24 Hours Of Spa: Racing To The Chequered Flag

There’s this concept, that when the inexperienced flag drops at an endurance race, there received’t be any pauses or relaxation till the very finish. In actuality although, everybody takes a break – at the least for a second or two.

I managed to seize round three hours of sleep at my lodge after I left the observe within the early hours of Sunday morning, however the sounds of vehicles at full noise reverberating by means of the woods was the wake-up name I wanted on my return for the second half of the 2022 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.

I’d be mendacity if I didn’t say my complete physique was already aching earlier than the race even began, so my tempo was positively somewhat slower for the ultimate 12 hours.

For one thing somewhat bit totally different, I recorded some ambient sounds of the race, so if you happen to’d prefer to really feel such as you’re amongst the motion whilst you scroll by means of this publish, hit the play button above.

By this stage I had walked 35 miles, a respectable hike distance, and the previous day and night had been all however a blur to me. The ambiance was totally different although; the damp morning air felt refreshing, and regardless that vehicles had been attacking the observe simply as onerous as they’d proper on the race begin, there was a way of calm in regards to the place. After all, that had rather a lot to do with a scarcity of spectators at this hour.

Whereas the grandstands had been as empty as they had been through the pre-race follow periods, the pits had been nonetheless alive, even if there was a sense of tiredness in regards to the place. For some groups it had been a really lengthy evening repairing automobile harm or chasing mechanical issues.

I got here trying to find velocity and the dawn on the circuit’s first flip – La Supply – from the place the closing chicane can be seen. The rising solar wasn’t capable of push by means of the clouds, however even in these situations the sunshine was good.

Earlier than lengthy, one of many Audi groups suffered a nasty hit from one other automobile, and the race went below a ‘full course yellow’ with no overtaking.

That in fact meant that the sphere bunched proper up, and though most groups had been on totally different laps, when the inexperienced gentle got here on once more the racing was feisty.

At this level, simply 53 vehicles from the 66 starters had been nonetheless racing. The Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 #98 automobile pushed by Nicky Catsburg, Augusto Farfus and Nicholas Yelloly had led the race for a lot of Saturday, and on Sunday morning was nonetheless in first.

BMW is probably the most profitable producer on this race’s historical past with 24 total wins, and it felt like one other was within the bag. However final yr’s winner, Ferrari, run by the Iron Lynx squad, had been additionally in rivalry, as had been a few different groups.

Funnily sufficient, the solar lastly broke by means of the clouds simply after I left my place, however by this time it was already excessive within the sky.

I made a decision to take pleasure in some extra pit motion, and see how everybody was waking up for an additional day of racing.

Followers had been returning to the observe, and the ambiance shortly grew to become festive once more.

The pink Ferrari 488 GT3 of Doriane Pin, Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting was poised to win within the ‘Gold’ class, and in the end the all-female crew succeeded. Two extra women, Samantha Tan for BMW and Reema Juffali of the #20 SPS Mercedes-AMG group had been additionally competing on this yr’s race, to not point out numerous feminine race engineers and group workers. It actually feels just like the motorsport world has now modified for the higher.

I believed that by this level within the race, many groups could be making an attempt to drive with warning to make sure they made it throughout the end line, however that couldn’t be farther from the reality. The racing wasn’t getting any much less attention-grabbing, with many drivers nonetheless battling in shut proximity and bouncing over the purple and yellow kerbs.

A heartbreaking second got here simply 1 hour and 53 minutes earlier than the race finish, when the Rowe Racing M4 suffered a puncture and misplaced the lead. It seemed like a BMW wouldn’t convey a present for BMW M’s fiftieth anniversary.

By this stage, the closest rival was the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 automobile of Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadell and Jules Gounon. Their weekend wasn’t excellent; the automobile skilled two spins and an enormous scuffle with an Aston Martin, however ultimately nothing might cease Mercedes and AMG Workforce AKKODIS ASP from taking the general victory. After 536 laps of racing, Mercedes took their first win at this race since 2013.

The TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa is particular in endurance racing, because it’s strictly contested between GT3 equipment. Whereas the 24 Hours of Le Mans contains totally different prototype courses, the Belgian occasion focuses on production-based vehicles that everybody can relate to. Add that to the distinctive sense of historical past, and all of the challenges that the modern-day Spa-Francorchamps presents to producers since adopting GT guidelines for this race in 2001, and you’ll see why so many individuals preserve coming again yr after yr to look at it. After so lengthy, I’m glad I lastly acquired to expertise it for myself too.

Vladimir Ljadov
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