The 2024 FIA WEC 6H Spa has been red-flagged with under two hours remaining following a huge incident on the Kemmel Straight involving Earl Bamber and Sean Gelael.
UPDATE: The race is set to resume at 19:10 local time. The decision has been taken by race control to add the length of the red flag to the race duration.
The incident saw Bamber – driving the #2 Cadillac in a fight with the #99 Proton Porsche for third overall – hit the concrete wall on driver’s right hard after swiping the front of Gelael’s #31 WRT BMW. The contact occurred as Bamber moved across the track to get alongside the Porsche.
Thankfully Cadillac has already confirmed that Bamber is ‘ok ‘after the impact, which was violent and also sent the BMW into the barriers on driver’s left. Gelael is also ‘ok’ after his hit.
Both drivers are going to visit the medical centre for precautionary checks.
The red flags immediately came out after the incident, as both cars and a field of debris were left scattered across the circuit. Unsurprisingly both cars have been retired. Lengthy barrier repairs are underway.
“I’m super sad, this team deserved a good result today. We had a fast car yesterday and today. I can’t hide my disappointment but I’m thankful that Earl is ‘ok’. Genuinley that’s the main thing, and we will regroup after this,” Earl’s teammate Alex Lynn said to WEC TV.
There was also minor contact between Bamber and the rear of Neel Jani’s Proton Porsche as Bamber moved across in front of the BMW, but the Proton Porsche continued with only minor damage to its rear end.
“I stayed straight, he went for a gap that didn’t exist. We were having a good race and I hope we don’t need to fix the rear and can keep going as we were on a podium run here,” Jani said.
As it stands, with the clock still running, the #51 Ferrari leads Hypercar and the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche leads LMGT3.
The teams have been told they can change their tyres on the grid before the restart on safety grounds.
