Mann Filter Mercedes leads 24 Hours of Spa after six hours following puncture for Ferrari
- Owen Bradley
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
The first quarter of the race saw a change for the lead after a dramatic puncture for the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari squad, which had led the race for the first five hours. The No.48 Mann Filter Mercedes squad were the beneficiaries, seizing the lead of the race as the Spa-Francorchamps plunged into darkness.
In second place overall, and leading the Gold Cup, the No.58 Garage 59 McLaren squad sat as the closest competitor to the No.48 Mann Filter Mercedes team. Meanwhile, leading the Silver Cup was the No.30 WRT BMW, driven by Amaury Cordeel who was 23rd overall. The No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari squad led the Bronze Cup by some distance, running in 11th place overall.
Read about the proceedings of the previous two hours here.
As it happened
The race went green early on into the fifth hour, and the No.51 Ferrari maintained the lead, but was the only front runner to not change tyres, which turned out to be a brutal decision. The No.48 Mercedes was firmly planted right behind the leader. Unlike many other restarts in this race, the Ferrari was unable to pull away from the second-placed car, with the No.58 McLaren closely following the pair.
The No.3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes had a poor start, losing a place to the No.59 McLaren and soon had to defend from the No.98 ROWE Racing BMW. The No.3 Mercedes soon got a 10-second time penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow.
There was an enthralling battle for 11th place between the No.22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche, No.007 ComtoYou Aston Martin and No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. The Porsche managed to dive to the inside of the Aston Martin at Turn 6 at the bottom of the Kemmel straight, despite being squeezed to the inside by the Aston Martin.
Eventually, the No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari managed to get past the pair of them, with Dennis Marschall at the wheel. The Ferrari made decisive moves through the traffic, later on diving in between two slower cars into Turn 1 in order to not be held up through the slow right-hander.
Meanwhile, the No.46 WRT BMW of Valentino Rossi made some serious progress. Having started initially from 20th position, the BMW squad found their form with temperatures cooling around the circuit. With Dan Harper at the wheel, the Briton put the No.46 through to just outside the top 10 initially, before Max Hesse took over.
Hesse delivered a phenomenal stint for the No.46 BMW squad, pushing them through to seventh place as the BMW appeared to prefer the cooler temperatures. Hesse would eventually be hounded by the No.3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes that was driven by Chris Lulham.
With the leading cars closing together, there was an intense fight for the lead, with the No.48 Mann Filter Mercedes piling pressure onto the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari. The Mercedes made an attempt on the Ferrari into Turn 1, before eventually settling behind for the Kemmel straight.
However, just one lap later, heartbreak would strike for the leading No.51 AF Corse Ferrari squad, who picked up a right rear puncture on the car approaching the first corner. This meant that the Ferrari had to do an entire lap with a puncture, eventually losing a full lap and nearly losing another whilst AF Corse repaired the car.
It was later revealed that the Ferrari did pick up some tyre pressure warnings on their dashboard, however with the pit stop window just minutes away, the Ferrari simply asked too much of the Pirelli tyre underneath it.
The No.58 McLaren was held upon entering the pit lane, which devastatingly may have cost them a chance at leading the race. The McLaren, driven by Ben Goethe, came out from the pit lane just a few seconds behind the race leading No.48 Mercedes.
Suddenly, the No.86 High Class Racing Porsche had major front end damage, with the bonnet standing up, making it very difficult for Hongli Ye to see the circuit. Following a long lap back to the pits, they dropped towards the back of the field.
The final round of pit stops in this phase of the race saw the No.48 Mann Filter Mercedes beat the chasing No.58 Garage 59 McLaren out of the pits, despite a slow stop for the Mercedes.
