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29.07.2007
Hour 22: Torrential rain after a brief respite at Spa
After a 45-minute respite, rain once more poured down on the already saturated Spa-Francorchamps. This year's Total 24 Hours of Spa has seen the wettest conditions since 2003, when conditions were so bad that an N-GT Porsche took the overall win. When the rain worsened, the safety car was sent out at 1:40pm, triggering another round of pit-stops, notably amongst the GT2 leaders. The weather does not seem capable of keeping Vitaphone Racing from taking their third consecutive victory in the 24 Hours of Spa, a remarkable achievement given the strength of the opposition they have faced. This year the Aston Martin challenge fell by the wayside, and with just two hours remaining the Maserati MC12 has so far been quick enough to outrun the Corvettes - but with the unpredictable nature of this, the longest race in the FIA GT Championship, things may yet change. One driver who was not pleased with the decision to send the safety car out was Andrea Piccini, one of the drivers of the nr 11 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati. "We would have been well-placed, if it wasn't for the problem we had earlier in the race with the rear lights," he said. "We are currently fifth, just a lap away from third. We could still hope for a podium position - but we have no chance to improve if the safety car keeps being sent out." The rain was falling ever harder as the 22nd hour came to a close. Conditions here can change very quickly, but there is currently no way of predicting how much of the remaining time will be under green flag conditions. There were no changes in the lead of any of the classes; the nr 97 BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 997 GT3 RSR tops GT2, G3 is led by the nr 124 Muehlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car, the nr 105 G&A Racing Mosler MT900R leads G2 and the nr 201 JMB Racing Ferrari 430 GT3 is the sole surviving entry in the Coupe du Roi.
Race facts Hour 22 493 The safety car will remain out until the conditions will improve - at the moment the wind is getting up 492 2 Maserati to the pits for a change to the electronic box plus change of tyres 491 103 rejoined the race 491 1 - 5 - 4 - 2 - 11 - 3 - 16 - 97 - 76 - 99 - 76 - 99 - 18 - 74 - 63 490 95 fuel, tyres and driver to Camathias 490 76 fuel, tyres and driver to Long 490 97 fuel, tyres and driver to Collard 490 5 fuel, tyres and driver change to Fassler 490 SAFETY CAR for safety reason. Heavy rain 489 177 Stop at the entrance of the pit lane 489 124 fuel, tyres and driver to Ian Khan 489 2 only tyres to rain tyres 489 11 fuel, tyres and driver to Pier Guidi 488 4 to the pits for fuel and tyres and Hezemans remains at the wheel 487 1 to the pits fuel only. The team is apparantly ready to get the nr 2 back in despite only pitting four laps ago 487 141 to the pits fuel tyres and driver to Ratureau 487 1 - 5 - 4 - 2 - 11 - 3 / 97 - 76 - 99 - 74 487 12 to the pits fuel tyres and driver to Busnelli 486 103 using excessive oil 486 121 486 52 back on track 485 103 fuel, tyres and driver to Dermont 484 18 fuel, tyres and driver to Soulet 484 2 Fuel, tyres and driver to Montanari 484 63 Pushed into the garage. Broken gearbox - chqnging the gearbox 482 140 Fuel and driver to Corbet 481 70 Fuel, rain tyres, oil and driver to Plati 481 52 rear part of the car damaged 479 178 Fuel, tyres and driver to Zumstein 479 63 pushed into the garage. Engine checks. Out again. 479 201 Car A takes the track with Kuteman at the wheel 478 52 slow on track 478 99 Fuel, tyres and driver change
- SRO - also photo more photos on automobilsport.com udner PHOTOS -24H RACES
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Sunday, 29.07.2007 - 02:25 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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