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Marc VDS ended up with overall pole for this year's running of the Spa 24 Hours after the three combined qualifying sessions on Thursday evening were done. In the end, only the times from the third, full-dark qualifying period would matter – conditions were simply too poor in the preceding two to make the times worthwhile.
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After not really featuring in previous sessions, Porsche flexed their muscles when it counted with four 997 GT3Rs making it into the top six: both Prospeed (#74 and #75) cars, plus the #9 AutOrlando and the #888 Haribo car run by Nurburgring Porsche endurance specialists Manthey. The latter in particular will be ones to watch.
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Qualifying One was held in the early evening: Mattias Ekstrom in the #33 Audi Sport Team WRT put in the fastest lap with a time set in the dying seconds of the session: a 2:40:472s lap. A slight side topic: this shot nicely illustrates how fearsomely big the Mercedes SLS is compared to the other cars. It's like an oil tanker! Luckily, it no longer handles like one.
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The track was still waterlogged throughout the session, but even for a Thursday there was a decent, dedicated crowd willing to watch when the rain wasn't too heavy and the local beer not too distracting.
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At the beginning of the session it wasn't actually raining, but the track was still hazardously slippery. The greasy, dirty surface was causing obvious problems in the braking and acceleration zones, as shown here by the #1 Vita4One Ferrari 458 coming into the final Bus Stop chicane. You really should not be turning right here.
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Second overall was another Audi R8: the #98 car of Audi Sport Team Phoenix. Also fast were both Graff Racing Mercedes SLSs, the #24 Reiter Lamborghini and the #40 Marc VDS BMW Z4 – the latter showing that they were having no problems at all adapting to the new car.
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The McLarens were not in the game in this session: reliability niggles were taking their toll, and none of the trio of MP4-12Cs putting many laps in (just 7, no laps at all and 2 for the #58, #59 and #60 cars respectively).
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With the poor conditions, none of the teams really maximised the time available: mostly it was about data gathering and keeping cars in one piece. As expected, the Pro and Pro-Am classes were completely mixed in with each other, effectively proving a single class with the dozen-and-a-bit Cup and GT4 propping up the bottom of the time-sheets.
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With the water just not lifting , times were generally slow throughout the session. This made the narrow pit-lane entrance even more treacherous than normal. The Ecurie Ecosse Aston Martin DBRS9 was looking great, resplendent in its classic Saltire livery – the re-appearance on the international scene of a Scottish team with over 50 years of racing heritage.
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The leading Cup class car was the #161 Freeman Gepa Porsche 997 GT3 Cup: located near the bottom of the endurance pit-lane, they had a lengthy drive on the speed limiter to reach their breeze-block garage every time they pitted.
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Up in the main F1 garages, at least the working space was slightly more spacious and the pit-lane wider. Team Need For Speed's BMW Z4 was housed in a garage about halfway down the pit-lane, just by the McLarens.
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The Schubert Motorsport engineers of Team NFS plied through the data coming from the BMW Z4 to see what could be done to improve the car's set-up.
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#76 posted the 12th fastest time in Q1, but the car was struggling in the slippery conditions.
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Dunlop tyre technicians could be found in huddles out at the back of the garage, discussing what could be done to help the car.
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The two Faster Racing BMW Z4s were in the same ballpark, laptime-wise, on their Michelin tyres – no one was exactly revelling in the track conditions.
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Just after 9pm the second qualifying segment commenced with the light fading fast. The #55 Graff Racing Mercedes SLS set a 2:41.866s lap within the first 10 minutes of the session – it wouldn't be beaten, as conditions worsened as the session progressed.
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The final part of night qualifying was delayed slightly due to a couple of red flags at the end of the previous session, This gave the chance for the sun to finally disappear and full darkness to descend. The main aim was for each team to qualify all their drivers, with at least two night laps mandated for each driver in a car's crew. The track was mostly dry – if still very cold and foggy – and times quickly improved from the horribly slow wet laps turned earlier.
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That said, La Source was still a constant source of spins and screeching tyres as cars went too deep into the braking zone. Particularly impressive was the #59 McLaren MP4-12c, which started a lazy spin even before the corner.
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The driver just held the car from fully rotating, but then rolled the car forward until it was almost touching the wall in front of me. Very convenient for getting some nice shots of the front of the McLaren and its big endurance lighting pack on the nose, but not so good for following cars to avoid as the driver struggled to get the car restarted and safely reversed (if you can ever do that the exit of a hairpin) to get pointing in the right direction.
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A rather ghostly sight was the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 – the pure white exterior was contrasted to the dull red glow coming from within the cockpit. Very strange…
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Cars soon bolted on slicks as the track proved dry enough, and initially the #11 United Autosport Audi of Eddie Cheever jumped to the top as the first car to make the change – but still over 15 seconds off the typical fully dry pace. The last quarter of an hour was frantic, as cars traded times whilst the track got faster and faster. Times massively improved, back into the 2:20s seen in the dry of the test day held earlier this month.
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Both the Marc VDS Z4 and #75 Prospeed Porsche crossed the line just before the chequered flag flew, allowing them to complete their flying laps. The BMW crossed the line first, posting a 2:24.488s; just after that the Porsche crossed the line after setting almost identical sector times – but 0.247s slower overall! Pole to Marc VDS.
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The McLarens ended up 36th, 37th and 39th – a handy grouping for the grid on Saturday, but they'll be concentrating on finishing in their first big race after an initial test run in a British GT event at Spa (where an MP4-12C qualified on pole and finished fourth in the one-hour race).
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After showing well in the wet conditions, the seven Mercedes SLS AMGs in the race ended up clustered around the mid-field, with #55 Graff Racing and #15 KRK Racing cars highest up the order, in 9th and 12th respectively.
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The Audi challenge also faded in qualifying: the #33 WRT car was the fastest R8, in 10th.
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In the Pro-Am class, the #24 Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 was fastest, fourth overall for the start.
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Sport Garage’s #22 Ferrari 430 Scuderia took pole in the Gentlemen's Trophy class in a creditable 29th overall, with its #42 sister car back in second fastest but back in an appropriate 42nd overall.
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The Cup class was headed by the #56 Team RMS Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.
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In GT4 the #63 RJN Motorsport Nissan 370Z took top spot, starting 46th. Friday was a rest day for the drivers before the race on Saturday, but not for the teams: McLaren in particular were due to rebuild all three cars, and it was the same story up and down the pit-lane as teams prepared for the day-long race. The rolling start takes place at 4pm CET (3pm GMT, 7am PST) on Saturday, and we'll be bringing you regular coverage throughout the race. It's going to be a quite some battle.
Jonathan Moore
Royal Automobile Club Of Belgium
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
AF Corse car is the best. 'Nuff said.
Desktops please.
Spa 24h Official Live Streaming:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi621v_live-blancpain-endurance-series-24hrs-from-spa_auto
umm, you didnt mention where the Team Need for Speed Z4 qualified? FAIL