Optimum Pair Take Spa Endurance Race Win

Optimum Motorsport took its first win of the season in an incident-filled Endurance Race at Spa-Francorchamps. Sam De Haan and Charlie Fagg emerged as the winners at the end of the race and resisted the charge from the  Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase, second by a mere 0.067 of a second, with Diego […]

Optimum Motorsport took its first win of the season in an incident-filled Endurance Race at Spa-Francorchamps.

Sam De Haan and Charlie Fagg emerged as the winners at the end of the race and resisted the charge from the  Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase, second by a mere 0.067 of a second, with Diego Menchaca and Marcos Siebert taking third.

De Haan-Fagg now lead the championship standings with 50 points, ahead of Menchaca-Siebert (45) and Reicher-Haase (42).

Fourth overall and winners in Pro-Am were Antares Au-Matteo Cairoli, in the Huber Motorsport Porsche, after Sandro Mur-Martin Kodrić in the Bonaldi Motorsport Lamborghini who crossed the line first, were penalised (as were ten other cars) for a pit stop infringement, while the Am win was for the AF Corse Ferrari of Jean-Claude Saada-Conrad Grunewald.

At the start, Reicher from pole had a perfect getaway ahead of Menchaca, De Haan, Pitamber, Marinangeli, Paul and Kolb, while there was contact in the middle of the group at La Source between Perolini, Jans and Jousset but everyone was able to continue.

Menchaca started to attack Reicher and took the lead with a dive at La Source in lap 8. De Haan would also pass the Austrian, threatened also by Pitamber, but on lap 11, the South African spun in front of the Cup car of Fecchio and both ended up in the gravel, bringing the safety-car out.

The Mercedes managed to get back to the pits, and the first pit stop window opened as soon as the safety-car period was over, on lap 13. The safety car, though, was back in lap 17, following a spin from Liebhauser.

By lap 20, Cheever led ahead of Rumpfkeil, Basz, Kodric, Blom, Jefferies, Sernagiotto and Siebert, while shortly after Arrow, Cairoli and M.Bochez got tangled at the last chicane, with no damage.

The second pit stop opened after one hour 25 minutes. The safety car would then be scrambled twice more in quick succession, first to rescue a GT Cup car (Pisani) then after a double spin by Perolini and Sartingen, who was collected by Cozzi.

The last pit stop, the one used for serving the handicap, opened in lap 36. After that, it was Lietz leading but the joy for the Lionspeed Porsche was short-lived as the car slowed on lap 43 before stopping in the pits with a mechanical problem.

It was Charlie Fagg leading in the final stretch of the race, closely followed by Kodric, Haase, Cheever, Siebert and Cairoli, with six different car brands represented in the top-6. While Cheever dropped back following a puncture, Haase took second and closed in on Fagg, who was increasingly struggling with tyres, but managed to keep the advantage despite a desperate final attack from the Audi.

After the race, cars # 32, 911, 777, 26, 65, 27, 52, 70, 25, 81 and 44 received 30-second penalties for entering the pits at the first pit stop before the window opened, in the very final stages of a safety-car period.

GT Cup Europe

Evgenii Leonov and his one-off teammate Adam Christodoulou won the endurance Race at the wheel of the Porsche 992 Cup of Volcano Motorsport, which clinched its first GT Cup Europe win in only its second outing in the series. The success was a nice reward for Leonov after the bad luck in Portimão and allowed him to climb up to second position in the standings, just two points behind Iván Velasco-Jorge Cabezas.

The Spanish duo of Mertel Motorsport brought their Ferrari 488 Challenge to second, maintaining the lead in the standings.

In front of their home crowd, Laurent Vandervelde and Xander Przybylak took third in one of the Q1 Trackracing Porsches, securing the win in the Am class.

Navarrete took the lead at the start, with Akatsu, Reimann, Cabezas, Remi Vanstraaten, A.Bochez and Sartingen following.

On lap 2, Akatsu stopped at La Source and so did Perian at the entrance of the endurance pitlane. Shortly after, Cabezas took second from Reimann, who would be passed also by A.Vanstraaten shortly before the safety-car was deployed on lap 11 because of a GT Open car spinning out into the gravel ahead of Fecchio, with both cars ending in the gravel trap.

The first pit stop took place shortly after but the safety-car was out again on lap 18, for another GT Open car in the gravel. Pisani was in the lead at the beginning of the second stint, ahead of Przybylak, Ludwig, Christodoulou, Castillo, Velasco and Axel Van Straaten.

Lap 26, and Przybylak took the lead from Pisani who then had contact with Bochez and stopped in the chicane, forcing the safety-car out. But it was again out one lap later after an off-track excursion for Sartingen, who was collected by Cozzi.

After the final pit stop and serving the handicaps, it was Castillo leading ahead of Vandervelde, Christodoulou, Velasco, Borghi and M.Bochez.

The final stretch of the race saw Christodoulou charging back and taking the lead, which he kept until the flag, beating Vandervelde and Cabezas. The Belgian will be one of the eleven cars getting a 30 second penalty for entering the pit lane too early at the first pit stop, when a safety car period was not yet completely finished. He would drop to third overall but would keep the success in Am.

GT Open Spa Endurance Race Result