Aston Martin stole a dramatic last-gasp victory on the Spa 24 Hours to assert a primary win on the Belgian enduro since 1948.
The Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 shared by Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Mattia Drudi jumped into the lead of a race affected by heavy and extended rain and 17 security vehicles with lower than 50 minutes left on the clock.
They moved to the entrance of the sector within the GT World Problem Europe Endurance Cup blue riband when the race-leading manufacturing unit AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 with Alessandro Pier Guidi on the wheel discovered its path into the pits blocked.
The lead AF entry Pier Guidi co-drove with Davide Rigon and Alessio Rovera misplaced simply over 50s stationary behind the damaged down Silver Cup class entry from the Grasser Lamborghini crew within the slender part of the pitlane between the Bus Cease chicane and the Formulation 1 pitboxes.
Pier Guidi led by simply over 10s from the Aston when he ducked into the pits for his last cease, the delay earlier than the Lambo was towed away handing Aston the victory in a race that additionally counted in direction of the Intercontinental GT Problem.
Drudi crossed the road in one of the best of the new-for-2024 evolution Vantages 33s forward of Pier Guidi.
The stroke of luck on the a part of Aston Martin allowed the British marque, a stalwart of the GT scene since 2005, to assert its second outright victory at Spa, 76 years after St John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson triumphed within the first post-war version.
Thiim stated: “What a loopy race with what occurred all over the evening with the rain – and now this!
“Really I really feel a bit sorry for the Italians, however this implies so much to me.
“That is the final one on my bucket checklist,” added a driver who has taken victory on the Nurburgring 24 Hours and sophistication honours at Le Mans. “It’s superior.”
#51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Ferrari 296 GT3: Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon, Alessio Rovera
Picture by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Picture
Pier Guidi recovered to second within the centenary operating of the Spa enduro, shifting previous David Pittard within the #34 Walkenhorst Aston after which the Rutronik Porsche 911 GT3-R with Julien Andlauer on the wheel, which nonetheless wanted to make its last cease for gas.
That put Pier Guidi third behind the Rowe BMW M4 GT3 of Max Hesse, Dan Harper and Augusto Farfus, which needed to come into the pits with two minutes to go after what ought to have its last pitstop was introduced ahead by a sluggish puncture.
That dropped the automotive to sixth within the last order, however BMW nonetheless claimed a podium in a race it received final 12 months courtesy of the WRT crew.
Dries Vanthoor crossed the road in fourth place within the M4 he shared with Sheldon van der Linde and Charles Weerts however instantly moved up a spot head of the Walkenhorst Aston of Pittard, Henrique Chaves and Ross Gunn.
Pittard was docked 10s for contact with Pier Guidi, when the Italian got here previous at Les Combes as he charged again after his delay.
Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper and Marco Mapelli took fifth within the Grasser Racing Workforce’s lead Lamborghini Huracan GT EVO2 the first-named had placed on pole place.
Ferrari appeared set to reprise its 2021 victory at Spa with an AF-run 488 GT3 Evo entered below Iron Lynx banner and pushed by Pier Guidi, Nicklas Nielsen and Come Ledogar.
#32 Workforce WRT BMW M4 GT3: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Charles Weerts
Picture by: Eric Le Galliot
Pier Guidi was aboard the automotive when the race turned within the favour of the Italian marque.
He was operating an in depth third within the twentieth hour when he stopped one lap earlier than the 2 vehicles head, the Rowe BMW and the Comtoyou Aston.
Pier Guidi’s tempo on the out-lap gave the Ferrari the lead forward of the battling BMW and Aston within the respective arms of Harper and Thiim.
Thiim then made it previous Harper on the Bruxelles hairpin three laps later however was unable to do something in regards to the Ferrari, which edged away right into a lead that stood at a little bit greater than 3s on the subsequent spherical of stops.
The lead continued to go up over a run to the flag interrupted solely by one additional warning interval, a quick-fire Full Course Yellow with slightly below an hour to go.
Mercedes, a two-time winner of the Spa enduro within the GT3 period, may end no higher than seventh with the Getspeed crew’s #777 that took Gold Cup class honours with Mikael Grenier, Philip Ellis, Dominik Baumann and Al Faisal Al Zubair.
The #48 Winward Racing Merc wherein Lucas Auer certified second and led early on retried within the thirteenth hour because of accident injury, whereas the #2 Getspeed entry pushed by Jules Gounon, Luca Stolz and Fabian Schiller was withdrawn with entrance left hub points throughout the evening.
Porsche took eighth and ninth positions, the SSR Herberth 992-shape 911 GT3-R of Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and Frederic Makowiecki beating the Rutronik entry of Andlauer, Sven Muller and Patric Niederhauser.
Audi rounded out the highest 10 with the Bronze Cup-winning R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Attempto drivers Max Hofer, Dylan Pereira, Alexey Nesov and Andrey Mukovoz.