Engstler Holds Control at Spa With Nine Hours to Go

Photo: JEP/SRO

Luca Engstler was out front of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with nine hours to go while under the latest safety car period.

The German driver, freshly installed in the No. 63 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 following a race-leading double stint from Jordan Pepper, led the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Max Hesse, with Alessandro Pier Guidi third in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

Engstler’s co-driver Mirko Bortolotti emerged as the leader following the pit stop sequence in the beginning of the 13th hour and bridged out an eight-plus second lead over Philipp Eng in the No. 998 ROWE BMW.

A Full Course Yellow for an apparent engine failure for the No. 23 Team RJN McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Ben Dorr led to a flurry of technical pit stops for the majority of the front runners.

All leading cars except for the No. 64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 and the Nos. 46 and 31 Team WRT BMWs elected to make their mandatory five-minute stops for brake changes.

It promoted the Mustang GT3 of Thomas Drouet to seventh overall, although the Frenchman and the No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel made contact in the chicane in the 15th hour to bring out a FCY when Drouet stopped on track with right-front suspension damage.

Engel, meanwhile, was handed a drive-through penalty for causing a collision.

It came after a brief FCY earlier in the hour for the No. 2 Johor Motorsports JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Prince Jefri Ibrahim, which came to a halt near the pit exit.

The latest FCY, which turned into the race’s eighth safety car period, provided both WRT BMWs to make their technical stops, as well as the all of the other leaders having come in for regular service.

The No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco ran fourth overall, with Patric Niederhauser completing the top-five in the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Jesse Krohn, in the No. 98 ROWE BMW was sixth, ahead of the No. 32 WRT BMW of Charles Weerts in seventh.

Engel, yet to serve his penalty, dropped to eighth, ahead of Gold Cup class leader Harry King in the No. 33 Verstappen dot com Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

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