Hours 7 & 8
The #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini led the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa shortly after midnight, chased by a pair of Audi Sport Team WRT entries, while several front-runners hit problems during this phase of the race.
Among them was the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari, which had led in the hands of Come Ledogar but received a drive-through penalty for a pit infringement committed more than three hours earlier. This dropped the car back to fifth, almost 40 seconds off Mirko Bortolotti in the leading Lamborghini.
The #88 Mercedes-AMG AKKA ASP received the same penalty for a pit infringement, costing the pole-sitter more than a minute. Raffaele Marciello was at the wheel on the eight-hour mark, a further 50 seconds in arrears of Ledogar.
Bortolotti’s main contenders at this point were the sister Audi Sport Team WRT cars of Kelvin van der Linde (#32) and Robin Frijns (#37), both of which appear able to run slightly longer stints than the Lambo.
Van der Linde passed Bortolotti for the lead 10 minutes before the hour, but the Italian returned the favour shortly after as their battle intensified. Frijns was eight seconds further back, while the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW and the #95 Garage 59 Aston Martin completed the top-five at eight hours.
The #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW was another victim of the night shift. It was running a strong third when it was wheeled into the garage to repair a broken lower front-left wishbone, dropping the car several laps down and entirely out of contention.
A full-course yellow/safety car period was required when the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari went off at Campus with Benja Hites at the wheel. Phil Keen also had issues in the #19 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini, which appeared to lose its headlights before sliding into the gravel.
The #90 Madpanda Mercedes-AMG continued to run superbly in ninth overall and top of the Silver Cup class at eight hours, driven at this stage by Rik Breukers. Andrea Bertolini was 16th in the Pro-Am-leading AF Corse Ferrari, while the #166 Hägeli by T2 Racing Porsche remained at the head of the Am Cup with Manuel Lauck driving.
Hours 9 & 10
After ten hours of racing in the 2021 edition of the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa the #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini and the #32 Audi Sport Team WRT car were separated by only six seconds. The other chasing Audi Sport Team WRT machine dropped three places with an issue at the entrance of the pitlane.
Lamborghini, Audi, Audi: between the 8- and 10-hour mark, the order of the top-3 did not seem to change. Except when the leading cars entered pitlane for their 10th pitstop. The #37 Audi Sport Team WRT car, then driven by Dennis Lind, came to a halt at the beginning of pitlane. The Danish driver had to perform a couple of resets to be able to continue, but in the process, almost 90 seconds were lost. The Audi dropped to sixth overall but managed to remain on the lead lap.
Meanwhile, Marco Mapelli had taken over from Mirko Bortolotti on the leading #63 Lamborghini. The Italian first extended his lead to almost twelve seconds, but after setting a couple of blistering lap times Dries Vanthoor in the #32 Audi Sport Team WRT car reduced the gap to under six seconds.
With the #37 Audi dropping to sixth, the #95 Garage 59 Aston Martin climbed to third, three-quarters of a minute behind the leaders. The #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari and the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP machine – on which Raffaele Marciello managed to make up 30 seconds of the time lost after a drive-through penalty, completed the top five.
Just before the 10-hour mark the leading BMW, the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport car, stopped at turn 18, ending the chances of the M6 bowing out with a success.
In Silver Cup, the #90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG still dominated proceedings, continuing to occupy a position within the top-10 overall. In Pro-Am the fight for the lead was hotting up, with the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin briefly taking over the lead from the #52 AF Corse Ferrari. In Am Cup, the #166 Hägeli by T2 Racing Porsche and #23 Huber Motorsport Porsche were separated by under a second.
Hours 11 & 12
The #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari reclaimed the lead of the 2021 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa just before the halfway mark. The Italian machine, already leading at a quarter distance, again scoring maximum points.
For the #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini the first half of the Belgian endurance classic ended badly. Shortly after the 10-hour mark, the team had put the car back on an alternate strategy, by taking a pitstop under the Full Course Yellow period caused by the #34 BMW falling by the wayside. Unfortunately for Marco Mapelli he was caught speeding in the pitlane, causing a drive-through penalty.
Serving that penalty meant that the Italian driver lost his position on the lead lap. Worse, a further Full Course Yellow/Safety Car period – this time to pull the stricken #666 VS Racing Lamborghini into safety, meant that the #63 would remain a lap down, for its competitors could all take their pitstop during the neutralisation.
Some even took advantage of this Full Course Yellow-period to serve their Technical Pitstop, a mandatory four-minute stop that has to be taken before the end of the 22nd hour, to allow teams to change items such as brake pads. One of the cars doing so was the #47 KCMG Porsche, which has worked its way back into the top 10. Another Porsche, the #3 Schnabl Engineering, did the same, but only minutes later the car hit the wall towards Eau Rouge, causing it to retire.
At the end of the Safety Car-period the leading four cars were separated by a mere six seconds, with the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari (Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel) leading the pack from the #37 Audi Sport Team WRT (Charles Weerts), the #95 Garage 59 Aston Martin (Marco Sörensen) and the #88 Mercedes AMG Team AKKA ASP (Dani Juncadella).
Even though several corners of the Ardennes track were shrouded in fog, Pier Guidi did not waste any time in increasing his lead. Setting a new fastest lap of the race (2m19.228s) at 3.48 AM helped him to create a 16-second gap at the halfway point of the race.
Even though the #90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG dropped to 14th overall, it still managed to score full points in Silver Cup. Due to keen strategic choices, the #93 Sky-Tempesta Ferrari did the same in Pro-Am, while the #166 Hägeli by T2 Racing Porsche continued to lead the Am Cup.
