Eastalent Audi Sets the Pace in 24H Spa Prologue

The Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Christopher Haase set the pace during a rain-affected two-day CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa Prologue.

A total of 16 hours of track time was available to crews over the course of the Prologue, but it was Haase’s lap from the opening morning that ended up being the benchmark.

The German clocked a 2:16.535 in the No. 3 Audi to fractionally outpace Dorian Boccolacci at the wheel of the No. 16 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo by just 0.042 seconds.

Haase’s lap was three tenths slower than the best from last year’s Prologue, ironically also headed by an Audi.

Boccolacci’s time, meanwhile, led the way in the five-hour Tuesday afternoon session, which produced the majority of the fastest laps.

Third quickest overall was the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Thomas Preining with a 2:16.628, while another of the German machines occupied fourth on the combined times thanks to Laurin Heinrich’s 2:16.852 at the controls of the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT example, which was among the additional entries announced on Tuesday for the June 27-28 race.

The Schumacher CLRT car was crewed by a lineup entirely comprised of Porsche factory drivers and another of these, Ayhancan Guven topped the final session on Wednesday with a 2:16.935 that was only fractionally slower than Heinrich managed the day before.

Fifth fastest on the combined timesheet was another Audi, the No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing entry of Rocco Mazzola with a 2:16.930 that represented the best time from a Silver Cup entry during the Prologue.

Rounding out the top-six was another Porsche, this time the No. 54 Dinamic GT example of Francesco Simonazzi and his 2:17.085 was also set on Tuesday afternoon.

The Tsunami RT Porsche of Nico Menzel, who posted a 2:17.143 on the final afternoon, to finish seventh on the overall leaderboard also set the Pro-Am division pace.

The best of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos occupied eighth spot, thanks to Lucas Auer’s 2:17.201 that was also set on the final afternoon at the wheel of the No. 48 Winward Racing car.

The pick of the trio of GetSpeed Mercedes-AMGs was ninth, thanks to Karol Basz, while the top-ten on the overall timesheet was completed by two crews that set an identical time.

Both Lorens Lecurta in the No. 555 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo on Tuesday morning and Alex Fontana in the No. 89 Lionspeed Porsche in the afternoon clocked a 2:17.282.

Fontana’s effort represented the best Bronze Cup time, while another Porsche, the No. 10 Boutsen VDS machine, led the way in the Gold Cup with a 2:17.369 set on Tuesday afternoon.

The times were much slower on Wednesday morning when rain limited the track’s potential, but the surface had dried by the start of the afternoon session.

There were relatively few interruptions, with the chief one being caused by a crash at Blanchimont for Mohamad Afiq Yazid at the wheel of the No. 0 Johor Motorsports Racing JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R on Tuesday afternoon.