[FIA GT Race] Blancpain Endurance Series-Round Three-Spa 24hrs

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Ditto that!!

DK

[Acid09]

It's a shame to see what has happened to the Spa 24h in recent years. Some years ago it was on the verge of becoming the second most important 24h race in the world.... all of that is gone because the mastermind himself had a great idea once again.

In the past three years the rules for the event changed three times, way to ruin what was a great race. Now, the Spa 24hrs are fading into obscurity with no serious tv or media coverage (remember when the race was on Eurosport?) the good old days....

The race is now officially in one category with the Zolder 24hrs or Silverstone 24hrs... heck even the Dubai 24hrs seem to be run by much smarter people.

[MitchZ06]

Will be rooting for the McLaren for sure, hopefully there'll be enough media coverage to enjoy it...

[cmk]

I assume they'll broadcast some of it on the net themselves, but if I remember they did relatively little of the race last year. They'll get a good field this year, but the wildly changing rules makes me wonder how many folks care by this point? SRO needs to refocus badly.

[MitchZ06]

On the GT1TV site there is a 3 different live feeds, GT3, GT1 and Blancpain so who knows?

[tux]

Better hope it doesnt rain at any point in the race, The FIA seem intent on banning wet racing. In the FIA GT3 race at the moment the track has started damp with a clear dry line yet the race has been started under safety car instead of the rolling start.

[mirkob]

Marc VDS switch to BMW Z4 at Spa (end of Ford GT?) and think to a Z4 GT1 for the next season
(presse release)

[Rodger Davies]

just as disappointingly, I'm guessing that's the end for the Mustang programme too.

http://www.marcvds.com/gt3/news.cfm?...4-hours-of-spa
So 1 BMW, 1 Ford GT

[MitchZ06]

Link?

[mirkob]

BMW POWER FOR MARC VDS AT 24 HOURS OF SPA
The distinctive livery of the Marc VDS Racing Team will be seen for the first time on a BMW Z4 at this year's 24 Hours of Spa, as the Belgian team switch to Bavarian power for the showcase event in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

The Marc VDS Racing Team's experienced GT1 campaigners, Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin and Marc Hennerici, will team up at Spa to race the BMW Z4, which has already proven competitive in both the FIA GT3 European Championship and Blancpain Endurance Series this season.

The three GT1 drivers will have their first opportunity to familiarise themselves with the BMW Z4 when the car makes its track debut in Marc VDS colours during tomorrow's official 24 Hours of Spa test.

Joining the BMW Z4 on track will be the Ford GT in which Leinders, Martin and Markus Palttala secured a podium finish in the opening race of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza. While his Monza teammates make the switch to BMW power for Spa, Palttala remains with the Ford GT, which he will race alongside Jonathan Hirschi and Belgian Racing GT1 regular, Antoine Leclerc.

The 24 Hours of Spa, the showcase event in this year's Blancpain Endurance Series, takes place at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in the Belgian Ardennes over the weekend of the 30/31 July.

Jean-Michel Delporte: General Manager
"The opportunity to race the BMW Z4 at Spa was one that we could not turn down, for a number of reasons. We have seen already this season that the BMW Z4 is competitive in GT3 specification and I'm confident that it will be equally competitive in endurance races like the 24 Hours of Spa. Obviously we will need to make some changes to the car, to convert it from sprinter to endurance racer, but these modifications are only minor. We are also looking ahead to next season, when changes to the regulations would make an upgraded BMW Z4 eligible for the GT1 World Championship. Racing the car for 24 hours at Spa will provide us with the perfect opportunity to assess whether the BMW Z4 is a suitable platform on which to build a competitive GT1 car for the 2012 season. Spa promises to be an interesting race, in more ways than one, but our aim remains the same; to win!"


Press Release

[MitchZ06]

How bout that....

BTW, got confirmation on facebook that the full 24 hours will be broadcast live on GT1TV, can the current commentator go 24 hours flat out?

[airbusA346]

Manthey have two GT3 R's at Spa (Haribo & Green/Yellow R).

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...i/DSC_0108.jpg
http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...i/DSC_0109.jpg

Tom.

[rich07]

Completely forgot about the test day, is there a list of cars entered somewhere?

[Marcel ten Caat]

There will be within the hour I guess ;-)

[kingkai]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

How bout that....

BTW, got confirmation on facebook that the full 24 hours will be broadcast live on GT1TV, can the current commentator go 24 hours flat out?

Enough coffee within arms reach and three spare throats?

[Marcel ten Caat]

New entry list for race and test day on dailysportscar. 70 for race and 28 for the test

[Rodger Davies]

urgh, that makes me sick - not only have they implemented that 65 minute maximum stint rule, but dressing it up like it's a good thing because of the diversity of the cars racing. Yes you moron Stephane, diversity means they're not all the same, therefore some cars may consume more fuel than others, leading to exciting strategic racing......

The next step to a silhouette series is taken.

[fabian eeckhout]

livetiming of session 2 : http://www.ris-timing.be/
results of session 1 : http://rallyracing.wordpress.com/201...la-mi-journee/

[Speed-King]

leading to exciting strategic racing......

Not with GT3-cars in a long-distance race... many of these cars have been designed for sprint races and with no whatsoever considerations for fuel economy and consequently would never stand a chance of acheiving a half decent finish.

And then, other sanctioning bodies play around with fuel tank size to equalize the number of pitstops, doing it with a minimum time between stops is just a different means to the same end - and I think some cars might still come up short of the 65 minutes mark, especially on a track like Spa, so fuel efficiency might not be completely out of the equation...

[FordCosworthPanoz]

I wish I had your optimism, Ive seen endurance races like this with a minimum number of pitstops, pitstop time limits, lap time limits ect where unless reliability kicks in, the positions basically stall after about 12 Hours and a change in overall position is very rare. Like Dubai this year.

That being said, I do hope you are right and the SRO will not have screwed up another perfectly good race.

[Rodger Davies]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Not with GT3-cars in a long-distance race... many of these cars have been designed for sprint races and with no whatsoever considerations for fuel economy and consequently would never stand a chance of acheiving a half decent finish.

I'm not sure how well that argument holds up any more - I understood it in the original days of GT3 but the cars now are designed to be able to cope with 24 Hour races. Since the R8 GT3 was developed with this specifically in mind, the opportunity to win races such as Dubai and Nurburgring 24 means the manufacturers have designed cars with the ability to last, such as the new Z4, 458 and SLS. The Porsche is already pretty solid and Hexis chose the endurance series over the sprint series this year to field their Astons.

I think it's a typical motorsport ploy where the newer cars with better fuel management have been called out by the marques without this tech in the name of cost saving.

Anyway, good to see both VDS' Mustangs at the test, can't wait to see (and hear) the newer of the two in action. Any idea who's driving the second Manthey car at the test? I presume not the guys listed on the door or it would be higher in the timesheets - real pity that car's not entered.

[Speed-King]

Hah, the Audi is the worst of them all when it comes to fuel consumption, and people that are suppossedly in the know have already called the 65 minute rule a "Lex Audi"....

[Rodger Davies]

agreed, my previous comment on the R8 was about it's reliability and reported driveability. Indeed this change was supposedly made at the bequest of Audi due to electronic fuel management systems on the SLS, Z4 and latest 997 I believe.

[Rodger Davies]

any news on whether this (http://sport.turbomagazine.be/news_N...merslijst.html) list is more up to date? If so, surprised to see an Alpina on there, did I miss that from the original?

If so, we're also now without the Charouz Merc, the Kessel Ferrari (big surprise), the Petronas-Barwell Aston, two Trackspeed Porsches and the GPR GT4 Vantage. Any others I'm missing?

but with a third 'works' McLaren, a 'works' Alpine, a fourth Vita4one Ferrari, a DVB Racing GT4 M3, a UK Lotus GT4, a Horn Motorsport Mercedes.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Great list of cars and some pretty good drivers, but I must admit the majority of the driver line up outside of the Audi squads is pretty disappointing. This and the new pitstop rules are going to make it really tough to beat Audi sadly. I was hoping that we would see some factory drivers to join Westbrook in the Manthey Porsche, but I guess not.