Fassler gives Corvette early lead
Marcel Fassler charged into the lead in the early stages of the 24 Hours of Spa and the No.6 Phoenix Corvette holds a solid lead over the Jetalliance Aston Martin
Fassler qualified the Corvette on the front row and inherited pole position when Steve Zacchia destroyed the Larbre Competition Saleen in the warm-up this morning.
Fassler took an early lead, but really began to pull away at the when it started to rain during the second hour of the race. He's now handed over to Fabrizio Gollin, who is around a minute ahead the Jetalliance Aston, which has just been passed from Alex Muller to Ryan Sharp
Allan Simonsen recently took third place away from the No.2 Vitaphone Maserati as Miguel Ramos handed over to Alessandro Pier Guidi, and he took over the Gigawave Aston from Philipp Peter.
Uwe Alzen is fifth in the second Phoenix Corvette which has recovered well from a spin at La Source at the start of the race, but the German is being reeled in by Stephane Sarrazin, who recently got behind the wheel of the No.1 Vitaphone Maserati. Andrea Bertolini had started well in the car but it slipped back to sixth with Michael Bartels on board when it began to rain during the second hour.
Several different cars have led the GT2 class during the first three hours. Matteo Malucelli and Dirk Muller each had spells up front in their respective Ferraris, but Richard Lietz has taken over at the front in the IMSA Porsche and started to move away in the wet conditions. He recently handed the car to Patrick Long, who contiunes in the lead.
The Prospeed Porsche of Emmanuel Collard, Richard Westbrook and Marc Lieb fell away from the lead battle in GT2 after losing significant time in its first pit stop, but it has clawed its way back into contetntion and Lieb is currently second in class ahead of the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari, with Malucelli back on board, and Jaime Melo in the No.50 AF Corse Ferrari.
The first major retirement of the race was the Selleslagh Corvette. Xavier Maassen ploughed straight on into the tyres at La Source with a suspected brake problem during the first hour. The team could fix the brake problem but have run out of bodywork parts following two crashes earlier in the weekend.
Pos Drivers Car Gap 1. Fassler/Hezemans/Gollin/Deletraz Corvette 64 laps 2. Wendlinger/Sharp/Muller/Litchner-Hoyer Aston Martin +1:03.245 3. Simonsen/Peter/Turner/Thompson Aston Martin +1:18.857 4. Negrao/Ramos/Pier Guidi/Lemeret Maserati +1:19.330 5. Margaritis/Alzen/Menten/Schlunssen Corvette +1:29.517 6. Bertolini/Bartels/Sarrazin/van der Poele Maserati +1:29.898 7. Kumpen/Longin/Mollekens/Bouvy Saleen +1 lap 8. Kox/Rusinov/Lammers/Enge Lamborghini +1 lap 9. Lietz/Long/Narac Porsche +3 laps 10. Collard/Westbrook/Lieb Porsche +3 laps 11. Malucelli/Ruberti/Camathias/Rigon Ferrari +3 laps 12. Bruni/Vilander/Melo/Salo Ferrari +3 laps 13. Forsten/Palttala/Henzler/Horion Porsche +3 laps 14. Bell/Kirkaldy/Muller/Sutton Ferrari +4 laps 15. Biagi/Montanari/Farnbacher/Russo Ferrari +4 laps 16. Babini/Davies/Monfardini Ferrari +4 laps 17. Aucott/Ferte/Daoudi Maserati +4 laps 18. Williams/Sugden/Pompidou/Ashburn Porsche +4 laps 19. Moser/del Monte/Vannelet/Palma Ferrari +4 laps 20. Mullen/Piccini/Niarchos/Shedden Ferrari +4 laps 21. Juniper/Twigg/Baird/Forbes Porsche +5 laps 22. Jakubowski/Campbell/Barde/Zangarelli Ferrari +6 laps 23. Duval/Kelders/Greisch/Kerkhove Porsche +6 laps 24. Jordan/Jones/Jones Ascari +6 laps 25. Plati/Basso/Tenchini/Baguette Ferrari +6 laps 26. Heylen/Loix/Dermont/Lamot Porsche +6 laps 27. Leinders/Kuppens/Martin Gillet +6 laps 28. Bermes/Thomas/Basseng/Hemroulle Porsche +6 laps 29. Coens/Fumal/Schroyen/Faggionato Ferrari +7 laps 30. Duez/Sougnez/Wauters/Muytjens Porsche +7 laps 31. Huisman/Voerman/Khan/van Splunteren Porsche +7 laps 32. Kaufmann/Talkanitsa/Ullmann/Heyer Porsche +7 laps 33. Chaillet/Geofroy/Galand/Rosoux Dodge +8 laps 34. Baron/Fournet/Corbel/Ferreira Porsche +8 laps 35. Brouard/Noziere/Stepec/Samon Porsche +8 laps 36. Renard/Hissom/Wasover/Thirion Ferrari +8 laps 37. Ballay/Scheier Ferrari +8 laps 38. Lesoudier/Brandela/Peyroles/Lester Ferrari +12 laps 39. Kuzminykh/Knauss/Kraihamer/Rich Lamborghini +18 laps 40. Helary/Radermecker/Desbrueres/Desbrueres Ferrari +35 laps
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