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Intercontinental GT Challenge

Ram Racing Mercedes Quickest in Spa Bronze Test

24H Spa race week action gets underway with Bronze test and paid testing for Indy 8H cars…

Photo: Patrick Hecq/SRO

Ram Racing Mercedes-AMG driver Remon Vos set the pace during the Tuesday test for Bronze-rated drivers ahead of this weekend’s Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Vos, who shares the No. 74 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Tom Onslow-Cole, Callum MacLeod and Martin Konrad, posted a time of 2:37.883 to lead the three-hour session.

The Bronze test was impacted by wet weather conditions and three red flag periods that truncated the green flag running.

The first red was caused by an accident for the Am Cup-class CMR Bentley Continental GT3 which struck the barriers at Bruxelles.

Raton Racing’s No. 129 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo also went off at Bruxelles, resulting in the second interruption, while a final stoppage in the closing stages brought the session to a close a few minutes earlier than planned.

Second-quickest behind Vos was Michael Joos who clocked in at 2:38.947 behind the wheel of Herberth Motorsport’s Am-class Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Jens Liebhauser placed third in the pre-evolution JP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG on a time of 2:39.284, while Rob Collard was fourth at the helm of Barwell Motorsport’s No. 77 Lamborghini.

The top five was completed by Jean-Luc Beaubelique in the No. 87 AKKA-ASP Mercedes-AMG.

Indy 8H Teams Take to the Track

Tuesday’s testing availability also saw the cars that contested the Indianapolis 8 Hour turn their first laps in preparation for Spa.

Teams taking part in both the North American round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli on Oct. 4 and the championship’s upcoming round in Belgium were unable to run at the official Spa test days on Sept. 29-30 due to the travel schedule.

This prompted series organizer SRO Motorsports Group to allocate a 50-minute session and a one-hour 50-minute session this Tuesday to make up for any test day absences.

The paid testing sessions included some cars that did not race at Indianapolis, including the No. 98 ROWE Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R that led the way on a time of 2:20.809.

Nick Tandy was responsible for that attempt, while Indianapolis runner-up David Pittard was second quickest in the No. 35 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.

All of the best times came in the shorter first session as the rain increased into the afternoon for the second session and the Bronze test.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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