Goethe Out Front in 24H Spa After Four Hours

Photo: JEP/SRO

Benjamin Goethe maintained Garage 59’s lead in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa at the end of an incident-packed first four hours of the Belgian endurance classic.

The No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo held an advantage of 0.378 seconds over the No. 17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Luca Stolz, followed by Marco Mapelli’s No. 163 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

While the polesitting McLaren has been the constant at the front of a tight Pro category in the opening hours, the order behind it has changed through the various pit cycles.

At the most recent round of stops, Stolz leapfrogged Mapelli to take over second place while the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo dropped to seventh after initially taking fourth by passing Winward Racing’s Matteo Cairoli at Pouhon.

The Italian has since sat behind the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Antonio Fuoco as well as Cairoli, but ahead of the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini and No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Two early front-running Porsches had been eliminated from the race entirely, most notably the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT entry after it was caught up in a heavy crash at Blanchimont.

The black and gold liveried Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Laurin Heinrich, slammed into the back of the No. 112 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo as Josh Mason was slow on track with an issue.

Several Pro runners, including the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel, narrowly avoided contact with Mason before an unsighted Heinrich hit the No. 112 car, taking both out of the race.

Heinrich walked away from the heavily damaged Porsche under his own power and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation as a precautionary measure.

Mason, although needing to be extracted from the No. 112 McLaren, is understood to also have escaped serious injuries.

Porsche’s hopes for victory in the third round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge took a further hit when the No. 18 Dinamic GT entry of Bastian Buus, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet encountered a wheel bearing issue that has since led to the car’s retirement.

Another car to suffer an early setback was the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari, which ran in the top three early on but lost ground with a braking issue. The No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, dropped back because of a puncture.

Source: Sports Car 365