Spa Thursday Notebook

***ACO President Pierre Fillon, FIA World Endurance Championship CEO Frederic Lequien and FIA Endurance Commission President Richard Mille attended the inauguration of a new grandstand on the endurance pit straight at Spa-Francorchamps. They joined members of circuit management for a ceremony that included announcing the extension of a contract for Spa to host the WEC and the European Le Mans Series through 2028.

***The new covered grandstand holds space for 4,100 spectators plus 40 accessible seats. “This inauguration marks the second phase of the renovation of the spectator reception facilities, which began last year,” said Melchior Wathelet, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Spa-Francorchamps. “This work once again materializes the circuit’s desire to maintain the highest standards of hospitality for its spectators and customers.”

***By leading Thursday’s second 90-minute session, Ferrari AF Corse’s Antonio Giovinazzi became the first non-Toyota driver to lead a Free Practice this season. The previous seven Free Practice sessions were all led by a Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

***Hypercar manufacturers were informed late on Wednesday night that there would not be a platform Balance of Performance change for Spa. It is understood that a 22 kg increase for all LMH cars was initially proposed, but this was not implemented after discussions were held between the manufacturers.

***Diego Alessi was handed a 30-second stop-go penalty during the race for causing a collision with fellow AF Corse GTE-Am driver Thomas Flohr at Raidillon. A stewards’ report explained that Flohr was exiting the pits on new tires and holding the appropriate line when Alessi approached the top of the hill and struck the No. 54 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo from behind.

***The report includes the provision for Alessi to serve the penalty at the next WEC race he enters, considering the No. 21 Ferrari came away with heavy damage. Both drivers were OK after the accident.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport has installed ‘countermeasures’ following the power steering issue on the No. 5 Porsche 963 in the previous race at Portimao, according to factory LMDh director Urs Kuratle. “It was basically an electrical thing,” Kuratle said. “I mean, it’s a hydraulic pump, but it’s an electrical failure on that hydraulic pump from the power steering. That has been found real quick. Not at the track, but back home.”

***The two factory Porsches encountered separate problems in FP2, with the No. 5 car suffering from a faulty driveshaft and the No. 6 experiencing a hybrid system issue. The stoppage for the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R was later confirmed to be a fire that driver Renger van der Zande extinguished at the side of the track.

***Floyd Vanwall Racing Team driver Esteban Guerrieri was given a 10-minute stop-hold penalty at the start of FP2 for causing a collision with GTE-Am driver Satoshi Hoshino during FP1. A stewards’ report stated that Guerrieri “misjudged the overtaking manover [sic] and hit car 777 in the braking zone” at Campus.

***The brake issue for the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson at Portimao was caused by debris, according to ByKolles owner Colin Kolles who told Sportscar365 that an investigation was carried out with brake supplier AP Racing.

***Kolles added that Vanwall will conduct a more thorough cleaning of the brake ducts during pit stops to ensure the problem doesn’t recur. The Austrian-flagged team from Germany plans to undertake a multi-day test at Monza in preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

***The No. 777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE is running at Spa with a new engine, which was installed after the TF Sport-run car retired from the 6 Hours of Portimao with an engine failure. Team principal Tom Ferrier told Sportscar365 that TF is still waiting for a report on the root cause, but added it was likely ‘an internal failure of some type, possibly a dropped valve.’

***Ferrier added that Aston Martin’s Balance of Performance break, consisting of a 1-liter fuel capacity increase and a 0.02 bar increase in turbo boost pressure, is “a small change,” suggesting that it is unlikely to boost competitiveness at Spa. “I don’t think it’ll be enough, to be honest,” Ferrier said. “It’s a step in the right direction, but it seems a very small reaction to where we are. I expect a fairly long weekend again.”

***Only Will Stevens and Yifei Ye turned laps behind the wheel of the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 on Thursday. Antonio Felix da Costa was absent performing Formula E simulator duties for Porsche and will arrive in time to take part in the third and final Free Practice session on Friday.

***Da Costa received a fine of €500 ($550 USD) for missing the driver’s briefing on Thursday morning. The stewards’ decision noted that they were informed of Da Costa’s absence ahead of time, but no reason was given why it could be considered as a case of force majeure.

***Stevens became the first JOTA driver to take the team’s new LMDh car out on track during an official WEC session after Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell did last week’s rollout. “Very encouraging start to the weekend,” Stevens told Sportscar365. “This weekend is about us doing as many laps as we can, starting to learn the package we have and then we’ll start to worry about performance as a secondary.”

***Proton Competition’s Europe-based Porsche 963 will make its debut at the fifth round of the season in Italy, eliminating the already slim chance that it could appear at Le Mans. “We’re getting the LMDh in the next weeks and we start racing [the car] at Monza,” team owner Christian Ried confirmed to Sportscar365.

***Proton is pulling double duty at Spa where it is making its debut in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. It has entered a pair of Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars for Lorenzo Ferrari and Horst Felbermayr Jr.

***IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Robby Foley and David Pittard are on-site at Spa. Foley told Sportscar365 that he’s here as part of a European trip, supporting ORT by TF driver Michael Dinan and doing “a little bit” of coaching with his American compatriot, before traveling to Italy for a planned fitness and training program with Formula Medicine.

***Thursday’s Free Practice sessions took place in dry conditions, but this is likely to change as rain is expected for Friday. “Tomorrow looks pretty wet so a bit more tricky conditions for us to learn the car in,” Stevens continued. “At the end of the day, the more things it can throw at us here, the more preparation we get for Le Mans. So good start, let’s hope it continues in that way.”

***Jim Glickenhaus announced during Thursday’s pre-event conference that his team will again be partnering with an artist for a charity auction at Le Mans, with proceeds going to UNICEF. Last year, Pipo Derani ran with a special helmet design that was auctioned off to help raise money for a Brazilian children’s hospital.

***Glickenhaus also hinted that his team will reveal its Le Mans driver lineup in the first week of May. Two vacant spots need to be filled in addition to Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas, Franck Mailleux and Ryan Briscoe.

***Free Practice 3 is scheduled for 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) on Friday while qualifying is due to start at 5 p.m. (11 a.m. ET). Click here for the FP3 live feed on YouTube.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report