Another Double Win For United Autosports At Spa – LMP2 and LMP3 Again
The #22 United Autosports ORECA of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque took the win at Spa Francorchamps with a comfortable 60 second margin after a hectic four hours of action at Spa Francorchamps, the United pair showing pace and cool heads as many around them got involved in all sorts of on track chaos to score a third consecutive win at this race together.
In a race that started with temperatures well into the 30s, saw a couple of dramatic interjections from the traditional Spa rain, and more penalties than an entire Football World Cup tournament the winning crew’s performance was an oasis of calm in the melee!
They didn’t have it altogether their own way, far from it in fact, pushed very hard indeed by another two man crew, with one man in particular a three hour thorn in United’s side. Mikkel Jensen in the #26 G-Drive Aurus managed to get by the #22 twice, once in the early running, and then again, after a spirited attack, as the final hour started, just as significant rain came briefly, the young Dane losing the car over the kerbs at Pouhon and crashing out, a sad end to a very convincing run.
Duqueine Team looked set for a simple second place but for some reason chose not to pit the #30 for a required splash under a late FCY, that was a big mistake, their pit stop under green sent them back to fourth.
The podium looked set to be completed by the #39 Graff and #31 Panis Racing Oreca’s, serving up some real entertainment in the final 90 minutes of the race. with the pair fending off the Duqueine car in the last few laps as the rain threatened a return. Laurent and Stevens ahead of Gommendy at the start of the final lap – half a second the gap between the three!
But Gommendy got alongside Stevens out of La Source and grabbed back a potential podium slot from Stevens on the final lap but lost it out of Blanchimont! a last moment right rear puncture – he’d bring it home fourth after an astounding final lap with Stevens finally completing the podium, Panis Racing the leading Goodyear-shod finishers!
Elsewhere in LMP2 there were further dramas – The #21 DragonSpeed crew’s efforts were a race long fightback after a pre-grid fuel cell leak could not be solved in time to make the grid – that meant a start from pitlane, a lap down, and a frustrating four hours, unable to make an impact on the leading runners.
The #35 BHK Oreca had shown some speed but suffered a right rear puncture, and subsequent bodywork damage, the car coming back slowly for repair, but then stopping after the repairs proved not to have been enough – a DNF.
The #34 Inter Europol Ligier showed some fight, and was, this writer believes, unlucky to have been dealt a penalty when Matevos Isaakyan hit the rear of the #37 Cool Ring Oreca into Les Combes, both cars suffering damage – Race Stewards attributing the blame to the Russian, though from this angle it seemed as if Alexandre Coigny had braked very hard, and very early!
The Ligier would end the day 11th.
The incident would also blunt the edge of the #37 attack that had seen Antonin Borga in the thick of things for a time, the repairs to the rear of the car though saw Nico Lapierre battling for a top ten finish, he’d manage just that. There is a potential looming issue for the team though with a post-race investigation into a pit-lane incident that saw the #37 hit a G-Drive Racing pit crew member – reported to be basically OK after a significant hit, but taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
The Algarve Pro cars were battling throughout but could not find the pace today, 12th for the #24, and 9th for the #25 will be a disappointing result for the team.
Ahead of them both finished the other Goodyear-shod ORECA, the guesting Jota #38, which had been in the hot for much of the race, in particular with Ant Davidson in his usual spirited form, the Englishman grabbing third at the start on the grass down the Kemmel Straight from Jensen!
Jake Dennis too put in a good stint aboard the car but the team were struggling to get the best out of their tyres in the heat, track temperatures up towards 50 degrees at times.
Another team with a topsy turvy form book here was IDEC Sport, looking to come back punching after a disaster at Paul Ricard (broken wiring loom) they had a steady start here, Paul Lafargue hanging on and climbing up the order, Richard Bradley had a spirited run that saw him going wheel to wheel with a frustrated Alex Brundle, and getting the better of the newly minted 30 yer old.
Paul Loup Chatin was as mercurial as ever but there was too much ground lost with a fumble in a pit stop to make an impact – seventh!
Sixth overall would come the Richard Mille Racing crew, Again a steady and near error-free effort producing a points-scoring result the will raise pre-Le Mans spirits.
The #32 United Autosports crew will be amongst the more frustrated crews leaving Spa this evening, the Paul Ricard winners looked well in the hunt but were dealt a blow with a penalty for Will Owen after a clash with the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari that put the 488 into the barrier, it was perhaps a harsh call again from Race Control, but the delay put the United car out of sequence and off the podium.
Particular mentions should be made of a great opening stint from Jonathan Hirschi and good speed too from Konstantin Tereschenko in the #30 Duqueine Oreca, that all helped to keep the car in the hunt for their role in the final dramas.
LMP3
LMP3 became a race of attrition – won easily by the #2 United Ligier of Wayne Boyd,, Tom Gamble and Rob Wheldon, though the chasing #7 Nielsen Racing Duqueine of Tony Wells and Colin Noble kept them honest, the gap at the flag would still be a minute.
A late race failure saw the #8 RealTeam Ligier lose a podium finish putting the #11 EuroInternational Ligier into third with Niko Kari, Andreas Laskaratos and Tommy Erdos, the Brazilian though was really struggling with damaged ribs from Paul Ricard, he’s set to miss the return to the South of France as a result.
The race lost one potential front-runner very early on, Martin Hippe in the #13 Inter Europol Ligier into the tyre barrier and out of the race at Speakers Corner in avoidance of a spinning Rob Hodes in the #10 Nielsen Duqueine – the incident bringing out the first Safety Car.
The American managed to drive away from the subsequent mess, Hippe not so fortunate!
The #10 would not finish either, the Nielsen crew repaired the damage, the rear floor, legality panels and right rear suspension, but the car emerged, effectively running for a points finish, a late race mechanical failure, believed to be a result of the earlier contact, would deny the crew even that!
The third class retirement come vary late in the race and completed a miserable day for the #8 RealTeam Ligier squad, multiple excursions of track, and more than one penalty till saw the crew sitting third in class into the final 20 minutes, but a failure at T1 ended their day!
The #16 BHK Motorsport crew were another that troubled Race Control more than once (significantly more than once in fact!) there lowly finishing position came more through lack of discipline both on track and in the pits than it did through a lack of pace – they’d come home 8th.
Another team that had pace but little luck was RLR Sport, James Dayson suffering a nightmare stint that cost the team time in repairs, and in penalties that dropped them from a potential podium finish to an eventual 7th.
The tale for the remaining runners was little different – †he #4 DKK Duqueine dealt a pair of penalties, the #3 United Ligier suffering a failure that left Jim McGuire having to pit early for a replacement steering wheel and the #9 Graff another in penalty – and off-track woes
GTE
In GTE A huge moment at Raidillon for the then leading #77 Proton Porsche left the #74 Kessel Ferrari to take the top slot, David Perel bringing the car home that he shared with Marcos Gomes and Michael Broniszewski.
Behind came the first of the guesting WEC cars, the renumbered #88 AF Corse Ferrari for Francois Perrodo, Manu Collard and Harrison Newey.
The #98 Aston Martin with Augusto Farfus joining Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda completed the podium fending off the #93 Proton Porsche at the end.
There were a pair of DNFs, Claudio Schiavoni crashing out in the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari after a clash with the #32 United Oreca and Francesco Castellacci grinding to a halt in the guesting #54 AF Corse Ferrari mid race, both incidents bringing out the Safety Car
The JMW Motorsports effort would be impacted badly – in both a literal and metaphoric sense, after an early race clash between the #66, in the hands of Rodrigo Sales and the #83 Iron Lynx 488 of Manuela Göstner. Both cars took damage, the more significant issues costing JMW Some 6 laps, a deficit that would not be recovered – 9th in the finishing order, 7th in the points with two of the guesting WEC cars ahead.
The delay for the #83 was not as bad, but a later penalty would take some further gloss o their day, the all-female crew would finish laps down this time in 8th (6th).
It would be a quiet race for the all-gentleman crewed #51 Ferrari, a steady 7th marks some progress with the project ahead of Le Mans.
It had looked pretty straightforward at one point for the #77, Christian Ried had an excellent first stint hanging on in there in the wake of an excellent opening stint from Paul Dalla Lana that saw the guesting #98 Aston Martin go to the lead very early on, Ried through to second after going wheel to wheel with Michael Broniszewski in the Kessel Ferrari, the Porsche coming out ahead leaving the #74 to fend of the close attentions of a charging Francois Perrodo in the #88 AF Corse Ferrari with pole-starter Michael Fassbender staying in touch with the more experienced gentlemen drivers for a while too in his #93 Proton Porsche.
Both Picariello and later Beretta were building on that solid start before it all went wrong at Raidillon, whether the left rear puncture was entirely cause or effect isn’t clear, but it left Beretta cruising back for a near full lap and destroyed any hope of a podium for the trio – 6th (4th)
The #55 Spirit of Race trio had a topsy turvy race too, Duncan Cameron taking an early race hit and the team fighting back thereafter to move into real contention, but ultimately being off strategy cost them dear, despite fine form from all three drivers fifth was the best they could manage – points for third should help soothe the pain!
Fourth would be a fighting effort from the #93 Proton Porsche, Michael Fassbender showing improving form, keeping his head starting from pole and allowing all around him to run their own race whilst he found rhythm. Richard Lietz would be as rapid as ever and Felipe Laser was in the hunt for the podium at the end, and in points terms that’s what the trio managed – fourth on the road.
After a stellar stat from Paul Dalla Lana something, somewhere went wrong for the #98 AMR squad, we believe a strategy call went awry and dropped the car right down the order from where the team had to push hard back to the podium, Augusto Farfus into the thick of things in his first run in the car.
The #88 AF Corse trio always looked better than steady, Francois Perrodo looking very strong in the early running, Manu Collard having a spirited run too and ‘supersub’ Harrison Newey bringing it home – Second place entirely justified, and great practice for the return fixture with the WEC next weekend!
Kessel Racing though will be delighted with the win, after a trying weekend that saw a run to the from in the Michelin Le Mans Cup denied by an (entirely justified) post race penalty, David Perel’s pace in particular made the target too distant for the chasers to hit.