Alternate Strategy Puts Rutronik Porsche into Lead

Photo: JEP/SRO

An alternate strategy put Sven Mueller into the lead of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with six hours to go in the Belgian endurance classic.

Mueller, in the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, held a 7.407-second advantage over the No. 63 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Mirko Bortolotti in second, who was closing the gap.

The German squad elected to go off-sequence in the 17th hour by staying out during the race’s 12th Full Course Yellow, for the No. 21 Comtoyou Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Jamie Day, which went into the gravel in Turn 7.

The neutralization turned into the race’s ninth safety car period and saw a restart with 7 hours and 28 minutes to go.

The two leading Gold Cup class cars, the No. 33 Verstappen dot com Racing Aston Martin of Harry King and Louis Prette’s No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, also went off-sequence and gained ground in the overall ranking.

While Max Hesse got around Luca Engstler for the virtual lead five minutes after the restart, a quicker pit stop for the GRT Lamborghini saw Bortolotti rejoin ahead of the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo, now in the hands of Philipp Eng.

The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Vincent Abril ran third, ahead of the sister No. 50 entry of Antonio Fuoco, who got around the No. 32 Team WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde for fifth late in the 18th hour.

The No. 33 Aston of Chris Lulham maintained the Gold Cup class lead in tenth overall after pitting just prior to the end of the hour.

There was drama for the Bronze Cup class-leading No. 93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari, which served a drive-through penalty in the 16th hour for exceeding the extended maximum stint time.

It gave the No. 81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Dan Arrow the class lead with six hours to go, with the Silver Cup paced by the No. 42 Century Motorsport BMW of William Moore.

Pro-Am was led by the No. 29 AV Racing by Car Collection Motorsport Porsche, while the class-contending No. 4 CrowdStrike by SPS Mercedes-AMG was handed a drive-through after Nicky Catsburg got into Jack Hawksworth’s No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren in the 17th hour.

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