Jani Out Front at Halfway; Drama for No. 5 Porsche

Neel Jani led the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps for Proton Competition with half of the race completed after a lengthy safety car, while the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 retired after a crash at Blanchimont.

The No. 99 Porsche 963 held a 2.722-second advantage over the No. 51 Ferrari 499P of James Calado, while Miguel Molina held third in the sister No. 50 Ferrari.

Michael Christensen sat in third place approaching the end of the third hour until the Dane went off at Blanchimont, with the rear of the car stepping away and Christensen swerving across the track before making a sideways impact with the wall.

A Porsche spokesperson explained that Christensen lost control of the car because he hit the curb with the skidpad under the car, with the hybrid system shutting down for safety reasons.

This subsequently prevented a system restart, leading to retirement for the No. 5 car.

The early exit eliminated Porsche’s leading factory entry from the contest, with the No. 5 having ran in third ever since co-driver Frederic Makowiecki was passed by Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi at Les Combes in the second hour.

As a result of the sister car falling away, the No. 6 Porsche of Andre Lotterer moved into fourth with Yifei Ye completing the top five behind the wheel of the No. 83 Ferrari.

Christensen’s off, which triggered a Full Course Yellow, came at the end of 35 minutes of green flag running which followed a lengthy safety car for a multi-car incident at Bruxelles.

Contact between the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Rene Rast and the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 of Phil Hanson sent the latter into a collision with the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

The BMW, piloted by Ahmad Al Harthy, heavily impacted the guard rail before coming to a halt in the tire barriers after it hit Hanson’s Porsche for a second time.

Both cars were eliminated from the race as a result, while the No. 20 BMW was ordered to serve a drive-through penalty for the incident.

The resulting safety car, which lasted for some 40 minutes, was preceded by a virtual safety car that brought about a reshuffle in LMGT3.

The No. 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which had led in dominant fashion from pole, had a lead of roughly 40 seconds wiped out and then lost the lead to United Autosports in the pits.

The No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Nicolas Costa beat out Frey’s Lamborghini, with the two drivers then engaging in a multi-lap battle for the lead in class.

Frey initially attempted to pass the Brazilian on the Kemmel Straight, only for Costa to fight back and pass her around the outside to hold on to the lead.

With Frey completing the same move several minutes later, she moved back into the lead with Costa second at the halfway point ahead of the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Daniel Mancinelli in third.

The No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 notably suffered its first retirement in either the FIA World Endurance Championship or IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a suspension-related issue.