Bentley Leads 24H Spa After Four Hours

Photo: Olivier Beroud Images

Vincent Abril leads the Total 24 Hours of Spa with four hours completed, after the Bentley Team M-Sport driver inherited the lead in the pits during a Full Course Yellow period.

The top positions changed in pit stops during the race’s second FCY, caused by a crash for Oman Racing with TF Sport’s Euan McKay.

It put Abril out front ahead of Norbert Siedler’s Emil Frey Racing Lexus RC F GT3 and the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Alex Buncombe.

The Brit eventually passed Siedler shortly before the end of the fourth hour, while Rene Rast runs fourth for Audi Sport Team WRT.

An incident between Andrea Caldarelli and Ben Barnicoat, which proved to be the biggest drama of the race so far, resulted in a 30-second stop-and-hold penalty for the Grasser Racing Team driver.

Both the No. 63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3 have lost considerable time through damage repairs, and have dropped to the back of the field.

Caldarelli’s co-driver Christian Engelhart had been running third during most of the second and third hours, behind Maxime Martin and Nico Mueller.

Martin lost the lead when the R-Motorsport team suffered a fuel rig problem in the pits, dropping the pole-sitting car to 21st position. 

The first FCY of the race was called with two hours completed when Philippe Giauque crashed his Am Cup-entered AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Raidillon.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.