Vector Sport Loses Spa Podium; LMP3 Winner Thrown Out

Photo: Kristof Vermeulen/MPS Agency

The No. 10 Vector Sport Oreca 07 Gibson of Ryan Cullen, Vladislav Lomko and Pietro Fittipaldi has lost its second place finish in Sunday’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after a drive time infraction for Fittipaldi, while the LMP3 class winner has been thrown out of the race.

Confirmed late Sunday, Fittipaldi was found by stewards to have not met the 40-minute drive time requirement by 1 minute, 15.791 seconds.

It has resulted in a post-race time penalty of 1 minute and 50.791 seconds, which has dropped the British squad to a 17th place finish, moving the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca to a runner-up finish and promoting the the pole-sitting No. 18 IDEC Sport Oreca of Jamie Chadwick, Laurents Hoerr and Valerio Rinicella to the final podium position.

This has had a significant impact on the title race with the No. 29 crew of Esteban Masson, Oliver Gray and Louis Rousset inheriting the points lead on countback.

The revised scores bring this trio level on 70 points with the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca of Griffin Peebles, Gregoire Saucy and Ben Hanley, which was promoted to fourth in the Spa result, but the No. 29 currently occupies top spot by virtue of having won twice compared to the United crew’s sole triumph.

Additionally, the No. 5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier JS P325 Toyota of Jose Fernandez Cautela, Alvise Rodella and Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen has been stripped of its LMP3 class win due to its fuel tank exceeding the maximum capacity in post-race scrutineering.

It has promoted the No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier of Paul Lanchere, Alexander Jacoby and Louis Iglesias to first position in class — a result that has also given Lanchere and Jacoby the LMP3 points lead.

While the overall and LMP3 results did change, there was no tweak to the top positions in LMP2 Pro-Am as the tangle between the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere and the No. 99 AO by TF machine of Louis Deletraz at Les Combes was deemed a racing incident and AF Corse kept its class win.

RESULTS: 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (Revised)

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