Spa 24 Hours Blancpain GT: Rowe BMW wins after long Bentley battle
BMW claimed a second consecutive Spa 24 Hours victory after a thrilling battle with Bentley that lasted much of the race
Rowe Racing trio Alexander Sims, Philipp Eng and Maxime Martin took victory aboard their BMW M6 GT3 at the end of a race interrupted by 15 full course yellows, three safety cars and two periods of wet running.
The factory-backed team followed up on the Marc VDS squad's victory last year with the Z4 GT3 and gave BMW its 23rd overall win in the Spa enduro.
Rowe triumphed by just under two minutes from the Auto Sport Promotion Mercedes-AMG GT3 in a confused finish to the double-points round of the Blancpain GT Series that followed a heavy shower in the closing stages.
The Mercedes shared by Felix Rosenqvist, Renger van der Zande and Tristan Vautier ended up just over five seconds up on the WRT Audi R8 LMS of Laurens Vanthoor, Rene Rast and Nico Muller.
The BMW had come out on top of a thrilling battle with the best of the M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3s with three hours to go and was approximately two minutes clear when the rain returned with half an hour left.
Eng said: "It's pure relief that it is over.
"We had good luck in the yellows and bad luck in the yellows, and to be here on top is amazing."
Martin, who finally emulated his father Jean-Michel and uncle Philippe by winning Spa, described the triumph as "just the best victory".
Rosenqvist hung onto to second after a late challenge from Vanthoor when the race went green for the final 15 minutes.
The Audi driver got within two seconds of the Mercedes, but ultimately fell short in his bid to take the runner-up spot.
Both cars suffered major delays during the race.
The ASP works entry was one of six Mercedes to be awarded a five-minute stop-and-go penalty for running illegal ignition mapping in qualifying.
The Audi lost time to repairs in the sixth hour and then had its fightback blunted in the final stages by a puncture and a drivethrough penalty.
The M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 ended up only fourth in the hands of Andy Soucek, Maxime Soulet and Wolfgang Reip after losing time in the final, confused round of pitstops.
The second Mercedes, the HTP Motorsport car shared by Gary Paffett, Maximilian Gotz and Thomas Jager, lost third with a drivethrough following an unsafe release in the final round of stops.
It ended up fifth ahead of the sister car driven by Maximilian Buhk, Jazeman Jaafar and Dominik Baumann.
Honours in the pro-am class went to the Imsa Performance Porsche 911 GT3-R driven by Patrick Pilet, Maxime Jousse, Thierry Comac and team owner Raymond Narac.
They were a lap up at the finish on the ISR Audi shared by Frank Perera, Nicolas Lapierre, Henry Hassid and Philippe Giauque.
RESULTS - 531 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | M.Martin, P.Eng, A.Sims | Rowe Racing | BMW | 24h02m18.980s |
2 | T.Vautier, R.van der Zande, F.Rosenqvist | AMG - Team AKKA ASP | Mercedes | 1m55.408s |
3 | L.Vanthoor, R.Rast, N.Muller | Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi | 2m00.586s |
4 | A.Soucek, W.Reip, M.Soulet | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 1 Lap |
5 | T.Jager, M.Gotz, G.Paffett | AMG - Team HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
6 | D.Baumann, J.Jaafar, M.Buhk | AMG - Team HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 2 Laps |
7 | G.Guilvert, M.Parisy, C.Haase | Sainteloc | Audi | 4 Laps |
8 | A.De Leener, B.Baguette, P.Kaffer | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 4 Laps |
9 | M.Stockinger, F.Salaquarda, E.Mortara | ISR | Audi | 4 Laps |
10 | M.Jousse, T.Cornac, R.Narac, P.Pilet | IMSA Performance | Porsche | 4 Laps |
11 | R.Ineichen, J.Bleekemolen, M.Bortolotti | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 4 Laps |
12 | R.Baptista, S.Jimenez, F.Albuquerque | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 5 Laps |
13 | P.Giauque, H.Hassid, F.Perera, N.Lapierre | ISR | Audi | 5 Laps |
14 | F.Babini, P.Niederhauser, D.Zampieri | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 5 Laps |
15 | M.Beretta, A.Piccini, L.Stolz | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 6 Laps |
16 | P.Lathouras, M.Rugolo, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 7 Laps |
17 | P.Keen, J.Minshaw, J.Osborne, O.Gavin | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 7 Laps |
18 | G.Smith, V.Abril, S.Kane | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 7 Laps |
19 | D.Perfetti, L.Cazenave, M.Lyons, M.M.Traffort | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 8 Laps |
20 | B.Schneider, M.Engel, Y.Buurman | AMG - Team Black Falcon | Mercedes | 8 Laps |
21 | L.Bacheta, I.Dontje, C.Schmid | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 9 Laps |
22 | M.Broniszewski, A.Bonacini, A.Rizzoli, G.Piccini | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 10 Laps |
23 | J.Pisarik, J.Kral, D.Fumanelli, M.Malucelli | Scuderia Praha | Ferrari | 12 Laps |
24 | A.Al Harthy, D.Modell, J.Adam, D.Turner | Oman Racing Team | Aston Martin | 13 Laps |
25 | L.Machitski, M.Attard, M.Mapelli, T.K.-Smith | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 14 Laps |
26 | M.Toril, O.Morley, A.Al Faisal, D.Juncadella | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 15 Laps |
27 | E.P.Companc, R.Giammaria, A.Balzan | AF Corse | Ferrari | 16 Laps |
28 | M.Cerruti, L.Spinelli, G.Vannelet, C.Sbirrazzuoli | Antonelli Motorsport | Lamborghini | 17 Laps |
29 | W.Stevens, D.Vanthoor, F.Vervisch | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 17 Laps |
30 | C.Zochling, J.Gounon, L.Rettenbacher, R.Breukers | Konrad Motorsport | Lamborghini | 18 Laps |
31 | S.Gisbergen, C.Ledogar, R.Bell | Garage 59 | McLaren | 18 Laps |
32 | M.Zanuttini, V.Gitlin, L.Talbot, N.Cadei | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 18 Laps |
33 | H.Haupt, A.Simonsen, A.Christodoulou | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 19 Laps |
34 | P.Mann, F.Guedes, R.Mastronardi, M.Cressoni | AF Corse | Ferrari | 19 Laps |
35 | R.Lago, S.Owen, D.Russell, J.Webb | Lago Racing | Lamborghini | 22 Laps |
36 | R.Salikhov, P.Ehret, A.Mattschull, M.Seefried | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 25 Laps |
37 | M.Simmons, R.Sarazin, S.Walkinshaw, R.Sanchez | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 25 Laps |
38 | F.Geri, D.Mancinelli, G.Romanelli, N.Schiro | Easy race | Ferrari | 26 Laps |
39 | M.Konopka, A.Lewandowski, T.Myszkowski, Z.Mikulasko | ARC Bratislava | Lamborghini | 29 Laps |
40 | B.Senna, D.Tappy, P.Derani | Garage 59 | McLaren | 31 Laps |
41 | N.Catsburg, S.Dusseldorp, D.Werner | Rowe Racing | BMW | 34 Laps |
42 | N.Pohler, D.Alessi, A.Fjordbach, D.Andersen | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 43 Laps |
43 | C.Kelders, M.Rostan, M.Bonanomi, F.Bouvy | Sainteloc | Audi | 47 Laps |
44 | L.Ordonez, M.Takaboshi, A.Buncombe | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 50 Laps |
45 | S.Costantini, G.Berton, M.Beretta, S.Gattuso | Ombra Racing | Lamborghini | 51 Laps |
46 | D.Cameron, A.Scott, M.Griffin, R.Ragazzi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 60 Laps |
47 | F.Notari, J-M.Bachelier, Y.Mallegol, H.Blank | Porsche | 61 Laps | |
48 | R.Philippe, W.Meulders, G.Paisse, P-Y.Paque | Speedlover | Porsche | 63 Laps |
49 | M.Palttala, J.Hirschi, C.Klien | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 85 Laps |
50 | C.Mies, F.Stippler, M.Winkelhock | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi | 106 Laps |
51 | M.Blanchemain, G.Lallement, V.H.-Clot, J-P.Buffin | Sainteloc | Audi | 107 Laps |
52 | M.van Splunteren, L.Machiels, J.Mul, G.Venturini | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 116 Laps |
53 | L.Frey, S.Ortelli, A.Costa | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 123 Laps |
54 | C.Harris, D.Pierce, C.Rosenblad, D.Perel | Team Parker Racing | Bentley | 155 Laps |
- | M.Cioci, F.Castellacci, P.Perazzini, T.Flohr | AT Racing | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | S.Leonard, M.Meadows, R.Frijns | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | Retirement |
- | K.Ojjeh, J.Darras, O.Grotz, A.Santamato | Boutsen Ginion Racing | BMW | Retirement |
- | A.Moiseev, S.Lemeret, D.Rizzo, R.Aguas | Kaspersky Motorsport | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | R.Brandela, T.Buret, M.Petit, B.Delhez | Classic & Modern Racing | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | E.Mouez, D.Loger, T.Nicolle, S.Debs | Classic & Modern Racing | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | S.Moore, A.Fontana, A.Watson | Garage 59 | McLaren | Retirement |
- | T.O.-Cole, I.Loggie, C.MacLeod, A.Meyrick | Team Parker Racing | Bentley | Retirement |
- | M.Koebolt, G.Roda, S.Colombo, M.Tomczyk | BMW Team Italia | BMW | Retirement |
- | C.Mateu, J.Haring, N.Armindo, K.Estre | Attempto Racing | Porsche | Retirement |
- | M.Ishikawa, L.Bontempelli, G.Fisichella, O.Beretta | AF Corse | Ferrari | Retirement |
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