Into the final three hours and finally the race became, a race!
Maxime Martin covered Maxime Soulet’s attack, the gap hovering at around 30+ seconds with Laurens Vanthoor closing the gap to the Bentley to just over 20 seconds before having to pit. Nico Muller picked up the baton and emerged still ahead of Gary Paffett in the #86 AMG in the still well-alight battle for the final podium place.
Behind this battle were two other cars still in contention: Vautier in the #88 Mercedes 20 seconds further back with Catsburg in the #98 ROWE BMW an almost identical distance behind.
The Am-class-leading #51 Ferrari hit further trouble with a right-rear puncture after contact from the rear from a Lamborghini, the debris from the incident littering the Bus Stop and bringing out FCY number 13, a short one this time, just three minutes 30 seconds then back to green. The #51 made it safely back to the pits and the marshals found yet more pieces for their home-built Ferrari GT3 project!
That put the #888 Kessel Racing 458 into the lead of the class, 36th overall with the #51 emerging second in class, now two laps back on the new class leader.
Muller though was on pitlane as the race went back to green due to a right-rear puncture, with Paffett up to third. The Audi lost three places and emerged 67 seconds back from now third-placed Paffett and with the pit stop under investigation, too! As the race went green, the lead gap was down to just 20 seconds.
Duncan Cameron though, second in Pro-Am, was in trouble, damage front and rear for the #52 Ferrari after losing the car, possibly as a result of a puncture, then further woe as the car came through the Bus Stop, tried to head for the pit but was unwittingly blocked by the leader coming through to complete a lap and was forced to go around again before pitting, dropping out of a podium position as he did so.
The car re-emerged way down the field, Cameron still aboard but then stopped ay the Bus Stop, Duncan seemingly unable to steer effectively and pitting again immediately.
With just over two hours remaining, 12 different cars had led the 2016 Spa 24 Hours, with over 50 changes of leader. Paffett was steadily drawing away from Vautier and the second AMG man was doing the same to Catsburg.
With two hours eight minutes remaining, the leader pitted, the Bentley inherited the lead, 21 seconds back as the BMW pitted. Gary Paffett meanwhile had been working to unlap himself, the latest stop for #99 making that an even closer proposition.
The remainder of the leading group all pitted next time around, Soucek now aboard the Bentley, Goetz in #86, Rosenqvist in #88, Werner in #98 with Muller cycling back to third for now in the #28, but then dealt a drive-through for the earlier pit-stop infringement, a podium prospect looking more and more distant.
The lead with just under two hours to go was 24 seconds, Martin from Soucek. Muller emerged from the drive-through right ahead of Goetz, the pair completing the lap four tenths apart.
The seventh-place #84 Mercedes was the latest to receive a drive-through for a pit stop infringement. The third-place battle was being caught by a rampant Rosenqvist as Goetz looked for a way around the Audi.
BMW’s #98 car meanwhile was struggling, apparently stuck in fourth gear, Werner dropping into the clutches of Baumann in a looming battle for seventh. There was also trouble for the #58 McLaren, a small fire at the rear of the car with the #98 BMW’s times falling off a cliff, too.
The #98 was pitted, garaged, and seemingly retired on the spot. Meanwhile, a surprise stop for Soucek saw the second-place car take a right-rear tyre only.
Muller pitted to hand over the #28 Audi to Rast, Goetz immediately up to third in the #86, Rosenqvist now 10 seconds back in #88.
A brief (90-second) FCY to clear debris on track (possibly after a rather dramatic spin on the run down to the Bus Stop from the #78 Barwell Lamborghini) saw no significant changes.
With 63 minutes left, the final routine pit stops began: Rosenqvist first in, from fourth in the #88 followed by the leader, Martin out of the #99 and Sims aboard for the run to the flag.
At 60 minutes left, the #8 Bentley team manager was amongst a gaggle requested to race control. Baumann (#84 AMG, sixth) and Goetz (#86 AMG, third) pitted next, Jafaar climbing aboard the #84, Goetz staying aboard #86.
Soucek would lead, for now at least (by c.35 seconds) as Narac pitted for the final time in the Pro-Am-leading #76 IMSA Performance Porsche from eighth, Maxime Jousse climbing in to finish the race.
Soucek brought #8 down pitlane from the lead with 54 minutes remaining, #99 back to the lead. Next up for the list of ‘maybes’ was the #86, the third-placed car’s last pit stop under investigation.
Rast had clearly got the message about potential issues for the #86 and piled on the coal for a final push, taking time out of Rosenqvist.
Disaster though for the #8: the Bentley dealt its fourth drive-through penalty of the race, this time for an FCY infringement (adding to a pair for driver stint time and another for a pit-stop infringement).
Very dark clouds were gathering and the temperature WAS plummeting as the 40 minutes to go mark approached. And with Soucek having served his drive-through, the order was #99 (Sims) looking to lap #8 (Soucek), 9.5 seconds ahead of #86 (Goetz), 9.5 seconds ahead of #88 (Rosenqvist), who was 8.5 seconds ahead of the #28 (Rast)!
Sims was looking for a way by Soucek into Les Combes with 35 minutes left, but Rast was closing very fast on Rosenqvist, just three seconds back. At 32 minutes left, rain started to fall on parts of the circuit and then got heavier, but some parts of the lap remained bone-dry.
With 29 minutes to go, #8 pitted for wets, followed down pitlane by the #99 as torrential rain fell, Sims lapping the Bentley in the pitlane. Then major dramas at the Bus Stop: multiple sins, the #60 McLaren and #40 Ferrari into the wall, the #57 Mercedes (Simonsen) off on the outside of Bus Stop and hit hard (mercifully not on the drivers side) by Zochling in the #29 Konrad Lamborghini.
Another FCY was inevitable, and with it, as the remaining major runners pitted for wets (the #28 putting Vanthoor in the car for Rast) immediately, Bentley’s podium hopes disappeared as the #8 was out on track circulating at FCY speed and the chasing pack took advantage.
In the melee Rosenqvist passed Goetz for second, Vanthoor was now fourth and a shattered Soucek was fifth! With 14 minutes remaining, the race was back to green.
The third-place #86 AMG was then dealt a drive-through for an unsafe release at the switch to wets after carving up a GRT Lamborghini. Vanthoor was closing fast in any case: 14 seconds back from Rosenqvist but just four back from Goetz.
Six minutes left and the gap second to fourth (Goetz having not taken the drive-through yet) was down to 7.5 seconds. The #88 was baulked by the 10th-placed Audi for much of a lap.
Goetz took his drive-through with 3:30 remaining, Vanthoor now 4.1 seconds back and up into third place. With a minute remaining, the gap second to third was all but static at 4.2 seconds, Soucek now up to 4th.
That battle though would go for another lap, and despite starting that lap just 1.7 seconds behind, at some point Vanthoor gave up the chase, the gap extending dramatically as the Audi seemingly lifted off a little.
So Mercedes-AMG scored second place despite the post-Superpole dramas for the #88 AKKA ASP car of Felix Rosenqvist, Tristan Vautier and Renger van der Zande with Audi Sport Team WRT completing the podium with the #28 R8 LMS of Laurens Vanthoor, Rene Rast and Nico Muller.
Bentley would come home fourth after terrible last minute luck combined with a chaotic race that the M-Sport crew will surely reflect that they should have won. Four drive-through penalties versus nil for the winning BMW is a race record that will see some post-event ‘discussion’.
IMSA Performance took the Pro-Am spoils with an overall 10th-place finish for the #76 Porsche 911 GT3-R of Raymond Narac, Maxime Jousse, Patrick Pilet and Thierry Cornac.
They finished a lap clear of the #74 ISR Audi (Franck Perera, Nico Lapierre, Henry Hassid, Philippe Giaque) and three laps ahead of the #666 Barwell Lamborghini of Jon Minshaw, Phil Keen, Oliver Gavin and Joe Osborne.
The Am Cup win went to the #888 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 of Marco Zanuttini, Vadim Gitlin, Liam Talbot and Nicky Cadei (32nd overall and a lap clear of the luckless #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 of Peter Mann, Francisco Guedes, Rino Mastronardi and Matteo Cressoni and the #333 Rinaldi Ferrari 458 of Pierre Ehret, Rinat Salikhov, Alexander Matschull and Marco Seefried.
The win though went to Rowe Racing, the BMW M6 GT3 and Alexander Sims, Maxime Martin and Philipp Eng, courtesy of an impressively fast clean run where others struggled to deliver one, other or both of those things.
