Triple Crown of Endurance Race Wins

September 21, 2014
Story By
John Brooks

The Spa 24 Hours was given a new lease of life in 2001 when the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium asked Stéphane Ratel to bring his GT circus aka the FIA GT Championship to town to replace the local touring car formula that had fallen out of favour with competitors and spectators alike.

The following year SRO took the field down into the centre of Spa on the day before practice. Since then this up close and personal display to the fans has grown into something resembling a festival and certainly this year the balmy weather and generally relaxed atmosphere of the Belgians made for a very agreeable time, that and the famous Belgian beer.

Then after a few hours the grid was fired up and driven along the public highway back to Francorchamps and the track. This added considerably to the sense of a special occasion that any 24 hour endurance event generates.

Recently I totted up the number of 24 Hour races I had covered in my time at the tracks, the number is approaching 80, which must say something about me. Each race is unique, each one is memorable and the 2014 Spa 24 Hours was no exception, however it must be said that this was in part for the wrong reasons. (You can find my Nürburgring 24H and LeMans 24H coverage from this summer here.)

The race for the top spot was anticipated to be a largely Belgian affair, with the WRT Audis and Marc VDS BMWs expected to make the running. If either of these teams stumbled there was ever present Mercedes band and dark horses Bentley waiting in the wings, while the PRO-AM Ferraris and Nissans would feature in the initial stages of the race while the PRO element was behind the wheel. 61 racers blasted down to Eau Rouge at the start and for once the mob behaved themselves, streaming up Raidillon and on to the Kemmel Straight for the first of many laps.

As expected the #1 Audi leapt into an immediate lead with Laurens Vanthoor chased hard by the #50 Ferrari of Pier Guidi.

First of the fancied runners to hit trouble was the #8 Bentley with a visit to the pits to fix some first lap accident damage.

The race settled down into the usual high speed chess match with strategies for tyres, fuel and drivers balancing against outright speed.

Pitwork was also to have an effect on the outcome, the Marc VDS guys getting a bit of a drop on WRT as the BMWs and Audis swapped the lead.

90 minutes into the race and a form of insanity hit the event. First the SMP Ferrari 458 Italia of Vyacheslav Maleev caught the kerbing at Eau Rouge which caused him lose control and strike the Armco heavily. The car was out on the spot and the driver only suffered a bruised ego. By sheer good fortune the stationery Ferrari was avoided by the pack of cars following up the hill but it was a close call. The race was under caution for around 15 minutes. No sooner had the Safety Cars left the track when they were called out again. This accident was even more serious, Tim Mullen, in the Von Ryan McLaren had flown off the track at Blanchimont when a rear tyre failed while at maximum speed. It was suspected that he had picked debris from the first incident and once the tyre was under full load at this high speed corner, it let go. Tim was taken to hospital but thankfully he was released later that evening, bruised and battered, but otherwise OK.

The race restarted after a further 30 minutes behind the Safety Car Lamborghinis. Even as the Safety Car engines were switched off, two more incidents took place. Jörg Müller missed his breaking point into La Source and his Marc VDS BMW cannoned into the Ferrari of Giacomo Piccini, causing damage that would force both cars to pit and repair. Effectively this ended the challenge of another of the pre-race favourites, later a collision with a hare on track during the night damaged the radiator and cooked the BMW's engine. At the same time Raidillon was once again the scene of drama as Karim Ojjeh backed his McLaren into the wall, another retirement. What was happening?

The already over-taxed marshals at the Eau Rouge-Raidillon part of the track barely drew breath after clearing up the damage after the latest shunt when there was yet another incident. Andrew Danyliw’s Ferrari spun going up the hill and finished up stalled in the middle of the track, this time there was no escape for those following closely. The Ferrari was hit at full speed by the Beechdean Aston Martin with Andrew Howard aboard. This initial impact was swiftly followed by others as the pack crested the rise at race pace. The Mercedes of Xavier Maassen, Alex Demirdjian’s McLaren and Tim Müller’s Ferrari joined in the carnage, all five cars retiring with substantial damage. Fortunately all the drivers were OK although Howard was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. More time had now been spent lapping behind the Safety Car than racing, something was going seriously wrong.

The sun was getting lower in the sky and the race resumed, although the atmosphere was somewhat subdued after all the incidents. An hour passed at full speed and then the Safety Cars were summoned again as two Ferraris had collided at Stavelot, this time the consequences appeared to be really serious. So much so that the race was Red Flagged while a helicopter landed and evacuated one of the drivers, Marcus Mahy, to the Intensive Care Unit of Liège Hospital. The other driver, Vadim Kogay was also transferred to medical care though this was largely precautionary. For over an hour the race was halted while stories eddied around the paddock that suggested a worst case scenario. Fortunately, due in no small measure to the skills and professionalism of the medics and marshals attending the crash scene, Mahy survived his initial injuries and there has been a recent announcement that he is out of Intensive Care and on the way to a full recovery. Sometimes there is a happy ending. During the Red Flag the cars remained on track with the crews inable to work on them, it was going to be a long night.

The race restarted without further incident and gradually the competitors got back into the swing of things, though the mood was sombre in the extreme while we waited for news. A number of questions arose from this series of disastrous incidents. The first thought was had the GT3 cars increased too much in speed, especially considering that the formula was principally aimed at gentlemen or non-professional drivers? Were they too reliant on driver aids such as traction control and ABS? Questions also arose about the skills and abilities of some of the drivers taking part on such a demanding and high speed venue. From 2014, to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours a driver needed recent experience of the race without which a half day in a Paris simulator was required, this in addition to completing ten laps at a satisfactory fashion on the official Test Day run prior to the race. There are no exceptions to the rule, so even a star such as Porsche's Mark Webber had to make the trip to Paris. Similarly to drive in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, drivers have to qualify by running in the VLN series races prior to the big day. One of the attractions of the Blancpain Endurance Series is the diversity in drivers, however it might be prudent to raise the bar to ensure a higher level of skills on track. Some form of assesment or even a pre-qualification event would seem to be the answer.

The ACO had also looked at the Safety Car procedures to neutralise only part of the race track, thereby avoiding potential issues with tyre pressures and temperatures. I suspect that the RACB and SRO will be looking closely at this to see if it is feasible given the varied topography and scope of the Spa Francorchamps track. Another contentious issue was that of release points following the Safety Car period, as it stands Eau Rouge/Raidillon, one of the most challenging corners in all of motorsport, is the first place that one half of the field finds out how much they can rely on their tyres, lacking pressure and temperature. It is no coincidence that three of the Safety Car periods were triggered by incidents at this location. There was also some suggestions that a mandatory pit stop for all competitors to put on fresh tyres in the event of a prolonged Full Course Yellow or Red Flag period should be made a rule, it would certainly avoid the scale and number of accidents due to cold or damaged tyres. There are no quick fixes to this kind of problem but I am confident that the organisers will find the optimal solution.

While those of us focused on track action maintained a close watch on events unfolding, others found other diversions to occupy their attention, a DJ apparently, provided a raucous back drop to the race in the outer Paddock, his efforts could be heard way down the valley in the centre of Spa town.

A more traditional off track "happening" was a firework display.

On track the fight for victory had come down to the two Belgian outfits, who were exchanging the lead at each pit stop. The #1 WRT Audi appeared to have a problem that prevented them using their full allocation of fuel in each stint, a pick up problem it was thought. The #77 Marc VDS BMW appeared to have the advantage in the pits but were slightly off the pace on track, though a mega-stint by Dirk Werner in the early hours addressed this issue. It was all very finely balanced.

This battle see-sawed through the darkness towards dawn. And then on into the morning, the lone BMW being the only challenge to the Audi pack. The lead Audi did not have things all their own way. Laurens Vanthoor was unwell from the middle of the race and unable to drive, René Rast took up the challenge with a Herculean effort, driving for over 10 of the 24 hours, some 220 laps. Not only a feat of endurance, Rast was absolutely flying, posting fastest laps as he wrung the neck of the R8 LMS ultra. The duel between the leaders was enthralling, making up for the tedium of the Yellow and Red flag interludes.

The final twist in the plot came at around noon when the BMW suffered some form of electronic catastrophe, traction control, ABS and most other systems failing. This handed a substantial on speed advantage to the Audi but Marc VDS were not in a mood to give up. Clever, if somewhat desperate, doubling stinting of the tyres in less than optimal conditions kept them in the hunt, even at the expense of overall performance as the rubber degraded.

With 35 minutes to go Rast made his final stop and took on fresh Pirellis, Dirk Werner, mighty in the Z4, was on the double stint tyre plan; the result was inevitable, Rast caught and passed the unfortunate German with seven laps to spare. WRT had repeated their 2012 victory, Audi had achieved a remarkable triple crown, Le Mans, Nürburgring and now Spa had fallen to them, also a repeat of 2012.

There was much sympathy and respect for the performance of the Marc VDS outfit, their day will surely come. Final podium spot went to the #3 WRT Audi, who had fallen foul of the closed pits during the Red Flag period, incurring a penalty.

Just to reinforce the message that an Audi R8 LMS ultra was the weapon of choice for the 2014 Spa 24 Hours, fourth place fell to another strong runner the Saintéloc Racing version, with Stéphane Ortelli, Grégory Guilvert and Edward Sandström just missing out on a podium place.

What of the other fancied runners in the PRO class? The McLaren trio had the nightmare race that was predicted, ART Grand Prix's pair retiring after problems that started in the first hour. The Von Ryan car was one of those destroyed in the early race carnage. In contrast Bentley got both cars to the finish, though they hit problems and the best, #7, was 11 laps down on the winner at the Chequered Flag.

The PRO-AM class saw a similar race long struggle between Ferrari and BMW, the #51 AF Corse driven by Andrea Bertolini, Marco Cioci, Niek Hommerson and Louis Machiels taking a well deserved victory.

AF Corse also took honours in Gentlemen Trophy, the #51 458 Italia brought home by Peter Mann, Cedric Mezard, Francisco Guedes and Alexander Talkanitsa.

The 2014 Spa 24 Hours was a great race, a worthy salute to 90 years of the Belgian endurance classic but the incidents that peppered the first quarter raised a number of questions that need to be addressed to ensure the safety and security of all competitors. A bullet was dodged, we may not be so fortunate the next time. Additional imagery courtesy of and copyright Brecht Decancq/SRO

Triple Crown of Endurance Race Wins

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