Two down, one more to go! The third race in June’s trilogy of 24 hour battles commences, and with no less than 76 cars across five classes vying for glory, it’s sure to be an epic. But just who will come out on top in the most prestigious GT race in the world? It’s time to close the 72 Hours of June with a scorcher.

The opening exhchange was between the #63 GRT Lamborghini and Phillip Eng’s #998 BMW during the pit stops with Arthur Leclerc and Alessio Rovera running third and fourth in the #50 and #51 Ferraris respectively. The pit stop battle for the lead couldn’t have been closer, with the two leading cars pitting on separate laps but still ending up virtually side by side along the Kemmel straight. It was Bortolotti who was better on the brakes though, and he took the lead through Les Combes.

Through the 12th hour of the race little change occurred amongst the leading cars, as Bortolotti extended and consolidated his lead over Phillip Eng in the #998 ROWE BMW, now standing at 2.3 seconds as the top seven stayed virtually unchanged throughout the hour as the race settled down before daybreak. By the time the sun did emerge over the horizon there were still just eight cars on the lead lap.

On a different note, a diagnosis for Franck Perera’s sudden drop through the field an hour or so ago was eventually discovered to be a power steering failure, that was fixed during their mandatory technical pit stop.

Deep inside the fourteenth hour, the Garage #59 McLaren suddenly pit not halfway into its stint, the team reporting a puncture that dropped it down the order after a trouble-free run. The team now ran 12th overall and a lap down with Marvin Kirchofer now handed the difficult challenge of gaining the lost time.

Drama would then strike for Ben Dorr of the Team RJN #23 McLaren in the Gold Cup class, a smokescreen pouring from the rear of the car as it ran through Pouhon bringing about both the end of the team’s race and another full course yellow. It was finally an opportunity for the teams to take their mandatory technical pit stop, with the #998 ROWE entry and the #48 Mann-Filter Mercedes and the #63 GRT Lamborghini crews all taking their 5 minute long stops. Incredibly it was the second total engine failure on a GT3 seen in the span of 24 Hours, and in my time as a sportscar racing fan it’s the two times that I’ve seen this happen. During their own technical pit stop the #992 Paradine Competition BMW experienced a huge rear brake fire, ultimately pushing their car into the garage for their technical pitstop with plenty of extinguisher foam smothering their box. The full course yellow was upgraded to a safety car in the meantime. As a result of their rear brake fire, the #992 of Paradine Competition were forced to retire.

When things got back underway Jordan Pepper was now abord the race leading #63 Lamborghini, having started 19th while Dan Harper’s #998 BMW was up from eighteenth on the grid into second place. Third was the incredible recovery story of the #51 Ferrari and Vincent Abril, now ahead of the sister #50 car. Fifth was now Sven Muller of Rutronik Racing’s #96 while Augusto Farfus had been installed in the #98 BMW that ran sixth as the #64 HRT Ford Mustang was up to seventh in its first race with the new team.

Then came trouble for the #2 Corvette of Johor Motorsports slowed to a stop on the pit exit bringing out a full course yellow and very likely the end of that team’s race, before the #64 HRT Ford suddenly picked slowed while running eighth on the road with mechanical issues. Having not taken their technical stop the hope was to gain track position by serving it later in the race, but now it seemed apparent they wouldn’t be serving their penalty at all. The #64 crew’s day was done, with the #65 now their only hope of success in the Silver Cup class after significant contact with the #48 Mann-Filter Mercedes gave them the puncture and possible suspension damage.

And it soon became apparent that the #48 Mann-Filter Mercedes wouldn’t be getting away with it either, as the contact at the bus stop netted it a drive through penalty and putting its chances in severe doubt. The #48 crew were running eighth on the road when they received the penalty as the last Mercedes in with a chance of victory, but with a 70 second minimum time loss expected as part of their drive through their race would hang in the balance.

So as we continue through the morning hours, it’s the #63 of Luca Engstler that leads in Pro, Gold Cup is still in the hands of Verstappen.com’s Harry King in their #33 Aston Martin. Silver continues to be led by the #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin, while Bronze is now the Kessel Racing #74 of Dustin Blattner. Pro/Am is currently headed by the #100 Beechdean AMR down in 31st overall.

Thumbnail credit – Cabose via discord