GT World Challenge Europe 2020

[gert]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

wow, what a finish, i was on the edge of my seat. so chuffed for Tandy, Bamber and Vanthor....after the year theyve had, they deserved it

They sure did.
Although it would have been typical for their 2020 season to have that car break down with 2 laps to go.

Rowe just had the best strategy at the end with the long stop and then just the drive-through (if I got that right) instead of stopping again

[bentley speed 8]

Nice racing in the rain, expected a bit more from the Ferrari, but then they never seemed to have the ultimate pace all race long.

Tandy's drive in the wet was awesome, certainly driver of the day.

[Bcarr6]

Tandy unstoppable in the rain.. where have we seen that before?

Ha

All in all good race, felt less frustrating this year, maybe grateful for the racing we have managed to get during Covid, or just slightly smoother sailing

Still rather lose the FYI > SC process though

[Slowsley]

Does anyone know why the Audi couldn’t close on Tandy at the end? Surely they weren’t conceding the win to Rowe as the commentators suggested....were they?!

[Akrapovic]

Tandy had a drive shaft failure with a lap to go. It punched a hole in the gearbox casing and trailed oil around the circuit. The crippled Porsche was the only car that didn't have to drive on the oil.

[Cinghio44]

It was a very interesting 24h race, competitive and with the strategies and tyre gamble game in...

The Porsche teams were advantage by the weather, the 911 GT3 really flies in mixed and wet conditions; then if you add to this equation Nick Tandy, surely the team couldn't fail to win the race. Well done to them!

Audi was playing well with the strategies and with the two R8 exchanging positions in several occasion. I was a bit sceptic with the choice to run the final stints with Niderhauser and Boccolacci buth the swiss then goes well and I think he was a bit slowed by the oil spitting by the Porsche of Tandy. But anyway Attempto was close to win the race and it's a good 2nd for them.

Really happy for Drudi and Matteo Cairoli, the italians really shined in my opinion with a great Marciello also and Pier Guidi, Mapelli...all good!

Ferrari finally has a good race in SPA. Anyway they lost competitiviness with the wet condition, the 488 GT3 not liked the rain as it seemed very nervous...

Impressed by the Honda NSX, a joy also for the Lambo with the Pro-Am win in a very interesting fight in the class!

Now it's very intereseting for the championsip crown

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by Slowsley

Does anyone know why the Audi couldn’t close on Tandy at the end? Surely they weren’t conceding the win to Rowe as the commentators suggested....were they?!

because 911 has a tremendous traction advantage under heavy rain, infact 5 years ago tandy won also the absolute petit le mans in the same weather condition against dp and lmp2 that barely could stay on the road.
Does anybody know if are available somewhere top speed charts/sheets?

[gert]

Originally Posted by canaglia

Does anybody know if are available somewhere top speed charts/sheets?

The offical results section is not as extended as those from ELMS/WEC (thanks to Alkamel)

https://www.gt-world-challenge-europ...meeting_id=139

I don't think there's much more to be found than hourly sheets and all of the penalty decisions

[tux]

After rewatching the last 5 minutes of the race you can see the Porsche leaving a huge trail of oil, didnt notice that at the time. In hindsight Porsche/Rowe Racing are lucky it rained the last few hours or the extra stress of dry running might have ended their race early..

[Cinghio44]

Originally Posted by tux

After rewatching the last 5 minutes of the race you can see the Porsche leaving a huge trail of oil, didnt notice that at the time. In hindsight Porsche/Rowe Racing are lucky it rained the last few hours or the extra stress of dry running might have ended their race early..

Yes and that's why in the interview post race I heard Tandy saying he was sorry in the last laps for the guys behind him

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Tandy unstoppable in the rain.. where have we seen that before?

Ha

All in all good race, felt less frustrating this year, maybe grateful for the racing we have managed to get during Covid, or just slightly smoother sailing

Still rather lose the FYI > SC process though

Spa 24 is always the race where the FCY/SC rears its ugly head the most because of the length and the weather that Spa gets. Its been a few years since the race has been re-watchable. The GT WC sprint series was good this year. Monza and Nürburgring were good watches too.

The bad news is that the last race is Paul Ricard..my least favorite track in Europe. Each year I hope SRO leaves that place. Each year I am let down.

[chunterer]

What a tremendous event, in tricky conditions.

Action all the way through.

Tandy's last stint was stunning. A stark reminder of what a talent he is.

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by chunterer

What a tremendous event, in tricky conditions.

Action all the way through.

Tandy's last stint was stunning. A stark reminder of what a talent he is.

Just last week Racer.com posted a big retrospective article about Tandy's 2015 Petit Le Mans performance.

[GregoryDG]

So can we all accept now that Spa 24 is WAY better than the non-spectacle we have in Le Mans? I'm baffled this race - although it has some small weaknesses - does not get the attention it deserves.

[gert]

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

So can we all accept now that Spa 24 is WAY better than the non-spectacle we have in Le Mans? I'm baffled this race - although it has some small weaknesses - does not get the attention it deserves.

No.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

So can we all accept now that Spa 24 is WAY better than the non-spectacle we have in Le Mans? I'm baffled this race - although it has some small weaknesses - does not get the attention it deserves.

No.

[GregoryDG]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

No.

Originally Posted by gert

No.

Everybody is entitled to have their own opinion, but having 2 possible race winners or 25 is the reason I don't watch Le Mans anymore.

[Akrapovic]

Everyone being entitled to their own opinion is why we won't "all accept now that the Spa 24 is WAY better".

The counter argument is it's easier to have 25 possible winners when you bunch the field up every time someone sees a bit of grass and dictate they all have to run the same strategy.

I love the Spa 24, but it has some massive problems.

[gert]

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

I'm baffled this race does not get the attention it deserves.

I agree with that part, certainly.

There is no mention about it on sporza.be, the sports website of our 'national' Television.
There was no mention about in last weekend's edition of 'De Zondag' (a free newspaper you can pick up at local stores on Sunday) altough there were 5 pages about the Soccer/Football matches of that weekend, 2 about Vuelta and Giro and 75 words about Hamilton taking pole in Portimao.
Nothing about the Spa 24 hours, even though that race was ungoing.

[gert]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I love the Spa 24, but it has some massive problems.

Absolutely.
The racing was excellent, at least: if and when there was racing. It was everything but great when there was no racing.


Just an illustration of one of the problems:

this is a link to the race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEFI...outu.be&t=1778

It is in French since I can't find the English official race anymore.
I have bookmarked it at 06:35:24 to go.

What happens next? All times are "time remaining"

06:35:15 -- accident #52
06:26:25 -- Porsche #98 (the leader) pits, as do #12 (2nd) and #51 (4th). #66 (3rd) and #25 continue
06:24:17 -- Porsche #98 leaves the pitlane but is beaten out by #51, #12, and #72
06:24:00 -- the Safety Car leaves the pitlane
06:22:56 -- the SC overtakes a few cars and goes in front of #98 Vanthoor who is not the leader
06:22:41 -- Race Direcor calls "Safety Car procedure". All cars in front of the SC go at race speed (at least: faster than the SC train) to join the end of the queue
06:21:59 -- you can clearly see "001" on the #66 screen
06:21:42 -- #66 and #25 do not take a pitstop but start another lap, still at race speed
06:21:10 -- Race Director calls "FCY procedure in 20 seconds"
06:20:50 -- FCY. Everybody goes back to FCY speed (80 km/h)
06:20:30 -- SC turns off its lights
06:19:30 -- SC races through the fiels overtaking cars left and right
06:17:39 -- #66 and #25 enter the pitlane. #25 will leave in front of #66
06:16:00 -- SC has now reached Kemmel straight and goes slow and lets cars go
06:14:46 -- SC lets #25 past
06:14:30 -- SC goes in front of #25
06:13:58 -- race director calls 'Safety Car Procedure'
06:13:04 -- race order: #25 (1st in SC queue) - #66 (2nd) - #51 (4th) - #12 (5th) - #72 (10th) - #98 (11th)
06:06:57 -- green flag

In normal circumstances #51 should have been leading. Its pitstop was at least 5 seconds shorter than its competitors.
#25 and #66 should probably have been 3rd and 4th behind #51 and #12 because #12 was in front and had a faster pitstop than both Audi's.
Also, #98 could well have been anywhere from 3rd to 5th but should certainly have been higher up in the SC queue and not 11th

All cars in front of #98 had at least 1:50 were they could go at race speed while #98 was stuck behind the SC.


If you watch these 30 minutes, you can only conclude that it is both sad and hilarious at the same time.
Especially the lap where the SC is racing through the slow-driving field...

Certainly not the greatest race from an organisational point of view.


This was the best exemple but sadly not the only time race control and/or Safety Car were totally clueless about what was going on and who was actually leading.

[GregoryDG]

Originally Posted by gert

I agree with that part, certainly.

There is no mention about it on sporza.be, the sports website of our 'national' Television.
There was no mention about in last weekend's edition of 'De Zondag' (a free newspaper you can pick up at local stores on Sunday) altough there were 5 pages about the Soccer/Football matches of that weekend, 2 about Vuelta and Giro and 75 words about Hamilton taking pole in Portimao.
Nothing about the Spa 24 hours, even though that race was ungoing.

Jawel. https://sporza.be/nl/2020/10/25/laur...1603643489263/

It does however get a lot more attention in the French speaking part of the country (RTBF, all national newspapers, etc). In Flanders, motorsports get forgotten unfortunately, I do agree with you on that part.

As for the problems with picking up the leader in the race: I agree it was quite clumsy, but it's not like they've picked up the wrong car and ignored their mistake. I prefer focussing on the sporting side rather on how the race is managed.

Bunching up the field may feel artificial, but at least it gets people on the edge of their seats, not only purists who enjoy strategic endurance racing.

[gert]

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

Jawel. https://sporza.be/nl/2020/10/25/laur...1603643489263/

Oh well...

I wonder how you found that though. It certainly isn't available on the front page, and not on the auto/motor subpage either.

[gert]

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

it's not like they've picked up the wrong car and ignored their mistake.

That's exactly what they did.
They DID pick up the wrong car, and by ignoring / not seeing / failing to address it gave an unfair advantage to the 2 Audi's and an unfair disadvantage to the 98 Porsche.

The restart order was certainly different than what it should have been.

They could have rearranged that based on track position before the first car entered the pits + actual pitstop times.
They chose not to, hence they just ignored there mistake.
They did nothing to rectify that.


The point is: I am watching at home, and realised the error at the moment it happened.
So did the English commentators, and the French.

I have nothing more than 1 TV stream and 1 monitor with the timing table.
I hope Race Control has more than 1 person watching the race and more than 1 person watching timing?
If so, it's unforgivable to make an error like that.

--

There was another hilarious moment when the Race Director called a FCY and added that entering the pits was prohibited.

Some cars were at the end of their maximum driving stints and entered the pits anyway.

Net result: almost everyone entered the pits in that lap or the lap after, apart from 2 or 3 of the leaders.
Again, those were disadvantaged.


The point is:
A good race director would know that due to their own stupid rules some cars would HAVE to stop, and they would have come up with a solution.
They have a rulebook fool of silly little rules, but had no solution for this?

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

I prefer focussing on the sporting side rather on how the race is managed.

Race management is an entire part of how the race looks and feels.
You can't have a superb event when race management is lacking.
Unfortunatly, SRO is losing a lot of credibility on that part.

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

Bunching up the field may feel artificial, but at least it gets people on the edge of their seats, not only purists who enjoy strategic endurance racing.

Then it is just entertainment and not racing.
All the artificial rules are not necessary. The Spa 24hours would be a great event and the racing would be close without it.


--

I really like the Spa 24 hours race -- otherwise I wouldn't have sat in front of my TV for the entire duration -- and I like (most of) the SRO Endurance races, but all the artificial little rules and missing out on race situations is making it poorer, and not better.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by GregoryDG

Jawel. https://sporza.be/nl/2020/10/25/laur...1603643489263/

It does however get a lot more attention in the French speaking part of the country (RTBF, all national newspapers, etc). In Flanders, motorsports get forgotten unfortunately, I do agree with you on that part.

As for the problems with picking up the leader in the race: I agree it was quite clumsy, but it's not like they've picked up the wrong car and ignored their mistake. I prefer focussing on the sporting side rather on how the race is managed.

Bunching up the field may feel artificial, but at least it gets people on the edge of their seats, not only purists who enjoy strategic endurance racing.

The strategy is a MASSIVE part of endurance racing. It is difficult to focus on the sporting side when your rules are written in a way that means nobody can out think the other and you get locked into the same strategy as everyone else.

I love the Spa 24, but I'll post this again (same thing we all say every GTWC race):

Things that need dropped:
FCY -> SC
Maximum stint lengths
Minimum pit stop times (especially for Pro class)
5 minute highlight reels
John Watson (he's lost his mind)
Alain Adam (he's terrible)

[gert]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I love the Spa 24, but I'll post this again (same thing we all say every GTWC race):

Things that need dropped:
FCY -> SC
Maximum stint lengths
Minimum pit stop times (especially for Pro class)
5 minute highlight reels
John Watson (he's lost his mind)
Alain Adam (he's terrible)

Like before, I agree on everything you said

You're much too nice regarding the highlights. At times those took nearly 10 minutes.
They just kept adding and adding to it instead of removing bits that were no longer relevant.
They even missed a restart twice because the highlight were still playing.

The final highlights thing is 13:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBu9H8wqYqM

Most of that was shown up until 2 hours to go.