A brief flurry of heavy rain around 11am on Sunday morning at the Spa 24 Hours saw first the recovering #28 WRT Audi and then the top-three-running #6 Phoenix car take a gamble on wet tyres, but the precipitation appeared to ease almost as soon as it had started and Maxime Soulet’s next scheduled stop saw four slicks go on to the #8 Continental GT3 and Andy Soucek taking over the wheel.
Mies in the #6 was soon seeking out damp patches on the track, Audi appearing to have made the wrong call here, and when Maxime Martin brought in the #99 ROWE BMW for its next stop, it was also given four slicks (Martin also handing the car to Sims once more).
The Pro-Am battle this year at Spa hasn’t featured as close to the front of the field as it has previously, but it’s no less competitive for that, with the #76 IMSA Porsche and #74 ISR Audi trading places for much of the night. The #666 Lamborghini (with Oliver Gavin on board with around five hours to go) was a lap and a bit in arrears. Long-time Am Cup leader the #888 Kessel Ferrari showed no signs of faltering, with Vadim Gitlin at the wheel around the same time.
Mies’ lap times on the drying circuit (high 2:30s compared to low 2:20s for the leaders) gave further confirmation that wets were the wrong move, the race now looked increasingly liked a straight BMW vs Bentley fight to the end. Gary Paffett in the #86 Mercedes (above) took advantage of this by catching and passing Vanthoor in the #28 Audi (also on wets) for fourth on track.
The rain then got heavier in the area of the first sector of the track, but runners on dry tyres were still setting competitive times due to the second and third sectors. The decision on what tyres to take was then momentarily postponed when Mies’ #6 car dramatically went up in flames (above) on the way out of Pouhon, its overworked wet tyres seemingly having failed and damaged bodywork in the process. Mies got out okay, but the car’s race was done.
A full-course yellow was immediately called and the #8 Bentley came into the pits for wets, but the #99 BMW stayed out, Sims circulating carefully on slicks under FCY in increasingly treacherous conditions. The team eventually threw in the towel and called him in for wets as the weather showed now signs of improving, but the stop also involved a second brake change, with the #99 having already done its five-minute technical stop.
Elsewhere the #88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes had risen steadily through the order since its early-race penalty and was promoted to a potential podium position by Mies’ retirement.
With the stops completed and the track back to green, Soucek kept his head and the lead in the #8. He was initially 50 seconds or so up the road from Sims’ BMW, but the Brit was lapping considerably faster and halved the gap in two laps. Also lapping quickly was fourth-place Laurens Vanthoor in the #28 Audi, which had pitted for fresh wet tyres after Mies’ dramatic retirement.
The weather situation began to change again as we approached the four-hours-to-go-mark and there was another FCY. The #101 Attempto Lamborghini and #11 Kessel Ferrari came together under braking for La Source, with the Kessel car leaving its rear diffuser behind in the runoff area and the Lamborghini continuing up Eau Rouge with front-end damage, before coming to a halt over the blind brow on driver’s left.
The combination of a drying track and full-course yellow raised the possibility of pit stops to change to slicks, and the Bentley duly came in on lap 439, but with the track still not quite dry enough, four more slicks went on as Soulet took back over from Soucek. Sims took the lead once more in the #99 BMW.
Further down the top 10, Goetz was fifth in the #86 HTP Mercedes, Werner sixth in the #98 ROWE BMW, Lathouras seventh in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari, Buhk in the #84 HTP Mercedes, Guilvert in the #26 Sainteloc Audi and Bleekemolen 10th in the #16 Grasser Lamborghini. Narac in the Pro-Am #76 IMSA Porsche, now a dominant class leader was now 11th and within 50 seconds of the Lambo ahead.
The race for the other Pro-Am positions was still very much on, though, with the #74 ISR Audi and #666 Lamborghini being caught by Matt Griffin in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari (above) in fourth. Third was gifted to him when Jon Minshaw had an off in the Barwell car part-way through the 21st hour of the race.
With just over three and a half hours to go, both ROWE BMWs came in for slick tyres, the #98 just ahead of the #99, with the latter actually having to queue for a few seconds before moving into the pit box. Sims stayed aboard that car, while Catsburg took over the #98 from Werner. Their change to slicks was shortly after justified by Pasin Lathouras spinning at Eau Rouge after a left-rear wet failed on the #50 Ferrari. The car stayed out of the barriers but faced a long and tricky almost-full lap back to the pits.
Debris scattered by this effort led the race director to declare a short FCY again, with just under three hours 30 to run. That hadn’t been lifted long when the #23 Nissan pulled to a halt on the start-finish straight, prompting the yellows to appear again, good news for Sims, who pitted the #99 BMW for scheduled fuel and tyres.
The news wasn’t so good for Bentley, as the #8 wasn’t able to make its stop until the track had gone back to green, putting the BMW into a lead of around 40 seconds with very little more than three hours to go.
