The first quarter of the 2021 TotalEnergies Spa 24 Hours were scarred by a serious multi-car incident after just 22 minutes that saw four front-running cars eliminated, and two of the four drivers involved taken to hospital for treatment and/ or evaluation.
The incident was triggered by a high speed accident for Jack Aitken in the #114 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini, the car impacting the barriers driver’s left put to Raidillon and rebounding into the path of the sister #163 car of Franck Perera, both cars suffering very significant damage before the #114 and the subsequent debris was hit too by the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Davide Rigon and the #21 Rutronik racing Porsche of Kevin Estre.
All four cars were out on the spot, the drivers transported to the circuit medical centre from where Estre and Perera were released whilst Rigon and Aitken were transferred to the local hospital, Iron Lynx later confirming that the Ferrari factory driver was undergoing further evaluation, race organisers also confirming that no driver involved hd suffered ‘life threatening injuries’.
It would be fair to say that having seen the condition of the #114 post-incident in particular that has to go down as very, very good news indeed.
The extraction, recovery, barrier repairs and clean-up operations saw the field neutralised under Full Course Yellow and Safety Car for around 55 minutes before racing recommenced.
The race had been led from the start by the pole setting #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG of Raffaele Marciello but the order would get a shake-up soon after the race went back to green flag racing with heavy rain starting to fall as racing recommenced.
The leading group attempted to stay out on slicks but almost all aquaplaned off track at the Bus Stop, all regaining the track and pitting aside from a brave few!
Nico Müller had pitted before the end of the Safety Car period in an early switch to wets and he led the way in the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT R8 LMS Evo with Christopher Mies’ efforts to stay out on slicks in the #66 Attempto Audi soon proving to be ill-advised as he lost great gobs of time to the competition.
At the two-hour mark Müller was followed by Ben Barnicoat in the #38 JOTA McLaren who would star in the early stages, while Marciello was back up to third after making quick progress with Mirko Bortolotti, who had run second in the early stages in the #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini had recovered to seventh.
The #32 WRT Audi, which started from the back of the grid, moved up quickly until a further delay after a power reboot was again needed, by the end of the second hour though the team were back to 12th.
In the classes Mercedes-AMG crews led in the Silver Cup (#90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, sixth overall) and Pro-Am (#69 RAM Racing, 26th overall), while the #23 Huber Motorsport Porsche was 39th and leading the Am Cup.
Hours 3 & 4
Just before the three-hour mark the race was briefly neutralised, when Tim Kohmann in the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari grazed the barriers at the exit of Speaker’s Corner. The German driver was able to continue, but some teams took advantage of this brief Full Course Yellow/Safety Car period to have a pitstop. The #37 Audi Sport Team WRT (Robin Frijns at the wheel) and the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP (Dani Juncadella driving), the top-2 cars at the 3-hour mark, were not among them, however.
That meant that they had to take their pitstops when the competition was at racing speed, resulting in a considerable position drop for both. That brought the #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Team into the lead, chased by the #38 Jota McLaren and the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW. The latter, with Timo Glock at the wheel, moved into second at the beginning of the 80th lap, when the Jota Racing machine had to swerve to avoid the 720S GT3 of Inception Racing.
Both would be passed by Nicklas Nielsen in the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari, which put the car in second at the four-hour mark, some seven seconds behind the leading Lamborghini. Because the top 11 cars – all of them on an alternate strategy after stopping during the neutralisation – all made a pitstop seconds after the four-hour mark, the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT machine moved into the lead again shortly afterwards.
After four hours of racing the leading Silver Cup car was still the #90 MadPanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, with the #52 AF Corse Ferrari using the same alternate strategy as the overall leaders to take the lead in Pro-Am. The Am Cup lead was in the hands of the #23 Huber Motorsport Porsche.
Hours 5 & 6
The #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi was out front as the 2021 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa reached one-quarter distance, giving the Italian squad maximum points for the opening phase of the contest.
By the five-hour mark Marco Mapelli in the leading Lamborghini was under considerable pressure from fellow countryman Pier Guidi. The Ferrari got a run as they headed for Les Combes and dived around the outside to take the lead, seemingly making contact with the rear of the Lamborghini in the process.
Andrea Caldarelli took the wheel from Mapelli at the next stop and, after slipping several seconds back, made significant gains on Pier Guidi as the six-hour mark approached. Nevertheless, it was #51 Iron Lynx car that bagged maximum Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup points for the first quarter of the race.
Martin Tomczyk was third in the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW, followed the #38 JOTA McLaren and the #32 Audi Sport Team WRT. The latter was firmly in the hunt after a remarkable recovery from 55th on the grid, helped in part by the early safety car and rain. The #3 Schnabl Engineering Porsche was sixth, while the #37 Audi and #88 Mercedes-AMG remained together on-track, running off-sequence in seventh and eighth.
The final overall point at this stage of the race went to the #90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, driven by Patrick Kujala, which also led the Silver Cup class. The #77 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini was out front in Pro-Am with Sandy Mitchell running 19th overall, while the #166 Hägeli by T2 Racing Porsche topped the Am Cup classification in the hands of Marc Basseng.
