Grässer Racing finally wins the 24 Hours of Spa

It took 10 years of relationship with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and its variations for Grässer Racing Team to be on top at the 24 Hours of Spa, in a calendar that had a frantic June for GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
 
It took the same ten years for Mirko Bortolotti, from retiring with the first Huracán in company of Adrian Zaugg and Giovanni Venturini to then bring the first win for Lamborghini in the Belgian classic, with the No. 63 Huracán GT3 EVO2 also having Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper at the wheel, in what can be described as the goodbye of a decade of V10 power and of the Huracán itself, as the Italian manufacturer will move to the V8 powered Temerario soon.
 
The No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren had the pole position and made full use of it, and just like the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, the No. 17 GetSpeed Mercedes was leading the chase after the leader. Unlike the top of the order that was measuring their moves for the moment, the middle and the back of the pack were shedding panels and pieces everywhere in just 10 minutes of racing, which made race control call a full course yellow. One of the early victims didn’t even come from contact, as the debuting No. 2 JMR Corvette got debris in one of the brake callipers and didn’t even complete the starting procedure.
 
The first pit cycle ended with the same leader, but GetSpeed lost time and the No. 163 VSR Lamborghini took second place, with the No. 7 Comtoyou Aston Martin going to third, but the action didn’t last long, as a limping No. 112 CSA McLaren was hit at full throttle by the No. 19 Schumacher CLRT Porsche, bringing another yellow.
 
Eventually, the No. 17 recovered the positions lost and featured in the second place again at the third hour, but with driver changes and more yellows, the No. 17 got the leading spot which was carried over the early hours of the night time. With the No. 163 limping in the pitlane and the No. 17 being hit with a drive through penalty, the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini, while the No. 59 was returning to contention in second place, with Ferrari finally appearing between the protagonists with the No. 50 AF Corse entry in third.
 
With nearly 10 hours of racing, the No. 17 that was already tumbling down eventually came to a stop due to a collision with the No. 99 Attempto Audi, calling another neutralization. Along with the No. 63 and the No. 50, the No. 998 ROWE BMW was in the leaders dance, taking the top spot at the end of every pit cycle during the late night. The dawn and the morning didn’t do much to change the order, but the neutralization with 13 hours of racing allowing most of the remaining teams to do the technical stop for brake change.
 
The night time and dawn had more impact in the Gold Cup, as the No. 33 Verstappen Aston Martin lost ground and saw the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren take the class lead and get established in the position until the fourteenth hour, when Thierry Vermeulen compensated for the time lost and passed Adam Smalley.
 
At mid morning, the overall top 10 was taking turns in the podium positions after every pit cycle, and this was ending with the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche in front, but what wasn’t in Sven Müller’s plans was that Mirko Bortolotti was eager to chase him for whatever amount of time needed, and the No. 63 had the pace to do so, staying within a second of the No. 96 until it made the penultimate stop, with Müller strangely losing speed at Blanchimont and conceding the lead to Bortolotti before it jumped into the pitlane.
 
At this point, the pit cycle rotation wouldn’t have any effect, with the AF Corse Ferraris and the No. 98 pitting a few minutes out of the leader’s schedule. This would decide the race as the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche wouldn’t have the pace to counter the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini, with Bortolotti quickly establishing a modest gap to secure the triumph.
 

Behind them, the Gold Cup would offer late drama, as the rear right tire of the leading No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren delaminated completely, leaving the rim on the floor and a limping car as consequence, handing the class win to the No. 33 Verstappen Aston Martin along with the ninth place overall, all under the watch of team owner Max Verstappen, who was watching the final moments of the race due to an early retirement in the Austrian Grand Prix.
 
24 Hours of Spa - Race results
 

The No. 35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin would conquer the Silver Cup as it was isolated from the class opposition by cars from other classes, including the Bronze Cup winning No. 74 Kessel Ferrari, which counted with the same scenario as the Silver Cup, with both finishing the race within the overall top 20.
 

The only class winner outside of the overall top 20 didn’t finish that further down the order, as the No. 29 AV Racing Porsche had to go hard to not give any chances to the No. 100 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin despite the 2 minute gap between them.
 

The Endurance Cup title race couldn’t be more open, with the trio from the No. 48 Winward Mercedes leading with 54 points, while the trio of the No. 32 WRT is in second with 53 and the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche has their drivers sitting in third with 52 points.
 

The IGTC drivers standings is dominated by BMW drivers, with Augusto Farfus leading with 62 points, Kelvin van der Linde is in second with 60, Raffaele Marciello has 55 and Jesse Krohn is fourth with 37, with the first non-BMW driver being Alessio Picariello as he is tied with Sheldon van der Linde with 33 points.
 
GT World Challenge Europe will resume action with the Sprint Cup weekend at Misano on 19 and 20 July, while the Endurance Cup only returns on 31 August with the competitors returning to Nürburgring, but to race only at the GP-Strecke. The Intercontinental GT Challenge returns after that, with Suzuka being back to the calendar in the iconic 1000km race format, which is used for the first time in the series, and is set for 14 September.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP