The British manufacturer of luxury sports cars Aston Martin celebrated its second Spa triumph after 1948 at the 100th anniversary of the long-distance classic (premiered in 1924) after a dramatic incident in the last hour.
This was ensured by the Austrian Grasser Racing Team (GRT) from the DTM, which unintentionally played the decisive role in the three-way battle for overall victory. In the end, it was secured by Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim, who were undoubtedly among the favorites on the 7.004 km long Grand Prix circuit in Spa-Francorchamps. For the trio, it was the first triumph in the marathon twice around the clock, as well as for the Evo version of the Vantage AMR GT3.
Ferrari in misfortune: victory prevented by Grasser-Lamborghini
48 minutes before the end of the race, the decision seemed to have already been made in favor of Ferrari and the factory team AF Corse when Alessandro Pier Guidi, who won in the 488 GT3 three years ago, turned into the pit lane for his final refueling stop with a lead of more than twelve seconds.
Just a few seconds later, no one at the race track or in front of the TV could believe their eyes when the Italian had to bring his 296 GT3 to an abrupt stop in the narrow approach to the pit lane because the Grasser Lamborghini (#19) suddenly blocked the way to his pit position due to a problem! An unbelievable stroke of bad luck that almost certainly prevented Ferrari’s fifth victory and the first success of the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing at its home race and the company’s 10th anniversary.
Only when a tow truck from the organizer RACB, stationed at the start/finish line, had the damaged GRT Lambo on its hook was the speechless and furious Pier Guidi able to continue driving after endless seconds. What a huge stroke of bad luck for the Italian and his two teammates in the #51, Davide Rigon and Alessio Rovera, who were so close to their first victory in the Spa classic.
Aston Martin makes history at the 24 Hours of Spa with Drudi, Sorensen and Thiim
Instead, Drudi, Sorensen and Thiim triumphed for the first time and gave their employer Aston Martin its second success, 76 years after the first triumph in 1948. The trio could hardly express their happiness in words, especially Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim, who had already celebrated many great successes and titles before, but had never won the famous long-distance marathon.
“I’ve already finished on the podium here twice (P3) with Audi. This success has a very special meaning for me, not only because I was finally able to win this race, but above all because we achieved it straight away with the new Evo model of the Aston Martin Vantage,” said a delighted Thiim in an interview with Motorsport-Magazin.com. “It’s also a satisfaction for me after a season that has gone very poorly so far. We believed in our chances right up to the end, even though Ferrari has the better overall package. We’re all the happier now, even though a lot of luck was involved!”
The other placings in the endurance classic at Spa-Francorchamps
The Ferrari trio, who did not have the luck of the #51 as in 2021, still had some reason to celebrate – due to further mishaps of the competition: The WRT-BMW (#32) with Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper and Max Hesse had to pit shortly before the end due to a slow puncture and therefore missed the possible second place by only 5.227 seconds. Hesse was at least able to be happy with P6 as the best German driver.
David Pittard, on the other hand, must have been very upset, because the Briton in the Aston Martin received a ten-second time penalty for a collision with Pier Guidi, which meant that the Walkenhorst team missed the podium place they thought was certain by just 1.016 seconds.
Among those who were defeated but also had a chance of winning were pole-setters Marco Mapelli, Jordan Pepper and Franck Perera (GTR-Lamborghini) in sixth position, who were in the lead at the time.
Also still in the lead lap, but without any real prospects of success, the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG placed seventh (winner of the gold classification) and the SSR Herberth Porsche as the strongest 911 in eighth place.
The best “old” Audi from Attempto, which made it into the top 10 (P10) even without factory support and was only one lap behind the overall winners after 478 laps (3,347.912 km), at least won the bronze category, distancing the best McLaren from Garage 59 (P10) and the Proton Competition Ford (P19).
Rainy weather in Spa makes for turbulent 24-hour race
After the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and in Le Mans, the third long-distance marathon within four weeks was also heavily influenced by the feared weather. Hours of rain not only caused many slips and some serious accidents, which fortunately did not result in any serious injuries, but also a number of neutralizations. In this respect, in addition to the reliability and speed of the GT3 sports cars, luck and the driving and strategic skills of the drivers and teams also played a very large and ultimately decisive role.
Of the 66 GT3 racing cars that started, only 39 reached the finish line in the classification. 10 of a total of 26 racing cars in the GT3 Pro “premier class”, which also had a chance of winning, were eliminated early. The crowd favorite and nine-time motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi, who was leading the race at the time, was involved in two collisions with the two Ferraris of Kessel (#8) and AF Corse (#51) and also received one of numerous time penalties (ten seconds). P13 in the GT3 Pro category and 26th place in the overall classification was ultimately the sobering result for the #46 WRT-BMW, which was driven by Rossi, local hero Maxime Martin and Raffaele Marciello.