In a previous set of our paddock notes we mentioned that the earliest winner of the Spa 234 Hours that we had spotted on site was the 1966 winning BMW 2000Ti.
That was eclipsed , by a year, by the discovery of the previous year’s race winning BMW 1800 Ti on display in the paddock , the car is set to be demonstrated just before the start of the 24 Hours by Pascal Ickx and his younger brother, the Grand Marshal for the race, Jacky Ickx.
Jacky’s daughter Vanina Ickx, ex DTM and Le Mans Series racer has also been in the paddock over the weekend.
Valentino Rossi confirms 2025 plans
Speaking to the media on Friday, Valentino Rossi confirmed his plans for 2025 were to continue with WRT in the BMW M4 GT3 in the WEC and GTWC, similar to this year.
“Next year, I will race with the GT3,” Rossi told the media. “More or less the same program [as this year.]”
Rossi went on to add that a run in Hypercar was a possible long term goal.
“For sure, to drive the Hypercar is the dream for all the drivers. But I don’t know if I will!
“I hope that I can try the car, before the end of the season – maybe after the last race in the WEC!”
When queried about tackling the Nurburgring Nordschleife, despite Rossi’s excitement, he explained why the Nurburgring 24 Hour isn’t part of his plans for now.
“The Nordschleife was one of my first targets – together with Le Mans,” Rossi said. “But the problem is, to get the license, you have to do another race with a smaller car [a lower class car].
“I don’t want to drive a smaller car than the GT3.
“We already do a lot of races with this program, and to do another weekend at the Nurburgring in a smaller car, now? No.
“Maybe in the future, we will see. The Nordschleife is a great track for everybody. I’ve done like, 2000 laps with my friends in the simulator. Maybe in the future, I will have the time.”
Talking about the track
The new track surface at the Spa Francorchamps circuit has been the talk of the weekend, with lap times already up to 3 seconds faster than last year’s best times, and talk of extreme grip and minimal degradation up and down the paddock.
Speaking to the media, #46 WRT BMW pilot Rafaele Marciello described the feel of the new surface after racing here with British GT last week.
“With the new asphalt, in some corners I’m faster in the GT3 than I was in the Hypercar.”
“The line in qualifying was wet, but with the slick, we were quicker than the dry time on the slick with the old asphalt.”
The lap record is expected to be broken this year, with the current lap record being a 2:15.423 at 186.190km/h set by Oliver Gavin in the #3 Corvette C6.R, back in 2009.
Difficulties at the Parade
While the Spa 24 parade was undoubtedly an incredible feature of the weekend so far, there were unfortunately a few issues up and down the lane unfortunately due to the logistics of transporting 250+ cars including the full 66-car GT3 field into the city centre.
Many cars ended up at the side of the road due to overheating, before being able to get moving again. As reported yesterday, the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini required attention to the front of the car after clipping a post!
One of the more serious issues was the return of the HubAuto Porsche returning to the circuit on a flatbed. That team completed an engine change overnight, after overheating caused a secondary issue, requiring Laurens Vanthoor to bring the car to a complete stop.
“I understand – the nice pictures on the nice parade to the city,” Vanthoor told DSC today. “But nowadays, with these cars, having them stop and go, and sitting and waiting, it’s very bad for engine temperature, for the battery, for the clutch.”
“A lot of cars were stopped on the side to wait until the engine cooled down, which is what we did, but we had another issue on top of that. So as a precaution, we had to change [the engine].”
Laurens was sympathetic to the role of the organisers in managing the parade though.
“Especially as this year was the centenary, so they want to make a nice show out of it. But maybe it needs to run a bit smoother, so these cars don’t run into problems.”
Clutch issues for two Porsches
Two of the Porsche 911 GT3s ran into trouble today with clutch issues; one in practice 1, and the second in pre-qualifying.
Phantom Global Racing was one of two cars who didn’t set a lap this in FP1 after a clutch drama out of Les Combes on their out lap. Team Director Martin Young said that the failure was due in part to stress on the clutch from the previous day’s Parade.
“When you’re at the front of the queue, it’s easier to run. But if you’re at the back of the queue, it’s stop-start-stop-start.”
Jaxon Evans, who was tasked with driving the car into the parade and on the outlap today, compared the difficulties of doing a parade in a GT3 car vs the Track-To-Town parades as part of the Australian Supercars Series, which he’s competing in full time this year.
“It’s easier to manage the clutch when it’s done by your foot [in Supercars],” Jaxon explained. “An electric hand clutch isn’t the best for stopping and starting.
“We’ve had an issue in practice one, but hopefully that’s the end of our problems over the week.”
The Earl Bamber Motorsport #61 car was the next car to have an issue, missing most of Pre-Qualifying changing the clutch. A representative of the team indicated that the issue was as a result of the stop-start nature of the Parade journey the day before.
