1435: With less than two hours to run, the #1 Audi crew unsurprisingly aren’t getting ahead of themselves, but barring major incident the Vanthoor/Winkelhock/Rast combination is looking on course for the win. A faulty electrical system has left the #77 Marc VDS BMW drivers battling against a lack of ABS or traction control.
1441: The third-place #3 Audi is taken into the garage very briefly for another brake change.
1449: Dirk Werner getting ready to take the #77 BMW to the flag. Palttala in the car at the moment.
1451: Pitstop for the leading #1 Audi – and it, too, goes for a brake change.
1456: Werner emerges in the lead in the #77 as the #1 gets caught in a gaggle of traffic.
1459: The gap at the front with 90 minutes to go is just eight seconds, and Rast is a second quicker in the first sector.
1502: Pro-Am is a good battle, too, with #53 AF Corse Ferrari (currently driven by Hommerson) leading the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW (currently driven by factory star Sims) less than 10 seconds behind. Third in the class is another AF Corse Ferrari – the #52 currently with Aussie V8 legend Craig Lowndes driving.
1513: We’ve been handed an official statement on the condition of Marcus Mahy, driver of the #111 Kessel Ferrari who was airlifted to hospital last night. He’s conscious, responding to impulses and able to move his limbs. He will remain in hospital in Liege for the time being.
1519: In the meantime, Rast has retaken the lead and is pulling out a gap.
1525: Long-time Gentlemen Trophy leader the #49 AF Corse Ferrari is now third in that class, with the lead now held by the sister #51 AF Corse car, currently driven by Francisco Guedes, who’ll take home a hefty haul of points for his and co-driver Peter Mann’s full-season BES campaign should things stay as they are.
1542: Bas Leinders reports: “Not much we can do – we push as much as we can. We were leading twice but unable to hold position. Double-stinting the tyres would be a risk, as the degredation is quite high now that it’s getting warm again.”
1550: Marc VDS has a final roll of the dice – deciding to double-stint the tyres at the last moment.
1600: I think it’s going to end in a really close finish,” says Rast’s co-driver Winkelhock, “but they do have a disadvantage in lap time with the used tyres.” There are 30 minutes remaining, Rast is 15 seconds behind Werner and circulating 3-4 seconds a lap quicker.
1611: A scary moment for Rast who almost clips the GDL Mercedes while lapping it at the exit of Pouhon. Traffic still with the potential to cause trouble at this late stage.
1614: And Rast is through to the lead (above), despite some heroic defensive efforts from Werner. It looks like this is our result. Leinders: “He tried to close the door, it’s good they didn’t touch. It was a nice little battle, but okay the Audi’s a little quicker. We’ll just follow now and see what happens – still 14 minutes to go!”
1617: Meanwhile in Pro-Am, Sims continues to push hard in the Ecurie Ecosse BMW, but is still 21 seconds adrift of Louis Machiels in the #53 AF Corse Ferrari. It looks like this battle could be decided, too.
1630:
And that’s a wrap – #1 WRT Audi of Rast/Winkelhock/Vanthoor wins ahead of #77 Marc VDS BMW of Luhr/Werner/Palttala and #3 WRT of Mies/Nash/Stippler.
The #53 AF Corse Ferrari of Bertolini/Hommerson/Machiels/Cioci wins Pro-Am ahead of the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW of McCaig/Smith/Bryant/Sims – their best-ever BES result. Third in Pro-Am is another Ferrari, the #52 AF Corse of Lowndes/Wyatt/Rugolo/Piccini. These top three Pro-Am cars finished sixth, seventh and eighth in the overall classification.
The Gentlemen Trophy win goes the way of Talkanitsa/Guedes/Mazard/Mann in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari. The #22 Team Parker Audi and #49 AF Corse Ferrari were second and third.
Race result
1 Rast/Vanthoor/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 527 laps
2 Luhr/Werner/Palttala (BMW) + 7.077s
3 Mies/Nash/Stippler (Audi R8 LMS ultra) – 1 lap
4 Guilvert/Ortelli/Sandström (Audi R8 LMS ultra) – 2 laps
5 Buhk/Götz/Jaafar (Mercedes) – 4 laps
6 Hommerson/Machiels/Bertolini/Cioci (Ferrari) – 7 laps
7 Smith/McCaig/Bryant/Sims (BMW) – 7 laps
8 Wyatt/Rugolo/Lowndes/Piccini (Ferrari) – 8 laps
9 Schneider/Primat/Verdonck (Mercedes) – 9 laps
10 Abra/Osborne/Poole/Turner (Aston Martin) – 10 laps
12 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R8 LMS ultra) – 11 laps
14 Basseng/Hamprecht/Salaquarda (Audi R8 LMS ultra) – 13 laps
20 Blanchemain/Bouvy/Kelders/Radermecker (Audi R8 LMS ultra) – 20 laps
28 Loggie/Machitski/Rosenblad/Westwood (Audi R8 LMS ultra) – 30 laps
SE
