Algarve Pro Racing Wins Incident-Packed 4H Spa

Algarve Pro Racing’s #25 ORECA of Kyffin Simpson, Alex Lynn and James Allen emerged victorious in a chaotic 2023 4 Hours of Spa Francorchamps, that was heavily interrupted by five safety car periods which ultimately set up a sprint finish in the closing minutes with many cars in the field bunched up and on the lead lap in their respective classes.

For the #25 crew, it’s a second win of the season, earned by a faultless performance in which Simpson, Allen and then Lynn held onto the lead for most of the race through the various safety car periods, taking the championship lead as a reward for their efforts. The gap is now 11 points.

Behind, the overall podium was completed by the LMP2 Pro/Am class winning #37 COOL Racing ORECA, after a superb job by Malthe Jakobsen in the closing stages and the #83 championship-leading AF Corse ORECA, following a late-race tussle with the title-rival Racing Team Turkey ORECA in the final hour.

“We showed in Aragon we had a fast car, but here we were super strong and were quite comfortable. Our target was to win in Pro/Am, so we are very happy,” commented Jakobsen.

In the end, Matthieu Vaxiviere made a daring move on Louis Deletraz in the final 10 minutes of the race to score vital points ahead of the Portimao doubleheader. The final move served as a crescendo, following multiple comings together at Les Combes and the Bus Stop, extending the gap in the standings to two points.

In the LMP2 category, it was a truly messy contest behind the #25, which claimed the lead at its final stop, with a stop quick enough to leapfrog the COOL ORECA that climbed the order late on when it came in for its penultimate stop just before a safety car.

“Sometimes you win races by being quick and passing cars, sometimes it’s because of strategy and quick thinking,” said Lynn after the race. “I was calm at the end, I knew the COOL ORECA had to take more fuel at the final stop, so I could sit back and didn’t need to push too hard. I am so proud of the team, they really kept us in this one.”

The #65 Panis Racing ORECA ended up taking second with an eighth-place overall finish, despite causing a multi-car incident at Turn 1 on the opening lap that brought the safety car out for the first time.

Manuel Maldonado locked up and went straight on, hitting Marino Sato in the #22 United ORECA into a spin and crashing into the side of the IDEC ORECA of Paul Lafargue, which cannoned into the #30 Duqueine ORECA of Rene Binder, damaging all three cars.

The Panis team was later penalised with a 1-minute stop-go penalty, but over the course of the four hours, the car gradually climbed the order and ended up back in contention for silverware.

It was a particularly disastrous incident for Duqueine, which held the LMP2 championship lead before the race but ended up finishing three laps down, 28th overall and sixth in class as a result of the repair work needed.

United’s #22 ORECA which won last time out at Aragon also went on to have a rollercoaster afternoon after its rear-clip change in the pits. The team was penalised later in the race for causing a collision and lost further time in the pits to an emergency service and repair work to its front end.

As a result, the #22 ended up 13th overall and fifth in class, behind the IDEC ORECA that recovered to fourth.

In LMP3, Adrien Chila, Marcos Siebert and Alejandro Garcia made it a double win for COOL Racing, the trio steering their #17 Ligier JS P320 to a second consecutive victory. As a result, they have opened up a sigificant lead in the championship ahead of the final two races in Portugal and need just four points to clinch the title.

For all three it was a cause of having a clean race and staying in touch with the leading group in the class through the string of safety cars that prevented the race from settling down.

“There was so much going on, with crashes and fights in LMP3. It was a lot down to traffic management, and keeping calm. I made mistakes under Full-Course Yellows at restarts, but I am happy because of our championship lead. WE are just happy now, everyone has done an amazing job. We didn’t have the speed to be honest, but when you have three drivers that do a good job it goes like this,” Garcia said.

The safety cars in question after the Turn 1 pile-up were called for an off by Martin Berry in the JMW Ferrari at Raidillon into the barriers on driver’s right, a big hit to the Armco at Campus for Glenn Van Berlo in the #10 Eurointernational Ligier and in the final hour, two big crashes at Stavelot.

The first was for the LMP2 Pro/Am podium contending Nielsen ORECA of Ben Hanley that ran high up the order in the opening hours and LMP2 Inter Europol ORECA of Jonathan Aberdein that at times looked odds on for an overall podium.

Behind the winning COOL car, the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, which vaulted up the order in the second half after taking its long stop early in the race and the #11 Eurointernational JS P320 which led the class for most of the first half of the race completed the podium.

GTE meanwhile, was extremely tight throughout and ended in a sprint to the flag due to the safety cars bunching up the field.

The pole-sitting #16 Proton Competition Porsche of Alessio Picariello, Zach Robichon and Ryan Hardwick took the win, the trio’s second of the season, which opened up a 17-point gap to the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche which ended up finishing second.

Matteo Cairoli, who was the #60 at the end, was tasked with chasing and passing Picariello, who was carrying a chunk of success ballast, but the Italian couldn’t find a way through before the end and the pair crossed the line nose to tail.

Formula Racing’s #50 Ferrari ended up third, ahead of the Aragon-winning Kessel Ferrari and the #72 TF Sport Aston Martin which looked strong throughout but lost time to being run off the road at La Source by the Team Turkey ORECA and turned around at the Bus Stop by the GMB Aston Martin which eventually crashed out.

Next up on the calendar is the penultimate round of the season at Portimao next month, as part of a double-header, the first race held on October 20th.