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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hour opened with the next round of pit stops, as first to do so were Marco Mapelli and Mattia Drudi in the #163 VSR Lamborghini and #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin, with the #60 gaining significant time on the Aston after Thiim found himself on the wrong side of traffic. Matteo Cairoli also lost time, dropping to sixth behind Fuoco in the #50, Patric Neiderhauser of Rutronik Racing’s #96 Porsche and Marco Mapelli who was up to third. Benji Goethe stayed ahead, the Garage 59 #59 crew putting in a stellar stop once more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another full course yellow was called out immediately after the stops for the #6 Silver Cup GetSpeed Mercedes of Aaron Walker stopping on track after the bus stop with mechanical problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Racing finally resumed with 20 hours and 20 minutes remaining on the clock as Benji Goethe had another good getaway and led the field back up to Eau Rouge. In fact he was really commanding the field during his second stint, setting the fastest lap of the race of a 2.17.890.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The #18 Dinamic Motorsporst Porsche also pitted with a wheel bearing issue, ending what had been a good run for the team that were on the podium at last week’s N24. They spent over an hour in the pits and dropped to third last of the running cars and over 27 laps down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon after this the #911 Pure X Racing Porsche suffered a puncture around Blanchimont and returned to the pits with three wheels, thankfully preventing an FCY. Meanwhile as the next pit stops cycled through Joseph Loake, at the wheel of the #59 lost time during his stop, and cycled back to fourth on the road. Now it was the #17 Mercedes that had been stuck in its wheel tracks for hours with Fabian Schiller onboard that led from Franck Perera’s #163 Lamborghini and the AF Corse #50 Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc was now third. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another FCY was brought out as the #11 Comtoyou Aston Martin had a big crash at Eau Rouge after being tagged by the #611 Nordique Racing Mercedes. It eventually became a safety car that lasted well into the fifth hour of the race. With no waveby procedure Fabian Schiller led with traffic behind him providing a gap to the #163 Lamborghini of Franck Perera and Joseph Loake’s #59 McLaren, with Arthur Leclerc’s #50 the best placed Ferrari in third. Lucas Auer sat fifth, challenging Loake from fifth position. The top six was rounded out by Comtoyou Racing’s #7 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen as the leaders navigated the traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Down in 24th overall, IMSA GTD regular Elliot Skeer set the fastest lap of any Gold Cup car thus far a 2.18.254 as there was drama in pit entry. Heading through the bus stop the #3 Silver Cup GetSpeed Mercedes had a huge moment, an explosion of smoke from the rear of the car ended their day as Tom Kalendar stopped on pit entry. The pits were closed while the Mercedes was removed from the entry road, but luckily unlike last year no-one was impeded by the stricken car, and it was safely pulled to the side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By now golden hour had passed and the night was slowly engulfing the track, though the leading septet were virtually unchanged in the last hour or so. Fabian Schiller still led with the Approaching the six hour mark, some big movers through the field I haven’t yet mentioned were the #63 GRT Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti that was now 7th having started towards the back end of the top 20, and now ahead of former racer leaders Rutronik Racing with their #96 Porsche. BMW meanwhile were yet to show their true hand, with the best placed M4 GT3 sitting down in 9th overall, the #32 WRT of N24 winner Kelvin Van Der Linde, the only one in the top 10. This despite having five factory lineups in the Pro class across three different teams. Meanwhile Ford are having a good showing in their first year with HRT, having taken Pro\/Am victory last week their #65 machine of David Schumacher was now running second in the Silver Cup class. Of the strugglers so far, one of the most significant is the #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes of Maxime Martin, that took damage as part of Josh Mason’s earlier crash at Blanchimont and was delayed. It was now running 26th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So then after three six hours of running the top seven look set to challenge for the lead throughout the night, with Verstappen.com Racing’s #33 still looking strong in the Gold Cup lead. Silver is now in the hands of Sainteloc Racing’s #26 of Lorens Lerertua while Bronze is headed up by Dennis Marschall for Kessel Racing, that’s actually running 14th overall and ahead of the #26 on the road. And Pro\/Am is now led by Creventic Endurance Series regulars Haas RT, with their #28 of Gregory Servais currently holding a narrow lead over the Beachdeen AMR #100 Aston Martin of Anthony McIntosh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, with the night now upon us who will stay in contention as the race continues on? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thumbnail credit – Cabose via discord<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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