ISRS: Baldi and Redon win in Belgium

The second Ferrari 333SP of Mauro Baldi and Laurent Redon took the chequered flag at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, with team-mates and champions Emmanuel Collard and Vincenzo Sospiri, finishing second.

A thrilling race saw the two JB Giesse cars, the pole-setting DAMS Lola Judd and the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari involved in a close battle during the early stages of the race, with rarely more than three seconds separating the cars.

The DAMS car, driven by Jean-Marc Gounon and Eric Bernard, retired an hour before the end of the 500 km race, after a wheel hub failed.

The JB Giesse Ferraris were left to fight for the win, with the Target 24 Riley&Scott in third. However, a stop-and-go penalty, incurred during a safety-car period, brought Vincenzo Sospiri into the pits, and resulted in Baldi and Redon taking their first victory.

'I am really pleased to win today,' Redon said.

'The start of the race was really mad, and I am quite happy that Mauro was driving at that point. I feel that we had a very strong car all day, and although Sospiri was catching me at the end, I knew that I could win.'

The Sospiri/Collard car came in second, with Caffi and de Lorenzi in the Riley&Scott third, ahead of a trio of Ferrari 333SPs.

The SR2 class was won by Arturo Merzario and Paolo Maccari in the Tampolli RS2 car, with class leader, Bruneau, finished second in the Debora-BMW.

Collard and Sospiri lead the Championship with 55 points, ahead of Baldi and Redon with 47. The next round will take place at the Enna-Pergusa circuit, in June, after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

SportsRacing World Cup

Round 3: 500 km of Spa-Francorchamps