Boutsen McLaren of Karim Ojjeh off at Radillon. Ojjeh backed into the tyre wall on the outside, meanwhile the #85 HTP SLS of Maassen had a spin in avoidance. Ojjeh got out of the car, it is another retirement. Meanwhile Jörg Muller in the #66 VDS car hit the #11 Kessel Ferrari from behind going into La Source, damaging the front-right of the BMW significantly.
1901: Green Flag. Stippler now leads a WRT 1-2-3 in the #3 Audi ahead of the sister #2 of Treluyer and the #1 of Rast.
1903: Yet again, the safety car is out after another incident at Radillon, multiple cars off this time including the Beechdean Aston Martin with Andrew Howard aboard, the #85 HTP Mercedes of Maassen, Demirdjian’s #16 Boutsen McLaren, Müller’s #458 Rinaldi Ferrari and Danyliw’s #50 AF Corse Ferrari.
1913: The stewards are investigating the incident involving the #66 and #11 at La Source.
1917: Spectator video footage shows the #50 having a spin at Eau Rouge, facing back down the track, causing at least four cars to hit the Ferrari.
1928: MP Motorsport’s Joe Osborne just told Radio Le Mans: “I think we need to consider Code-60 here, because at Dubai this doesn’t happen as much.”
1932: Statement from McLaren: “Tim Mullen, the driver of the #101 Von Ryan Racing McLaren 12C GT3, is out of the car and conscious following the incident. He has been taken to a local hospital for precautionary tests.”
1934: Andrew Howard, who was driving the Beechdean Aston at the time of the last incident, has been taken to hospital, and is being treated for a suspected concussion.
1935: Both the #11 Kessel Ferrari and #66 VDS BMW are back on track with the damage repaired.
Stephen Kilbey
Hour 2 & 3 – 17:30 – 19:30
My use of the word ‘relatively’ in my description of the first hour was somewhat prescient, as the second hour was incident-packed. At least the second half of the second hour was. The first half-hour was characterised by the second drivers getting into their strides, and the emergence of Audi at the front of the field with Winkelhock (replacing Vanthoor) and Mies (staying at the wheel) quickly passing Ortelli in the Saintéloc Audi.
Then at just after 6pm, the (two) Safety Cars were summoned as a result of a big incident at Raidillon for the no. 100 SMP Ferrari with Vyacheslav Maleev at the wheel. He caught the kerb on the right-handed, second element of the Eau Rouge sequence, unsettling the car and causing him to lose control and hit the barriers on the left. Maleev exited quickly, as other cars passed left and right, initially at seemingly unabated speed.
It took 17 minutes to clear up, but as soon as the green flags waved, the Safety cars were out again following another accident at Blanchimont that claimed the Von Ryan Racing McLaren being driven by Tim Mullen.
At the close of the hour the Safety Cars were still out, and second pit stops were imminent for all.
The third hour provided virtually no racing laps, because the waving of the green flag merely caused renewed accidents. First the good news: although both Tim Mullen and Andrew Howard have both been taken to hospital, they are reportedly conscious but needing further checks.
The first incident of the hour was the no. 15 Boutsen Ginion McLaren going off at Raidillon with Karim Ojjeh driving. At the same time, at the entrance to La Source, Jörg Müller inexplicably drove into the back of the no. 11 Kessel Ferrari of Giacomo Piccini, causing damage to both cars. The BMW lost 7 laps being repaired.
Just after 7pm, the green flag was shown again, but Andrew Danyliw, in the no. 50 AF Corse Ferrari, caused further mayhem and collected Howard in the Beechdean Aston Martin, the no. 85 HTP Mercedes of Maassen, Demirdjian’s no. 16 Boutsen McLaren, and Tim Müller’s in the no. 458 Rinaldi Ferrari.
The Safety Cars were deployed for the fourth time, and remained out for the remainder of the hour.
However, most of the leaders still had to make pit stops, and the sequence of those stops may yet prove decisive: the WRT Audis came in first, in the order 2, 3, 1, then the Saintéloc Audi, and finally the no. 77 Marc VDS BMW.
PT
