Ford Takes GTE-Pro Honors at Spa

Olivier Pla, Stefan Muecke and Billy Johnson won the GTE-Pro class battle in Saturday’s Total Six Hours of Spa, marking the drivers’ first class victories with the Blue Oval in FIA World Endurance Championship competition.

Pla made a daring move on Richard Lietz in the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR at Raidillon with 45 minutes to go and went to take the checkered flag by 13.931 seconds.

The No. 92 Porsche came home second with Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre, who also found a way past Lietz when Christensen produced a late-braking maneuver at the Bus Stop.

With Lietz seemingly struggling on his tires, Davide Rigon in the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE closed in and after a brief period of side-by-side action managed to muscle past at the same sequence of corners.

Ford and Porsche dictated the pace throughout, as the two new offerings from BMW and Aston Martin struggled to keep in sight of the scrap for the lead.

The No. 82 Team MTEK BMW M8 GTE driven by Antonio Felix da Costa and Tom Blomqvist completed the top-five in class, two laps down, while the best-placed Aston Martin Vantage GTE finished sixth.

Ford’s victory came after its No. 67 car retired early in the second hour following a heavy accident for Harry Tincknell at Eau Rouge.

Lamy Leads Aston 1-2 in GTE-Am

Pedro Lamy held off a spirited final-stint challenge from Euan Alers-Hankey to claim the GTE-Am class win for Aston Martin Racing.

Lamy, driving the previous-generation No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE, resisted the efforts of Hankey in the No. 90 TF Sport entry to win by a margin of 0.221 seconds.

Hankey, who teamed with Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood, made a late bid for victory with a lunge at the Bus Stop, but could only draw alongside the identical Aston without getting past.

Lamy’s defensive drive secured a result that marked a record fourth Spa class victory for the championship-defending No. 98 crew.

Third place went to the Clearwater Racing Ferrari, while the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche finished fourth after losing 17 

RESULTS: Total Six Hours of Spa