Eastalent Audi Leads as No. 51 Ferrari Suffers Puncture

The Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II led the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa at the six-hour mark after the Ferrari that had dominated the opening chunk of the race suffered a puncture.

The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo had maintained the lead throughout the first four-and-a-half hours of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS blue-riband race and even a 15-second penalty for speeding during a full-course yellow period did not cost it a place.

However, as the sun started to set over Spa-Francorchamps, Nicklas Nielsen suffered the effects of a puncture just after exiting the Bus Stop chicane and had to complete a full lap with a severely delaminated tire.

The Ferrari lost a lap and eventually emerged from the pits in 45th place before clawing back up to 35th approaching the one-quarter distance mark, only for it to be handed a 30-second penalty for speeding during a full-course yellow.

Nielsen’s woes meant it was Markus Winkelhock who led after six hours in the No. 84 Audi but both it and the second-placed No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Jordan Pepper were running on an out-of-kilter strategy and were due to pit shortly.

The net lead was therefore held by the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Lucas Auer, which had moved ahead of the dominant Gold Cup No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in the fourth hour when Maro Engel pounced when Tom Fleming get caught in traffic through Paul Frere corner.

Auer had a 2.4-second advantage over Louis Prette in the McLaren at the six-hour mark, the gap between the two cars having fluctuated during the preceding hour, which was the first to run without a safety car or FCY.

The No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW had continued to make steady progress up the order and occupied fifth spot, a net third, after six hours.

Its progress was aided by the No. 3 Verstappen Racing 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG having to serve a ten-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and a 15-second penalty for a FCY infringement for the second No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren.

This in turn aided the No. 64 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Arjun Maini, the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Dorian Boccolacci and the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW of Ugo De Wilde as they occupied sixth to eighth spots.

Chris Lulham in the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG had dropped to tenth, while the No. 34 Aston had fallen to 32nd.

Aside from the pole-sitting Ferrari, other cars that dropped out of the top ten included the No. 71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari that had ran third earlier in the race but had to serve a drive-through penalty for causing a collision when it hit the No. 555 CSA Racing McLaren at the Bus Stop chicane when attempting to lap it.

Meanwhile, the No. 35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that survived the pile-up on the first racing lap received two drive-through penalties, one for speeding during an FCY and the other for going too fast in the pit lane.

There was some joy for Ferrari further down the order as the No. 74 Kessel car held the advantage in the Bronze Cup in 14th overall while the No. 30 WRT BMW had assumed the Silver Cup lead.

It was a dramatic sixth hour in the battle for Pro-Am Cup glory as the No. 86 High Class Porsche, which had assumed the lead following woes for the similar Car Collection Motorsport entry, had its bonnet fly up.

Leo Ye Hongli incredibly guided the car back to the pits and re-emerged in the lead only for it be handed a ten-second stop-and-hold penalty for FCY speeding and give the class advantage to the No. 700 Comtoyou Aston Martin.