TrackandTuner.com visited the legendary 24H of Spa. This ultimate endurance race will test man and machine to the limit. Racing 24 hours at high speed during rain, darkness and a field of over 100 cars. I have respect for every car driving in this race, the AM class always being on their toes for the fastest guys in the PRO class.
Cars like the Ferrari 458 GT3, BMW M6, Mercedes GT AMG, Audi R8 and the Bentley Continental GT3 and of course Nissan GTR, Jaguar and Porsche. Before the race Mercedes was the favorite winning the 24H of the Nurburgring/Nordschleife. They were the fastest cars in the qualifying, however they were all qualified due to timing issues of the engine. They were penalized with five minutes in the race. However they covered those five minutes under the safety car or under full course yellow loosing minimal time. The Audi R8 LMS is always a big contender being so stabile and reliable. This year Bentley went full power with their insane and very big but powerfull Continental GT.
However nobody though of the BMW M6 GT3 by ROWE racing. The car is still under development and they had some real reliability issues in the 24H of the Nordschleife. However during the race they made no mistakes had the best tactics and profited from all full course yellow situations maintaining a great race pace.
The Audi R8 LMS had some real issues in the long dark and wet night and felt a long way back, working there way up at the end of the race. Mercedes was penalized but had a very stable race maintaining a very good pace and racing to the second place.
However the battle was between the BMW M6 and the Bentley fighting over the win. The Bentley was making every mistake they could; track limits, wrong pit tactics, too fast during full course yellow, driver stints which where too long, drive throught penalties etc. etc.
Althought they had a great pace, they made too many mistakes and therefore felt back from first to second ending fourth.
The most stable car and the most reliable car was the BMW M6 GT3 taking victory. A great job being a new under development car.
In the AM class it was the mighty Ferrari 458 GT3 taking first, second and third. The Ferrari 458 or the new 488 GT3 prove to be very reliable and very fast. It is the best car to introduce yourself in the Blancpain series.
I hope you enjoyed our report and like us at www.facebook.com/Trackandtuner
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