With 40 minutes to go indicated on the timing screens the leading BMW looked set to win the Total 24 Hours of Spa when Dirk Werner went off at Les Fagnes and what looked as a certain victory became a nightmare in sight of the finish line. The drama for BMW meant joy for Porsche as the #23 BMS Scuderia Italia Spa Porsche 911 GT3 RSR took the overall victory in the 63rd edition of the 24 Hours of Spa after 541 laps, winning the FIA GT2 European Cup in the process. Romain Dumas is now a double Spa winner, while Jorg Bergmeister, Martin Ragginger and Wolf Henzler took their maiden win in the Ardennes. Romain Dumas is also the first man to win Spa and Le Mans in the in the same year of the modern era of endurance racing and has also won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
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BMW even lost the second place to the IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Raymond Narac, Patrick Long, Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz. The French team finished in second in the FIA GT2 European Cup, with the #1 AF Corse ALD Team Vitaphone Ferrari 430 of Michael Waltrip, Nicola Cadei, Robert Kaufmann and Marco Cioci completing the FIA GT2 European Cup podium.
Dirk Werner, Dirk Müller and Dirk Aldorf finished in third and won the GTN-class, while the #78 BMW Motorsport BMW M3 of Pedro Lamy, Jorg Müller and Uwe Alzen came home fourth and second in GTN. The Gravity International Mosler MT900 took third in GTN and 16th overall.
In GT3, Porsche took the spoils as well, with a win for the Belgian team Mühlner Motorsport on home soil. FIA GT3 Champions Arnaud Peyroles and Gilles Vannelet together with Jürgen Häring and Dimitrios Konstantinou were the survivors of a hard disputed GT3 class. The #99 Marc VDS Ford GT finished in second ahead of the #68 United Autosport Audi R8 LMS.
In GT4 the #59 Jota Aston Martin GT4 of Simon Dolan, Sam Hancock, Roger Wills and Joe Twyman took the spoils, with the Speedlover Aston Martin and Porsche in second and third.
1st – nr23 BMS Scuderia Italia SPA Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997)
Romain Dumas: “First of all, I have to thank my colleagues, we made a perfect race. We had a very nice race. We had a great fight with the IMSA fight. We work all year together and we’re all Porsche factory drivers, but not Raymond because he’s a little bit too old now to be there, but he’s getting so quick that you never know. It was getting so close tha we had a very nice race. At the end we weren’t expecting that the BMW was going to have such a problem…we took the victory, for sure. It’s not been an easy week. We saw with the GT2 that the Porsche was not as quick as expected. Compare this Ferrari and the GT3 was also quick, and the GTN class. When Porsche asked me if I wanted to drive in this race, I said yes because this year is not GT1 and we can win overall. After qualifying, we weren’t so sure that we would be able to win. With such a line-up and a good team, we were able to be quickly in the top five. We were a bit lucky, and we won the 24hr.”
Jörg Bergmeister: “It’s a great result, as Romain pointed out. We had our struggles in practice, and took a gamble on the setup for the race, and I guess we gambled pretty good. The car was actually the best it had been all week long, and in the race, with a consistent pace. Obviously the BMWs were in a different class and we didn’t have a chance to run with them or against them. Being in the situation that they were in and to DNF, actually we both (with Ragginger) were in the same situation at the 24hrs of the Nürburgring when we were leading overall with 2 hours to go and then BMW won the race, I think it’s evened out now, and it’s a great result for the team.”
Martin Ragginger: “I want to thank Porsche for giving me such an opportunity to be with great drivers like Romain, Jorg and Wolf. They’ve won everything around the world. For me it’s my first Porsche victory, and it’s a big one I think. Like Jorg said, we were a bit unlucky at the Nurburgring; we lead for 8 hours, then BMW got it because we got a problem. Now we got it back and we didn’t expect it. I think BMS did a really great job against IMSA, we saved some pitstops and in the end we were in front of them. BMW only had a small problem and we quicker than us the whole weekend and we never gave up and we did a good stint. It’s a great honour for me to be with such drivers. I’m still young and they reached everything, and I still have a few years. This is the first time there is a cup like this and to win it immediately, and overall! Our goal wasn’t to win the GT2 class, but the overall. The BMW were strong from the beginning on, and in the end, we did it. There is nothing to say. They got a problem and we won it. It’s a 24 hour race and that’s how it goes. I’m very happy, this is my first big victory.”
Wolf Henzler: “I think that the best win is the win you never expect, and to be honest, I didn’t expect this win today. During the race, from the beginning, we saw that other cars were really fast. Our strategy became to be as close to the BMW as possible, and we managed this very well. The team, mechanics, everyone was working very hard, with excellent pitstops; everything worked very well. Our fuel consumption was very good and we could stay out for many laps. We stayed very close to the BMW towards the end of the race, and then they had a problem. Not that they didn’t finish, but you don’t expect it so late in the race. I was in the car and saw the BMW going slow.”
2nd – nr16 IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997)
Patrick Pilet: “The start of the race was really difficult. I tried to stay in contact with the BMW and the Ferrari, but they were too fast. So I just tried to be careful with the tyres, because we didn’t have and information about the tyre wear, because of all the rain during practice. But the car was fantastic. I think we have the fastest Porshe this weekend and all my team mates have done a fantastic job this weekend, especially Raymond because he improved a lot since last year and he was very quick during the whole race. I think we just lost the race because we had a small problem with the fuel. We didn’t use 100% of the fuel in the car, and we always stopped 3 or 4 laps before the BMS car. It’s still a good race for Porsche and for IMSA.”
Raymond Narac: “I’m happy, last year we didn’t finish, due to my incident and going off the track. I was a bit stressed this year because of that. It was important for us to finish well, and to get on the podium makes us happy. It’s important for the sponsors, because at Le Mans we were going to get on the podium, but we had a problem with the clutch, which reoccurs quite a bit in this car. We were suggested to take part in this race. For me it is a pleasure to drive with these three top guns in the car with me, and my first professor, and I’ve only been driving for 3 years, is sitting just over there to our left, as my first 24hrs was with Romain in 2005.”
Patrick Long: “It was a fantastic race. This new format, this is our 4th time here with IMSA, to run with the concept of GT3, 2, N, to make it a close race amongst all the classes definitely made it interesting for the drivers. Thanks to Porsche, it’s a deserved 1-2. Well done to our brothers in red; we’re working on getting them different race suits so we can identify them as a Porsche team, but I’ve got some arguments over here in Italiano. Thank you to Michelin, they had a tough weekend cut out for them with so many teams to supply to; BMW had a trump card in their sleeve with only having a couple of teams out there with their tyre manufacturer. Some questions there on the fairness of the rules, but, all’s well that ends well. Thank you to IMSA and MATMUT, it’s been a while and it’s been fun racing during the week.”
Richard Leitz: “After 2007, 2008, coming back to the IMSA family is great, I’m very happy they invited me back for this race. After the practice which was quite difficult for us, we weren’t expecting to finish second overall, so I’m very happy with this position. The mechanics and the teams did a fantastic job in the pits. They didn’t do any mistakes and that’s why we can be really happy, and a 1-2 for Porsche is very good.”
3rd nr1 AF Corse – ALD Team Vitaphone Ferrari F430
Nicola Cadei: “It was a really fantastic race, without a problem, and I’m very happy with my team mates performances. Michael was a really fast driver, and all the different situations, in the rain ,the night, in the morning it isn’t easy to drive after a double stint in the night. Robert Kaufmann is a really fast driver, a gentleman driver but, he worked very well with the whole team. I’m very happy. Congratulation to all.”
Robert Kaufmann: “I want to thank everyone here at Spa. It’s been a terrific weekend, the corner workers (Marshals) are out there 24hrs, it was fantastic, a nice safe race, it was really a lot of fun. I’d love to come back. Thank Stephane Ratel and the organisation here for putting on such a great event, it was really a lot of fun. AF Corse did a terrific job with the car, we had zero problems. It was a great overall.”
Michael Waltrip: “I’m supposed to be in Poceno where there are only 3 turns, y’all got like 20. So I spent most of my time trying to orientate myself with what to expect. But I did learn something very valuable, and that’s when it rains, you’re supposed to stay off line, and I’ve spent most of my career offline, so I was very comfortable in the rain.”
GTN Class
1st nr79 BMW Motorsport BMW M3
Dirk Werner: “I was driving already in the safe mode, not taking the kerbs, cruising around doing pretty slow lap times, and then suddenly I had to leave the track because something on the car broke. I made it back to the pits and the guys repaired it pretty quickly, I would say. Before then, the car was really fantastic especially in the dry conditions, where I would say we were faster than our competitors. We had a very good race, a lot of times we managed to get a big gap between us and our competitors. The yellows didn’t play into our hands, so the field bunched up again, so we would have had a bigger gap when the drama came up. But even in the difficult conditions, when it started to rain and we stayed out on slicks, it was really running very well compared to the other cars on rain tyres we were still very competitive. It’s very disappointing of course.”
Dirk Müller : “Everyone knows we did fantastic teamwork, both the cars, although the other car suffered more with other little things. They had a tough race and are heroes to make it. Like Dirk said everything was going really well and it’s a really big frustration. I think I’ve never had something like this in my life before. After such a tough race – three drivers in Spa is a challenge, we were going well – well, next time!”
2nd nr78 BMW Motorsport BMW M3
Pedro Lamy : “We had a problem with a misfire and lost a few laps, and then we had a problem again with a starter. We lost too many laps at the beginning of the race. After that we had a good car and the team did a great job, the preparation was fantastic. But sometimes you have everything and you don’t win. Sometimes you have nothing and you win. That’s racing. Spa is a tough race with three drivers, it’s harder than other circuits. But it’s a beautiful circuit, the track has a bit more grip and Eau Rouge is fantastic to do. It’s great to drive at Spa – I think all the drivers like it.”
Jörg Müller : “I have to apologise for Uwe, who was a bit dehydrated as we had a problem with our cooling, and we could only do single stints as there was no air in our car. I think he is still on a drip somewhere and couldn’t drive the last four or five hours. It was a really tough race, not only with these problems but because we couldn’t breathe in our car. I’m happy to finish second in our class. This is my third 24-hour race this year, Nürburgring, Le Mans and now Spa, and I think this is the toughest one.”
3rd nr81 Gravity International Mosler MT900
Romain Grosjean : “It was a great experience, my second 24-hour race in one and a half months, Le Mans and Spa in the same year is not bad. The team did a very good job. The first four hours were just a nightmare. We had big issues and had to change the rear bumper which took 55 minutes, and those guys would have needed 30 seconds! So we lost a lot to them. All the mechanics did a not too bad job. We did our best with the car we had. The aim was to finish, and we’re up on the podiumwith a factor team on the podium !”
Ron Marchal : “I am happy that I have such great team-mates. They took most of the job. We started with four, but after the 30 lap delay with the bumper the Italian driver, Diego Alessi, said he’d go home. It looked like a mountain, but at the end we’re on the top.”
Vincent Radermecker: “We had a lot of problems with the car and for half of the race we had to pit early for fuel because we had a problem with the pump. So we spent a lot in the pits and not on the track. It’s a pity as our average speed early in the weekend was good and with a bit more reliability we could have had a better race. But it’s not so easy this year, so it’s a good result for the team.
GT3 Class
1st – nr 53 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R
Gilles Vannelet: “I think this victory is the result of the work of Bernard Mühlner, his organisation, strategy. I think we were very lucky today with our consistency. We didn’t make any mistakes. It was marvellous, fantastic.”
Jürgen Haring: “The race was very hard, the qualifying was hard, the weather only gave us a few laps, and if you weren’t in the car at the right moment you didn’t get anything, as it was in our case. But the race was fantastic.”
Dimitrios Konstantinou: I can’t say much more than Gilles. The team did a brilliant job. We were lucky with the safety car and our team mates were really unlucky, so we are more than happy. If somebody told us on Thursday for example, we would never have believed we would be on the podium. We’re very happy about it.”
2nd – nr 99 Marc VDS Racing Ford GT
Marc Duez: “I feel broken, but I really enjoyed the race. I have to thank Mr Van de Straten for inviting me to be part of his team and drive with such good drivers as Maxime and Bas. It was a good and fantastic experience. Thank you again and I think I will carry on driving next year.”
Bas Leinders: “There was a big chance that we weren’t going to be able to participate with the Mustang, so we had to make a decision in Paul Ricard, which was only 3 weeks ago. So the progression of the car was really short; we might have been able to prepare the car a bit better if we had a little more time. But I think the team did an excellent job. From a driver’s point of view, we didn’t make any mistakes. Maxime, especially in the beginning, when he was on slicks and there was a lot of rain, he stayed out longer than almost anyone else, which was very good. It might not have been the right decision, but in the end we didn’t make any mistakes, so that was the biggest thing.”
3rd – nr68 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS
Zac Brown: “We’re ecstatic. The championship is fantastic. The 24hr of Spa Stephane has put together a fantastic event, which is no surprise, seeing as how he operates. A brand new team to have both cars in the top 4 in our class and on the podium, is exactly what we’d hoped for and a bit of a dream for me, to race with Richard, Marc and Eddie. The experience since getting off plane all the way through till now has been all that I hoped it would be. I’m very pleased to be able to deliver this for our sponsors.”
Eddie Cheever: “The problem started at the bottom of Eau Rouge and ended at the top. I was following a Porsche, and we were trying to catch up, we had a problem, a button was in the wrong position for the first lap and the power steering failed going right, and the car decided to go straight. If you’ve been through Eau Rouge in 5th gear, you’ll know it’s a very unpleasant experience. It found its way around. After I complained on the radio, we came in and the mechanics took everything apart. I have to say that our 3rd place goes mostly to the work of our mechanics, ‘cos they took everything apart, changed the pieces, and we got back out in time, and now here we are, third place. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed driving a race car on the limit. It’s opened a lot of windows in my mind and the competition’s been tremendous, and it’s been lots of fun. I want to congratulate everyone. It’s great that you can have motorsports at such a high level that involves so many people on a circuit like Spa. There are very few circuits in the world that carry the importance that Spa does from a driver’s perspective. I thought it was a great event. A little bit confusing for me as there were so many categories, I didn’t know who I was against, so you figured everyone was an enemy, which isn’t a very good way to make friends, and if I’ve offended someone, I’m sorry. It was a lot of fun. I hope to see many of these drivers one day at the Daytona 24hrs.”
- FIA GT2
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