Mostert Hails”Team Effort” for SunEnergy1 Pro-Am Win

Photo: SunEnergy1 Racing

Chaz Mostert hailed the “team effort” by SunEnergy1 Racing and Haupt Racing Team to deliver a come-from-behind Pro-Am win in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

The Australian Supercars ace and co-drivers Nicky Catsburg, Martin Konrad and last-minute sub Adam Osieka drove a backup Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to top honors in class, less than 72 hours after an accident that sent team owner/driver Kenny Habul to the hospital and left the team seeking a replacement chassis.

Habul, who underwent surgery for a fractured vertebrae, ordered a new Mercedes from his hospital bed on Thursday evening to keep his team in the race, which put into motion a race against the clock to make the grid.

The No. 75 Mercedes started from the pit lane as a result of not setting a qualifying time, and through pace and strategy, vaulted into the class lead and eventual win in the Belgian endurance classic.

“The team effort to get this car ready, I don’t know how many hours the mechanics had sleep over this whole week,” Mostert told Sportscar365.

“That was an amazing effort to see. But obviously Kenny’s commitment to us guys, trying to make sure we still do the race when it was looking pretty dull for a moment.

“Obviously the priority was always about Kenny’s health.

“Once we found out he was OK, obviously a bit banged up, he will be fine and come back stronger.”

Both Mostert and Catsburg pulled ironman stints in the second half of the race due to the team opting to stack both Konrad and Osieka’s drive time in the opening hours.

“The plan was to get the Ams in the car as much as possible with Martin and Adam,” Mostert explained. “They had to do a mega job in the first six hours of the race.

“We asked a lot of them but they delivered.

“Then it was up to me and Nicky to try and bring it home in the last three-quarters of the race.”

Catsburg added: “That was the plan. Combined, the Bronze drivers had to do eight hours but always, one hour [every] six hours.

“Our strategy was to do five in the first six and then one hour in the remaining six hours. That worked out perfectly.

“That was, I think the best strategy to win the race and it worked for us, even though they were super fast and they were very competitive with the other Bronzes.

“It just worked out for us, even though it wasn’t super smooth. We had some penalties and we lost some time in the pit lane, but so did everyone else.”

Having overcome a 15-second pit lane speeding penalty, a 30-second penalty for track limits and losing one minute during its mandatory technical pit stop, the quartet emerged as the class leaders by dawn.

Catsburg, however, came under late-race pressure from the No. 24 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Nico Menzel, although he managed to extend the gap through traffic in the final hour.

“It was very tense,” he said. “Honestly, I remembered I did the last two hours in the first of the two [hours], I was like, ‘Oh my god, he’s too fast for us.’ and he was closing in.

“But sometimes with the traffic we managed to keep the gap. The car performed really well in the last two hours and we managed to keep him behind.”

Habul, from his hospital bed in nearby Liege, followed the entire race according to the drivers.

“He was flat out on the messages asking what was going on,” Mostert said. “He was just as much as he’d normally be in the place, calling the shots, which was great.

“It was awesome to get it done for him.”

Catsburg added: “Kenny made it possible. He could have also just said, ‘OK, it’s done now. It’s over, I’m not driving and the car is destroyed.’

“But he went out of his way that we could drive, and for sure it cost him a lot of money to make this happen. That’s very cool.

“I’m not sure if we can spray champagne in the hospital but let’s give it a try!”

Catsburg on “Unbelievable” Triple Crown of 24H Wins

The Dutchman claimed his third 24-hour win in as many attempts this year, following overall victory in the Nürburgring 24 with Frikadelli Racing Team and helping take Corvette Racing to GTE-Am class honors in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“I have no idea if someone did it before,” Catsburg said of the achievement.

“It’s just a weird season somehow because even this race, somehow it worked again, even if everything was against us in the beginning.

“The season has just been unbelievable.

“When you add everything up, you have seasons where you do the same thing but you win nothing, and this season you somehow win everything. That’s a pretty cool feeling.”

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John