RACE 1 - GT4 European Series - SPA FRANCORCHAMPS 2021 - ENGLISH

[Music] beautiful sir queen to spa francorchamp nestled in the ferdinand arden forest of belgium has rolled out the welcome mat for round seven of the gt4 european european series after trips to monza paul ricard and zanford the championship picture is starting to take shape as the season reaches its hinge point six races down six more to go hello everyone my name is ryan marine david addison will be alongside shortly beautiful conditions here at spa where oh about 10 minutes ago it was totally cloud cover those clouds have by and large dissipated it is sunshine up ahead no fear of rain at least this afternoon as we get ready for the first of two gt4 european series races this weekend 32 make that 39 gt4 cars split between three separate classes have answered the call here this weekend they'll be led to the green by pole sitter bailey boyson in the number 23 entry the mclaren from united auto sports emerging on top in a very hotly contested qualifying session this car will be starting alongside the second place starting porsche joel sturm handled the qualifying duties back in q1 earlier this morning it is a big deal for the boysen and charlie pairing that starts on pole their first poll of the season from a championship perspective they enter this race second in points 11 behind the championship leaders they had three straight podiums to get the season started but no finish is better than sixth in the last three races one of many story lines to keep an eye on but before we get to those let's head down to the pit lane where we'll be joined by jimmy scott nikolai people are often saying the porsches are well suited to this circuit and it seems to be the case with you guys sat here on the front row yeah i mean it seems to be that we got some speed here i know that our guys worked really hard because yesterday it was not the case um but our engineer and the mechanics find a good setup and today we qualified second for this one and four for tomorrow so it seems like the speed is where it should be and you seem happy going into the race confident with the performance ahead of you yeah i mean when you've got joel storm in the car you can always just be like relaxed he's he's not known as losing positions and he always bring the car back in one piece so it's nice always in the front so i just know that the last 30 minutes is gonna be my one and then hopefully we can keep it up there and go for another podium not long ago about sort of 15 minutes ago there's been a few threatened spots of rain but it hasn't turned to anything and i think hopefully it will stay dry we would like some rain i mean uh joel had a test here last week in rain he was fast i did the race last year in rain uh i know the track pretty well in rain so i mean we definitely hope for some rain so let's hope that there's coming something because i think the mclaren is gonna be difficult but i think with some rainforest it could be going into our hands so we're definitely opening in some rain so of course it's not unfortunately i'll leave you to go and do your rain dance thank you thanks very much nicole moeller manson joining us down on the grid with gemma might have to wait a day for that rain dance to pay off rain certainly in the forecast looking ahead to tomorrow and sunday as mentioned david addison will be along shortly but this is a neat opportunity for me coming over from stateside where gt4 is going from strength to strength in the pirelli gt4 american series now to see what it's like on the european side of the equation and the competition going back to qualifying this morning was remarkably strong loris caberu will be starting in third paul everard starting in fourth more on that in a moment but we did talk a bit about the championship picture charlie very much in the thick of things and he's standing by with gemma charlie was that a little bit of a pep talk you were having just then um something like that i'm not sure bailey would agree but uh no just saying basically it's his first time on pole in a rolling start so you know trying to use all my uh sort of experience if you like and try and help him to to just understand what the best way of doing it is but you can never plan a start so for me he knows what he's done he knows what he's got to do he's done a very good job this weekend so hopefully we can get back to winning ways hopefully it will be just an easy take over for you in that case yeah let's see i can't imagine it but yeah that would be nice wouldn't it thank you very much have a great race yes thank you it was a strong qualifying effort for that united auto sports entry the same cannot be said for the sister car which was caught out by a red flag that interrupted q1 earlier today and as a consequence the number 32 car gus bowers and dean mcdonald will start towards the back after effectively not setting a lap just the one out lap which was some 45 seconds off the pace back in qualifying not representative of their speed as we saw later in q2 but a long day ahead for that pairing a couple other interesting developments coming into this race the car starting in fifth jim bolabassi driving that car now driving as a solo and therefore an am entry the reason for that being his co-driver berkay bezler has withdrawn not just from this race but also the 24 hour race coming up this weekend back down to the pit lane when obviously laurie's just saying that it's a pleasure to be down here on the second line and the engineers have done a super job in the uh free practice sessions and the qualifying and that uh he's looking forward to the race after a mad dash from the panic david addison has graced us with his presence in the commentary box your efforts running the course a couple of days ago perhaps coming to uh to your benefit here as you made this sprint from the esports event into the commentary booth and in doing so i've saved you a an extra 10 second penalty for being a soloist you see because now this is a a two voice effort at least there's no extra time spent in the pits yeah we just had an outstanding gt3 esports pro series race which was decided at the last corner brilliant stuff and more of the same hopefully in gt4 because this has been a really competitive championship and whether it's been in north america or whether it's been in europe uh grids are full grids are busy and they're chambered at bowsey in the bmw now in the am cup as you're explaining because he's going solo exactly and with that does come the 10 seconds additional stationary time in the pit lane when the mandatory pit stop window comes the thought being there is an advantage to having been fresh in the car starting that second stint that advantage that two driver pairing would not have and so they will have to deal with that come the pit stop a little bit later on but as our silver cup uh leaders there a little bit of golf i mean michelle they're the pro-am cup leaders here in uh this qualifying session from earlier this morning that should be a car to keep an eye on and so should this because the tom canning aka rabindra aston martin the sister car of that from mirage racing of ruben del sar to go first here tom canning's car had the pace to get a pole position this morning so from the same stable you know this is going to be quick as well and number 718 one of the very very smart porsches this from the century porsche ticino of evangelicoma and max bus nelly the porsches have been largely strong at pretty much every venue but uh evangelicoma this morning didn't have quite the pace that he needed to have the car is 10th on this grid mentioned earlier some of the dramas in qualifying this morning most notably what happened to the 32 united auto sports car but a few others to take note of as well the number 74 cd sport mercedes amg gt4 did not turn laps in either of the qualifying sessions so if that car is ready to go we supposed it was a mechanical issue for the team they will be starting at the back and some question marks as well for the number 70 entry the trivalado racing by the orba corsa car which had a heavy crash in q1 jean-luc dioria happily was able to walk away from a fairly heavy impact and still waiting to see whether or not that car has answered the bell it has it is on the grid just to the left out of our window so it actually looks mercedes shaped but i tell you what there's as much sticky tape as there are sponsors decals on that car now the silver number 70 mercedes you might just get a glimpse of in fact towards the bottom left of the shot as the cars accelerate away but it is on the grid and jean-luc daria then is good to go so it is a one-hour race pit stop window 25 to 35 minutes ron's been saying baby poison will start a pole position lining up with him on the front of the grid is joel stern as the cars then set off on this formation lap on the second row there is going to be the alpine alpine rather in the hands of loris caberu and uh more lebrons mercedes to line up alongside on the third row chamberlain now soloist and antoine potty in the supra to line up sixth on the grid seventh is claremont in a repaired audi because that was damaged in q2 and eighth on the grid is fabian michelle in the pro-am cup classed audi that he shares with greg gilbert the fifth row ruben del sarte and tom canning and evan shakoma he's going to be the driver along side then you've got on the sixth row of the grid luke ibn f with xavier gioveras in the mercedes number 15. that could be another one to watch as also could luca bosco maxim sulay luka bosco starts from 12 on the grid 13th of the grid is going to be francesco guerra nicolai gomer lining up alongside in the am class ags events aston next up is phillip barber lining up alongside him is alexander hartfig and they turn her ahead of willfully casual boss toyota on the aforementioned general daria with the now repaired mercedes row 10 he says arghazzo winner of zamford and he got rapunzel with the charismatic v8 racing chevrolet the eleventh row stefan alpene and hassan townsend was bmw ahead of hillary clinton and then with his mercedes row 13 he's paolo maloney bmw mounted and another soloist great face cell that lines up alongside he will start 26th on the grid both of those are from the am cup on the 14th row jean-luc berbalik in the mercedes that jim clark shares and then eric clermont lining up alongside eddie's audi the 15th row is another soloist regular soloist bob harber for sellers team and lars darma new to the championship sharing with charlie hollings alongside him on the 16th row the dad and lad mercedes dad marrow richie will go first and alongside him is pascal bachmann for street art racing rose 17 another dad of the last squad piafra hudson goes first and alongside him is christian easy's hella pageant racing one audi the 18th row robert konstani who had a puncture of a spinning qualifying and thomas oda lines up alongside the two team speed car pink panther audi's together on the penultimate row the back row of the grid is gus bowers who never got a lap in because of the red flags in q1 and ezzo julie who had an engine drama effectively and barely got out and then starting from the pit lane is going to be number 69 which is the christophe ammo michael blanchard audi uh the stewards have decided that uh that car's going to start from the pizzeria which keeps it out of the dramas of the first lap but it's also giving it an awful lot of work to do so there as i just mentioned is 32 mclaren which is the car that was unable to get a lap in because just as they managed to time it right so the red flag came out trying to get red flag again so it all conspired against that ua mclaren whereas the 23 car had the luck if you like that did time it right oh we talked about it so at the time we saw the two mclarens sitting waiting to go out in q1 and there was always risk involved in doing so and it bit one not so much the other that's the good news they cover themselves by releasing the one mclaren just a little bit sooner and consequently on the front row it leaves you to wonder what kind of fireworks we might see as the mclaren admired back in traffic makes his way up through the field so the field now getting itself into this two by two formation what's going to be interesting is to see how christopher comes up from the pit lane and equally how much damage was down to the dowry of mercedes because that should be a pretty quick car especially when jamie caroline takes it over he's been unlucky he's had a lot of damage this year certainly at monza big bay accident that you see in the title sequence of these broadcasts now but uh that car should as long as it's been glued back together okay be competitive uh remember the chamber at bazi now solos will have to serve a little bit longer in the pits but we'll worry about that between 25 and 35 minutes because we are about to go racing this is the seventh race within the gt4 european series it is so good to see such a big big grid of cars stretching all the way back gt4 was a slow burn for many many years but finally manufacturers started to build cars that in turn attracted customers and finally as stefan rotell had always predicted it would it caught on and it is now so so popular across the globe whether it's down under whether it's in america whether it's in asia whether it's in europe let's go racing because the clock is about to tick one hour then for the gt4 european series it is go and a good start he's made then from that pole position by bailey voicing in the mclaren but up to the outside line comes joel sturm in the black porsche and you've also got cabrera in the alpine on the inside line paul everett in the mercedes goes around the outside and antoine poche has dive bombed a lot of them in the toyota and he's in the battle pack as well but bailey voice him aims to try and get out of the way here he's using the arrow of that mclaren to cut through the air down the hill and try and leave everybody else squabbling behind him sharp intake of breath as they dive down through a rouge for the first time but bailey boys it is flying able to make goodies escape there on the run up to arusha then up the hill to radio on it was three wide there for a moment but i think wiser minds prevailed and they backed out of that but here's the battle now down the kibble straight into lacombe for the first time expect the field to fan out as the driver's jockey for position champion then in the bright blue bmw got a little bit carried away up on the curb on the outside line takes mclaren from porsche from toyota from alpine from mercedes because that'll be inside blast paul evra there but he runs that wide and bologna back on the inside line they're down towards brazil the bmw lines up for a move is he gonna be able to go through yes he is brave brave stuff there not been a great start forever it started in the fourth spot it appears he's dropped back at least two positions but trying again to the inside there oh that was optimistic but he made it stick didn't uh get the position but at least came out the other side the race star exit steve burns next door probably haven't taken a breath yeah thinking they're gonna get through this corner all right well they have so far and down the hill through double ghosts through they turn and bailey boys and it is not necessarily making good his escape because he's taking the porsche with him those two are getting away a little bit but antoine potty has had a really good first few corners sixth on the grid and he's running third brilliant start really great jump in that toyota but now coming under some pressure himself it's really no respite around this track you can make up some positions and still find yourself on the defensive just a few moments later good opportunity to slip stream here in this next sequence of quarters and the run up to blanchama we'll see if he can hold on to that spot so the porsche chases the mclaren the toyota is third and then the alpine fought so a bmw fifth all this variety all these different shapes and sizes and engine sizes and engine configurations but under the vop it all fits together very very nicely so the race leader is bailey boyzen and he comes now down towards the chicane joel sturm in the allied racing porsche closes up onto the back of him and a change for third look because the rather impudent alpine says i'm more nimble than you big toyota and lunges up the inside and goes through that's cavalry back up into a podium spot that's where he started in third but dropped back a little bit initially able to rebound and make his way back around potty in the toyota but even still a great start as you mentioned for potty up a couple of spots into fourth couple other movers michelle the top pro am qualifier up into seventh now but uh voicing up front trying to hold off stern we heard from sturm's co-driver in the pre-race show nikolai at boulder madsen and he said this is not a guy who's going to wait around for an opportunity we saw him laid on the brakes in the source couldn't get it done and it put him on the back foot the first time through this section of the track but immediately back on the attack yeah joel so he's only 19 years of age came out of karting through the german gt4 series last year but he's been quick everywhere we've been to this season and right now he's all over bailey boyz in like a rash isn't it now what can in third place laura's cabaret do because trying to shake off the toyota he is inching up on the back of the porsche the audi fight there almost comes to grief that is fabian michelle keeping clemenzaila at bay uh ebeniff is next but look the alpine all of a sudden decides it's going to go and play with the porsche and the mclaren and caberu is a man inspired he's made it free for the lead well that happened quickly didn't it just a few moments ago we were talking about cabaret making the pass on potty for the third spot and half a lap later here he is latched on to the back of the porsche cayman just up the road it gives a little bit of breathing room perhaps for voicing because now sturm is not solely focused on trying to find a way by now he has to play defense as well there another effort is made even f versus siler and that's for eighth and the mercedes is going to go through i reckon on that tighter inside line there though loris caviaroo admiring the lines of the cayman you see as he dances through pith path and sturm is trying to attack and defend at the same time he wants to get up and pass that mclaren but he's also being rather distracted by the alpine and his potty not being caught by the bmw chamberlogy should not be ruled out of this yet either it's been an impressive run for bullock bonzi who as we've talked about several times running as a solo artist here this weekend that was not part of the initial plan but i suppose he's probably up to it a little bit of extra running never did anyone any harm take that literally there you've got number 90 going through which is francesco guerra yeah the only downside of course is now under force mature he ends up with this extra time spent at the pit so but the race was not going to be compromised but he gets the extra track time i don't think we saw him go out in q2 so pop thickens a little bit to the overall plan from that team for the weekend but look it's now four for the race lead and actually fifth and sixth are together are they not paul ever on the back of the bmw bmw now out of the chicane so over the line bailey voicings last lap is the best of the race briefly but no surprise perhaps loris caberu running third in the alpene has done a 233-8 the fastest lap of the race for the car in third position and caviar is absolutely charging absolutely the one to keep an eye on at this point right now just one second behind the brace leader boys and that's a good look at the toyota supra coming down the new pit straight through o'rouge and kind of love that coming and going shot right here it really goes a great way to demonstrate the speed of these gt4 cars so out of our potty surprisingly losing a little bit of ground on this section you might think that's where the grunts of the supra might really be to his advantage it's another of the fascinations of gt4 looking at the relative strengths of the cars bailey boys in them having taken those two wins at monza and charlie with respect is an even quicker driver bailly is in his first season outside of jeanetta juniors the teenagers category in the uk so every circuit he goes to he's learning it's a new place so you know we've got around malta all right we did okay and paul ricard zanvork was new another new circuit spa what could go wrong well he's coping brilliantly and proving to be a very quick study now his goal is just to keep this car in this position turn it over to charlie the more veteran of the two drivers who's got the pace we saw that in q2 earlier this morning i think if he can take over the car in the lead there's a very good chance he can hold it an update on the sister car by the way we talked about the fact it had to start further back after one lap we saw bowers up to 32nd he's gone up three more spots at the subsequent lap now running 29th still a long way to go but that's some nice progress in just two and a half laps we saw in q2 what the car is capable of so certainly gas bowers and that dean mcdonald who will do the second step more experienced he will be one to watch but it's three for the race lead here this first seven minutes have flown by cabaret giving joel sturm a hard time the mclaren trying to inch clear up front fourth still is antoine potty fifth his champion of bowser sixth is paul evra and then seventh is the leading pro out and that is fabian michelle so the files the fifth overall as an am running on his own and that's a pretty outstanding job in that borussa automotive bmw there's something somewhat sinister i think about the livery on the second place running car the allied racing porsche the black with a little bit of red accent to it i imagine that lurking in the rearview mirror or rear view camera whatever the case may be that that's kind of ominous darth vader-esque as it closes in well right now joel sturm in that uh porsche has got his hands full hasn't he and if anything now the focus is defend second not attack for the race lead so now that united auto sports mclaren has just edged away as they came over the strike it was eight tenths of a second and bailey boys in that time around during the fastest lap of the race battle is on here as you see the mercedes on the inside that is getting seventh away or securing seventh away from fabian michelle he had his nose in front over the timing line but he's consolidated that going through la source except fabian michelle he's not good enough city is he no it's not done yet takes a peek to what will be the outside here through the uh beginning to the our rouge radio complex ultimately has to back out of it probably the proven choice that was a position gained for ivanya going back to that previous lap made the pass into the chicane and then had to consolidate that position into a source so heading up the hill here look the reuben del sarte aston martin the red white and blue card trying to get it on the act but actually he's lost out francesco garros mercedes goes ninth so you try and attack one but you leave the door open for another and if they've got the toe heading up the camel straight you can soon find that your world changes rather than be the attacker you are having to attack again to gain a place and guerra launches himself up the inside of the audi there and he goes through that's two places gained in a couple of corners and also through goes look room and elsa so fabian michelle eighth at the start of that loses two places and that yet again in strife is enzo juliet he started last on the grid and he's had a drama up at likkon but this is what happened right taking a look at what happened and i think there's going to be some contact i don't think he expected to see the 77 sitting there at the apex that was a move for position happening further back and around he goes it's good just to see that car running after the issue earlier julie from the back had worked his way up to 29th but it's going to have to claw right back into this after that contact hopefully no damage just going back to your earlier point about the second united auto sports mclaren gus bowser has gained another place he's up to 28. now all right the next part of this sentence does rely a little bit on a slipstream but he's also done the absolute best in the first sector now a tow might have helped him do that but it does give a bit more evidence to just how quick the mclarens are and how well gus bowers is going into the circuit getting his way up through the order as out wide over the curve go the leading three leading four leading five leading six they're all at it they're all taking as much of spa as they can get away with i think if we only had the one mclaren running back in traffic as our example you could say maybe it is an outlier with a toe or something to that effect but voicing appears pretty strong out in front as well as far as straight line speed has gone that's helped him keep sturm and kabaru at bay here is the hard charger thus far bowers in the 32 car looks like he's made up a couple more spots we'll get the official look when he crosses that timing line here on the pit straight battle is on here as well as so the inside line goes cleveland zeiler to try and fend off the porsche in the hands of evan jacob that's 12th and 13th and he does fend him off for the moment the green mercedes in the background is that of luca bosco that too he's trying to wriggle its way up through florida now what has happened to genre boba league because normally one of the uh quicker ams in the pro am class he's fallen way way back to last place i think he's had a drama somewhere way way off the road there goes jean-luc daria so he's had a busy day already and that car running off the racetrack as it climbs the hill another of the porsches getting in on the act as well alex at the heartbreak work with us for qualifying it's worth rehashing the fact that car was in a bad way after a pretty heavy crash and you can see the scars on that car all the tape and spare body work placed back on that machine just to get it ready for this race it was a very impressive act of engineering to ensure that car was ready to be on the grid so almost a victory in and of itself just to be taking part in the race very true indeed yes as the cars then now swing down through double gauche so is bailey boys in getting away yes but he's not storming away uh it is seven tenths of a second to joel stern and that incident by the way between julie a and uh 77 which was eric clement he's being looked at by the stewards perhaps not surprisingly leading three batching up a tad maybe going there through the pit path once again but interesting to see the way that some drivers are really getting very committed to this now francesco guerra in the number 90 mercedes certainly being amongst them and lori's cabaret having charged up the order has now got a bit stuck he has for my money i think that might very well be the fastest car of this leading three if he could get to the clean air a little bit wide at the exit of curb paul freire now the run de blasio here it's it was amazing to see the charge up through the field to get in this position and he was keeping the pressure on this turn for a number of laps but now can't seem to quite get as comfortable that car very much in yaw sliding wide over the curving at the exit to blossom closes in under-breaking into the hairpin but kenny get close enough slipping wide just a bit that's going to compromise the exit this doesn't look like that car is totally comfortable to the level that it was earlier in the race now whether that's been that he'd asked a bit too much of the tyres and equally potty in the toyota is a bit of a mystery because he went pairing up through the order got himself onto that leading group and now that toyota is just starting to fade away whether or not they're thinking about tire preservation because the car in the french round last week had a puncture there's somebody with a puncture by the look of it going over the line is that the gazzo lagenauer uh astor that's got big problems it's not a puncture i don't think actually having said that it looks like the suspension has had a breakage because i think the tires inflated but he's either hit a curb too hard and broken something says arghazzo limps on he missed him didn't he because that's broken coming over the line but it all looks inflated it just looks broken that's a long long way to have to limp a wounded race car around this track possibly the worst place to have something like that happen from the standpoint of there's no way to get to the pit lane now except to complete the lap it's a real shame because he had that aston running up in the 10th spot and nowhere to hide up the hill and radio there that's a tough spot to be and trying to not impede the progress of the drivers behind this is jean-luc bobelik by the way we were wondering about this car it was very fast in q2 earlier today at the hands of jim pla but off the pace and towards the back running 39th out of 39 at last check yeah and it wasn't 39 to begin with also so somewhere out of sight jean-luc has had a moment now look at this the alpine all of a sudden has dropped back that releases joel stern and suddenly bailey voicings advantage which was seven tenths of a second is now down to a nat semi crotchet because joel stern wants to find a way pass him into the piff path he's almost there within striking distance you're gonna have to translate that into american english for me very small guy got it yes okay all right well i followed now and that's exactly what sturm is doing right there in the slipstream can they get close enough to try and put the pressure on maybe force that error this is as close as he's been in several laps indeed so and we are only one about 10 minutes away from the pit window opening so in some cases these drivers are going to bail early get the faster more experienced driver in for the bulk of the race so you could argue that sturm has got only really 10 minutes to try and make this move ideally he wants to be ahead of a pull away but the mclaren through this section looks the quicker it's way out wide over the curb and i just wondered as it went away from us through bloodshed whether there wasn't a wisp of something out of the back no i thought i noticed something similar earlier but it seemed to me that it coincided with a cloud of a curve and i think that's the same situation we saw there right into that what you will but you know you never really like to see a wisp of smoke like that coming off of a race car it always has an ominous tinge to it well the lead gap is six tenths of a second as they come down to la source and cabiru is now lapping a little bit faster again so he's actually itching back up onto the tail of the porsche so maybe that was a laptop a breather but he's pushing on again now and so three for the lead starts to become what we have in that battle pack oh it's been a remarkable ebb and flow from these top three which have seemingly asserted themselves as the preeminent three cars through 16 minutes of this race but you made reference to the fact that we're getting within now ten minutes of that pit window opening and when the driver change happens especially with the pro-am lineups there's going to be a totally different feel to this side by side through a rouge somehow it looks like they're going to make it work but the mercedes has to go wide at the top of the hill that was daria and the audi came out xylo was the one being mugged he's lost a whole heap of places and he's lost another one as alexander half big and the porsche gets up alongside him and gets past him as well so through they go and now daria defends from heartvig so that's fabian michelle going through next in the queue is evangelicum then it's heart and the next car in that queue is another of the mercedes where does that take us to uh 126 it is there yes but it barbara and in turn he's got luca bosco behind him this could all ended a big big mess couldn't it but so far so good as now varva gets up the inside that audi remember repaired after its travails in q2 when it went off the road but it seems to be struggling for pace right now it looked like he might have opened the door for bosco to go through as well ultimately couldn't get that pass made sabasco now sitting in line behind the audi he's gonna have a chance to take a peek to the inside at pujol meanwhile problems in the pit lane that's the 27 car we saw slow on track earlier amazingly has made his way back around yes the word terminator seems to fit here i don't think that's going a whole lot further they can have a look but at best you would send it out for a lap or two at the end just to test wouldn't you really but there's no way they can do a quick fix on that car but if you decide to be broken that as now the leading mclaren of bailey boys it just stretches the margin once more so different cars working in different parts of the circuit and look suddenly the alpine is right there through having a second place out of nowhere the alpine suddenly finds pace or the porsche loses pace but the net result is that we have a change for second place and joel sturm did not like that he's back up on the inside line through he goes but he hasn't got the job done off the road goes kabaru he was rather forced off the road there he has gained second place but he was off the racetrack and he's gained an advantage disgust yeah that's a tough one right because he certainly was forced into that runoff area but i think he might have taken some liberties with it as well here is the replay we got the alpine flashing the lights and then something temporarily a miss with the porsche that allows the alpine through looks like the car just hesitated it wasn't it didn't pick up enough so shifting issue maybe yeah so either way a brief lull from the porsche but straight away joel stern was on his toes fought up the inside there wasn't really much cabaret could do but if he'd have rejoined over the curve there would have been contact so we kind of had to take to that line didn't he that's a tough position to be in not just for the drivers involved making those decisions in fractions of seconds but for the stewards to take a close look at as well i'm sure sturm is not too pleased i'm sure camaro is pleading his case as well for the jury to listen to or not as the case may be but as it stands that was a gift for boysen who now has a lead of over 1.2 seconds if kavir were really savvy about it he would give the place back anyway and fight again because with 40 minutes just under 41 minutes to go all right he's gained second place but the danger is that he does get a penalty so maybe a bit of self-censorship would be the answer there is a car that's also been involved in incidents today including in the race you can see it's looking all battle scarred on the front right corner and eric clement is in 32nd place now because he's got himself up past lars darman and the porsche has a problem because it has slowed again and this time joel sturm says no it ain't working properly so he pulls to one side now will this be a a control delete type restart can he get if it's an electrical problem can he fire it up let's see what he can do the car is stranded you can see him resetting the electronics that's why the lights are coming on and off and maybe it was a small electronic glitch that caused the sudden loss of of speed and acceleration a few moments ago and i wonder also what that does to the kamaru situation if the stewards take a look at it does it become of secondary importance now that the position basically would have fallen into his lap anyway exactly it does become a bit irrelevant doesn't it so uh that has possibly done cabaret an advantage and the car has not got going it is stranded so having stopped it to try and do a control delete as it were a restart it does not want to restart so that's a really disappointing outcome for the cayman for joel stern for nikolai mura matson after good good pace early on jean-luc bobolique for the pit lane and that is too early isn't it so one of the reasons it has dropped back is that it's got a problem and the team looking at trying to sort that problem out but again that's another of the normal front runners out of the pro am class in strive 718 around the outside of the audi there that is ivan shakoma going ahead of fabian michelle who gets a little tickle off alexander harvick's porsche and they all survive somehow it's amazing watching how they close up in that slow speed corner there in that chicane same thing here at the source and then starts recording it out once again but just the nature of slowing down like that it brings everyone close together it invites the drama it invites the contact so there is jacob then downhill the leading pro am at the moment jacob matt bosnelly ahead of the fabio michelle greg gilbert audi and then alexander heartbeats porsche there it is in the pale blue of allied racing that is third within pro am of course the leaders the top three are all in the silver cup and the leading out he's fourth overall chamber of bosses who's very much an m plus really here shakoma storms his way up the camel straight there number 15 uh luke ivanya in the mercedes and the next target for jacoma there he's gonna be jean-luc dario's repaired mercedes there ahead of him see the scars on the front of that race car those aren't stripes that's not part of delivery that is the tape that's there to hold everything back in place a little bit of side by side here as they head down to brucell michelle who's been on the defensive after a great qualifying effort that started him in eighth pole in the pro-am class really mixed up amongst the silvers and has dropped back some but i'm curious what that car will do once the pit stop happens yeah the second driver in the next stint in just about every case there you can see the yellow lights flashing at the foot of the hill going into double negotiation to pull off because that's where you've got that stranded porsche the race leaders have got themselves together and now loris kabiru has whittled away a margin of one second he took two tents out in the first sector what can you do in the second because again the alpine is really really good through those corners he takes the best part of seven cents out of the margin of that mclaren so kamiru was up with him but now look this is where the mclaren has the edge again now we've seen that throughout this race the mclaren with nice straight line speed caribou cabaret rather right behind trying to flash those lights menacingly love watching that car slide wide there back on to the flashing lights once again i don't think that's getting to voice it at all he's had that in his rearview mirror basically from the start of this race doing his best to fend off that was optimistic slipping down the inside forcing the mclaren wide brilliant move and it's just about paid off now we'll see who's got the heavier right foot coming over the line so it's bailey poison on the inside line laurence caviaroo on the outside line and bailey boys in breaks as late as he does for lassos now the lp needs the undercut doesn't it wide in tight out trying to get up the inside doesn't work but lawrence cavalry was very committed to that that was a good opportunistic move and it also nearly worked when they came across the line the margin was six thousandths of a second nearly sprung the surprise in an unexpected spot yes we see passing into the chicane but it's usually at the entrance not in the second portion of the chicane but he was able to slip up to the inside of the unsuspecting voice and who was able to open the wheel up and give room to make that work but now on the defensive voicing got a nice run out of the source up the hill now voice and defensive on the left here comes the alpine trying to make the move around the outside into lake home and while they're squabbling antoine potty up into third place is laughing quicker so if they really carry on like this and delay themselves the toyota might be buying back into the race as kami rudow lines up for a go on the inside line down towards brazil but he hasn't got the run out of the corner that means that poison's able to cut across and defend and again kabaru thinks right we're going to try next so he's got to be a lunge up the inside of speakers corner hasn't it he's trying everywhere else he might as well have a go there heading to the braking zone couldn't do it can he get the undercut for pull or is this where the mclaren stretches its advantage again look at potty in the toyota he's almost with them he's look at his lips isn't he watching this battle out in front it's let him close down that gap this is as close as he has been since the opening sequence of laps voice and very defensive he's not been or he's not put a wheel wrong to this point despite the intense pressure he's been under from first term and now kabaru as well this is the section of the track it seems like the alpine has the slight edge but he hasn't been able to make it work for a pass that's right so they're going to have the pick window to consider it is open in fact now so they could if they wished pit this time you just wonder whether cabaret would be advised to come in get out of the traffic here they are nose to tail coming out of the chord paul freire there's confirmation window is open so the cars now come up towards roshimo and there again the gap stretches what the team will have to keep an eye on though if they're going to employ that strategy is where do they pop out relative to the rest of the traffic and most teams do have some technology that can help them identify that problems here for a mercedes yeah look like number two i think it's the jean ludavik fuber car and i was wondering whether it wasn't a tire issue again it looked all right either he's damaged the rear wheel by hitting the suspension as the leader pits or its attire kabaru stays out leader comes in potty goes up in the second place so bailey boyzen then takes the first opportunity to bail to get charlie fagg into the car and now capiro has got a clear road ahead of him so this is a time in a way to do a qualifying lap really and try and jump ahead on his pit stop of the mclaren oh cabaret i said i think you might be the fastest driver on the track if you can get some clean air let's see if i'm right first chance to do that thus far in the race really interesting that united makes the call here early in the pit window to bring voicing in but i think the experience of charlie knowing that he's there waiting in the bullpen to use an americanism ready to go is part of this strategy call they've got a great deal of confidence that charlie can bring it home from here if he's given the right position so the pit stop cycle through and there now is loris kabaru in the lead of the race but antoine potty only one second behind him so that gap has very definitely come down with the battle going on between mclaren and alpine for the race lead now can potty stay in the mix is the next question well let's give a shout to bullet bazi as well running right there in that bmw stocking the top two out on track and again this is the leader in the am category running in the m category somewhat unexpectedly this weekend and we'll see how much he's hurt by the fact that he's going to have to be in the pits for an additional 10 seconds by virtue of the fact he's running so low and a pit stop is 136 seconds by the way line to line so there goes charlie fagg into the race already busy and that was the first opportunity to come in i reckon that alpena stretched the advantage what do you reckon it was a tenth quicker yeah in the first sector and looks even further away now oh bit of damage on the hodzin toyota that leaves the pits so that's going to be antony hudson at the wheel of it now and the endurance pit is pretty busy as well so we're not quite at halfway but it's been a lively race thus far and it's still wide open this yeah i'm really curious to see what the pit strategy call the winning pitch strategy call is going to be and i'm very curious to see how long they keep cabaret out there running trying to judge based off of his lap times i suspect they'll see pretty quickly what he's tracking towards how that relates to what they expect charlie fan can do in the mclaren and if it looks favorable they'll probably keep him out keep him running as long as they can but otherwise maybe you make that call make that switch and see what happens there's a yellow flag out of the middle sector again as here is cabaret another lap down so uh staying out there he's in a rhythm and he's absolutely charging potty second in the toyota then as you say this really commendable effort by chamberlain coming through in third place so it is alpine toyota bmw mercedes in the leading four places that is charlie fagg who is 21st after the pit stop and there is uh now timothy beret coming through in the uh mercedes next in the queue 88 events so that car is another one to watch took over for paul everard who had a nice opening stick qualified well ran inside the top ten and now we'll see what timothee can do very fast french driver taking a peek at one of the toyotas is that i think that's the casual car possibly a little bit further down there is the leading alpine that's your second place toyota so that is antoine potty who is two times quicker in the first sector so the cmr run car it was here a week ago in the french championship so back it comes up there's the leader going way way wide out of lake home rallycross circus at the other end of spa but he's exploring the outer reaches there now that is the v8 racing chevrolet heading through brucell let's have a look here at the leading lp this is coming down through a rouge look and as the car leans and scrapes against the floor and smoke off the back of it as the tyre and the bodywork get together as the car sits down that ain't going to help the rubber no so much compression through that part of the track with that massive elevation change and a slide like that one is going to cost you time that makes this strategy harder to pull off if you're compromising lap time relative to your closest competition and we believe that will be charlie in the united mclaren then that could put them on the back foot from a strategy perspective we'll know in about five minutes when this pit window closes kangaroo again all over the curve as he comes then out of court down towards pit back once more and then down through the corporate so the alfie really is being driven by the scrap of the neck isn't it as it accelerates odd now can you explain please why your yank tank is doing very well just ahead of it that's in danger of being lapped that chevrolet what's going on that is not representing american engineering all that well is it but uh that said you know you just don't see a lot of those cars and one of the challenges i was talking actually to jack baldwin who oversees gt4 racing in the states he was telling me that car has so much downforce it's very very good in the corners and from a bop perspective it can be quite difficult to equalize because if you give it the horsepower you expect leader to pit lane then it's so strong in the pits or sorry in the in the slow sections so it does struggle in the straight line that's not great here at spa no indeed so and that car dropping away as the leader pits then so you saw the lp dive for the pit lane loris caberu comes in he had a second in hand but that's not that's going to give the toyota to the lead bolivarsi is in as well there's the rather sorry side of the broken aston further up the road and now bounce on bell twills will get on board the alpene so this 136 second pit stop it's longer if you change tyres from uh wet to drive dry to wets for example but there's no such dramas in weather like this the sun is still shining probably to the driver's eyes at certain parts of the circuit because we get now to half past five local time late afternoon sun in the face of the drivers now as this next wave of pit stop cycles through where is it going to put the mclaren that was leading earlier on charlie was 21st but he's gonna pick up a whole heap of places next time he comes over the line and this car relative to the alpine in the pit lane that's i believe going to shake out to be the battle for the lead molok bazi as strong as he was we know he's going to lose time in the pits because of he's running as a solo driver so you can kind of throw that out of the equation i'm not sure anybody else was really close enough to be in that conversation so let's keep a close eye on charlie coming around that's the alpine being released it's the long drag now still down the pit lane and up the hill this is going to be quite interesting to see which strategy prevails so the alpine gets away again and the mclaren here pounds its way up through baltimore so antoine potty leads on the road yet to pit but we'll now see what the real situation for the lead fight is with this car relative to the alpine as down towards the chicane 27 minutes on the clock comes now charlie of course he's thrown into the car he's got to be absolutely flat out and find out what the track is like and find out what the car is like all at the same time he's taking there with him uh the timothy beret mercedes that's the alpine heading down the endurance pits he's almost at the end of it but he's such a long slow pit lane oh yeah he's almost there but of course at 50 kilometers an hour it takes an age this car's at proper race pace so it should get its lead back but it is going to be close as the mclaren then storms down hill the alpine makes the climb out of the pits but he's got to wait to get back onto the racetrack and he's going to lose the lead shortly to the mclaren and he's going to be close but it is though the alpena head but only just but look the mclaren's got the momentum and yes back through into the league goes the united auto sports mclaren charlie at the wheel retakes the advantage but that mercedes in third place is also now a contender that's right that enters into this picture really for the first time it has elevated itself and running some good lap times charlie bagg very very quick on that lap to guarantee that he was able to consolidate the lead that his teammate built up earlier here is antoine potty turning his car over now as well half a second quicker in the pit stops was the mclaren than the alpine it's not much but it all helps and uh even so the mclaren then what it lost out on the pit work has gained it back with pace going up the hill so normal service is resumed now number 90 mercedes or francesco guerra is being looked at for being too short on the pit stop you can have a joker pit stop which is one second tolerance of being under the limit but that's only for one usage over the weekend right but if you're more than that one second then you get investigated and that i fear is the travail now of number 90 the triple auto racing by the orb of course the entry so that is bouncing bell twills who is chasing charlie fagg and the mclaren is easing away it seems on this for them 13th lap of the race that could be the advantage simply of a driver that has had a couple of laps to build up to speed the tire temps stay up as you mentioned no tire changes so it's not like we're talking totally cold pirellis for the alpine but they do lose some of that temperature some of their pressure in the pits at least stateside you can make a slight tire pressure adjustment in the pits i did see a crew member checking tire pressure so there's a little bit you can do to equalize and things like that but otherwise there's not much outside of the driver change that is possible and so we'll see what belts was can do as he starts to get a bit more comfortable we know that car is extremely fast especially in the second sector where the grunt as it turns out of the mclaren can't totally be utilized belgium has more spa knowledge which might be relevant but again so much of this is down to the car i just wonder whether the dark horse might not be that third place mercedes so coming over the line there now goes through beltwells is next and then timothy beret behind them uh bourey's last lap was a 2 35-3 actually no he's still as quick as the mclaren so he's very much advantage united auto sports at the moment now where will this be relative to the toyota lemare is at the helm of number eight now and there it is so it's a similar situation but the mclaren is going to go through it was far enough ahead before the pit stops it is ahead again now what about for second place alpine should get back ahead of supra and does so the toyota goes third the mercedes back down to four but the fight now is on for that third spot because here comes the mercedes with a head full of steam pokes to the inside and nothing that the toyota can do to defend that that move is made well before the braking zone to le combe so mercedes back to p3 timothy forrey on the charge we're currently working then uh lap 14 and although stefan lamarre showed as the race leader that's because he led into the pits since then of course everything has shuffled around and he's lost his third place because the mercedes has nipped up past him so timothy beret moves through and while all this is going on max bus nelly in number seven 18 porsche is the leader of the pro am element of the race i will worry about ants at the end of the next lap when launcher mount has done his next lap after his pit stop this is the bus nelly melanie bmw being attacked and also out wide goes erica nicola gomer and then 74 has its second drama of the race having been tagged into a spin we're about to get a full course yellow so uh this another look at it as the uh number 74 mercedes turns itself around after contact with the bmw and a full course yellow is being called for in 10 seconds so the pace of the race is about to be slowed considerably and full course yellow now so if i have to go at the delta speed the gaps don't come down as such depending on how long the full course yellow is it might be a safety car restart but if they can get rid of the problem quickly without the cars and tires losing too much temperature then they will just withdraw it swiftly will go green again i'm glad you've explained that to me because that is definitely one difference on this side of the atlantic we go full-on safety car right away in situations like these it does look like that car is relatively out of harm's way so hopefully that's a quick cleanup now you would think that in mind how many liberties people take with track limits at turn 19. sure you could leave it as a barrier i guess well my thought being it should be easy easily accessible to the cleanup crew at least to get the car towed away but yes absolutely you don't want that there in that spot on on a flying lap no question about that but it would focus people's attention to track limits wouldn't it well it would solve some problems so the incident between the uh mercedes number 74 of uh enzo giulia who started and uh sebastian bowden who was in the car and number 50 which was the aggressor and that would have been max tresoldi has been noted by the officials uh there is the newly homologated gt4 spec recovery vehicle which is running in second place after a great lap which has put it almost onto the tail of the leading mclaren heading down now towards the bus stop you wouldn't think it'd be the most aerodynamic car in the field and yet still keeping pace here through the bop i said it before it worked well doesn't it quite remarkable so that is frustrated joel sturm his car pushed out of harm's way down at dribbler gauche and he's left to spectate rather than be part of the battle so uh the flags wave i think we are going to end up with a safety car restart here but we won't see the race has still got 20 minutes of change to go so charlie is your race leader and their second third and fourth in the group vancouver belle 12 timothy beret and stephanie in the toyota get back to fifth which will now be xavier yoveras in the rather lonely mercedes and somebody might be six yes there they are uh that's going to be jodie volo in the the overcoaster security travelato mercedes seventh behind will now be chamberlain and this is how it all kicked off so it was the fight a bit in a sense wasn't it because the mercedes tried to get up the inside of the bmw made it work and then bang i think the bmw was trying to give space and in so doing got up over that inside curve and that might have popped him out wide in part into the mercedes mercedes also coming down across the nose of bmw to some degree and i think there's also the confusion course going deep into the corner where is he going to come back on so at snails pace now we are under full course yellow conditions the good thing about the full course yellow is that you can easily slow the field and you don't have to worry about scrambling your safety car and trying to time it to pick up the race leader you can get everybody to slow down it gives you the breathing space then to have a karma situation to do what you need to do but as i said earlier on if it's a longer than a a lap or so quite often you will get a safety car restart so they can go quicker under the safety car than they can of course yellow that means the tire temperatures and pressures come back up it's a little bit safer on the restart the flip side of that coin is that they're all in line again safety cars breed safety cars and all that so uh they might kick off when we go racing again but we will wait and see 19 minutes on the clock well that is what we get i think this battle right here second third and fourth is going to be quite fascinating charlie does appear has the pace if he can separate himself should they all be bunched back up together and he's been everything that you advertised him to be i knew him a little bit by reputation coming over here uh had a second place finish in the gt4 class in british gt back in in 2018 and that championship and has been part of the mclaren driver development program so that's some of the experience that you talked about that he brought to the table that he's been able to help his co-driver bayley voice in with throughout the course of the season and what a great ace in the hole it is to be able to turn the car over to him in the second uh stint of this first race each weekend it's also not only a very quick car and two very good drivers but it's well run the united auto sports gt4 program effectively took over a team called hhcc motorsport which had already had great success in british and european gt4 racing so it's the same brains trust uh in a sense with uh united auto sports guidance and backing and continuing the good work but it's a united auto sports effort uh where in order this is dean mcdonald in the sister car he's up to 18 and predicting a safety car with gaps coming down she'll be able to fight the places on the restaurant that's a great point if you just joined us that car did not turn a representative laptime in qualifying due to the timing of a red flag and had to start effectively last and it's been on a nice comeback charge ever since to get himself up into this spot and i think if anybody is cheering for a full course yellow or specifically a safety car it's probably that team from united because that takes away the massive deficit that they're stuck with that last check and this is under safety car full course yellow excuse me speed so it's somewhat inflated by consequence but uh he was running back in in the 18th spot that's mcdonald behind the wheel some a minute and 15 seconds behind the race leader not all of it gets evaporated should the safety card be deployed but it does go a long way to equalize things and they have to be licking their lips at the prospects of bunching the field up and being able to go on a charge absolutely right so there's the leading ua mclaren that should be able to consolidate this advantage uh we're getting a couple of stop and go penalties one is for the jd volley number 90 mercedes the other for number seven uh which is the street art paul tyson's aston martin 15 sorry a one second stop go penalty uh for a short pit stop so uh it is a short stop and go but equally the damage is done on the fact that you give up so much time here driving down the pit lane so the safety car is imminent because of the length of this full course yellow pier and it's proving to be rather harder to move the heavy mercedes uh than you might have expected it's got to be a lift not a tow hasn't it that's part of the problem i'll show us what i know i thought this might be a quick cleanup and that unfortunately has not been the case back to the penalties you mentioned the dyson's car running back in 32nd that's more rubbing salt into a wound but definitely for vulo currently in sixth to receive that stop and go penalty for running afoul of the pit lane regulations that is very very costly that car was well positioned third best mercedes running sixth overall as mentioned and uh having a nice strong run but he's going to lose all of that and it's compounded somewhat if we hadn't gone for course yellow or eventually safety car so with the advantage that you've gained you can fall back on to not lose as much when you serve a penalty but no such luck when everyone's bunched up so there is number 32 that's the dean mcdonald mclaren which as we were saying a little while ago is in 18th but they bunch up under the safety car that we anticipate for the restart hopefully it can make some more ground when we go racing once more but it's been a really good effort this up from the 19th row of the grid dean mcdonald into the car and not quite immediately but certainly early into your stint the whole pace of the race ebbs away out of harm's way is now going number 74 mercedes the reason for this full course yellow so the road effectively now down at the chicane is clear and the opportunity now to one side is off the road because the next access point for the recovery vehicle is less source then you can scramble the safety car and hopefully pick up the leader and hopefully get a crocodile of cars but they're all strung out all the way around the circuit the safety cars uh at the top of radio ready and waiting there it is for the leading mclaren but as the leaders head up the camel straight something's still going down through pool exactly the tail of the field is way way behind over half a lap behind it would appear at this point so it'll take a little while to get everyone bunched back up again but the benefit of it again for us at least we'll be getting to see a close fight on the restart and with what eight ten minutes left probably maybe a little bit more than that when we do get restarted that's plenty of time to get the drama back underway and i think the fight at the front of this field is going to be fascinating yeah that's all belt was going to be key to it if you go with the mclaren we're on for a real battle for the win if he can't and he has to go defensive and he's got everybody crawling all over him the second place fight is going to be very very fierce also we now need to bear in mind how long this safety car period is going to be because the race director wants everybody to catch up but of course you're not meant to go harry flatters under a safety car are you meant to be going at a semi-reduced pace at least so if you're right at the very back um and the car ahead of you isn't going very quickly you're stymied anyway so it might be a that might be two before we have the majority of the field all in a line but hopefully the message will get through people will hurry up because we don't want this to eat into too much of the thirteen minutes remaining do we so there is chambollo basically who's had a busy best part of an hour so far hasn't in the bmw the leading am so he's running on his own and therefore the car has been downgraded if you like from a uh pro am to an am cup car the leading silver is the leading car out right and the leading pro am is the number 718 porsche 718 right there in the hands of max bushnelli now he's taking over from evan dracoma and lee cayman is running in 10th place overall right behind tom canning in the aston and tom was rapid in q2 this morning so there are a number of drivers i think that this safety car is going to give a new lease on life to some that maybe did the first stint didn't quite go their way but the second driver in is a fast driver now with some relative track position because the field gets bunched up again you should be able to see these cars uh come for a charge and look the fight in pro-am is going to be remarkably close but nelly of the top available one car inside the top ten right there all fighting not just for overall position but more importantly for class position and they're all in a line all right ready to go on that restart and we are going to have just about at best of a 49 minutes there's gonna be surely one more that because we still need a few more to catch up the stragglers having the flat out charge now to try and close up the safety car is coming now down towards the chicane and down to the breaking zone it comes is it going to bail this time don't uh come up on the timing screen that it's peeling in but the way that charlie is going does suggest that we're about to go green then on the timing line so down to the chicane they come charlie in the leading mclaren the majority of the field he's in a line there's a very very slow wave there coming out of a branch man with a car that looks like he's about to expire that's compromised lots of people in for a drive-through in the stock go penalty i should say comes number 90 mercedes we go racing with 11 minutes on the clock so away goes charlie three tenths of a second it was over the line and cam ben beltwells go with him that leading line takes you all the way back to what about 16th place and they dive down towards that source with their look going through on the inside line the cayman so moving through draka mafias up now into tenth place these might be the crucial moments in that battle for the lead we saw previously the alpine if it could get close enough could slip stream down the kimmel straight and make an attempt at the lead but i don't think it's going to happen there instead i think the alphabet is coming under attack beltways from gray just ahead of this battle charlie fact well and truly down the road and here comes beret making the move to the outside and he's got the grunt in a straight line for that mercedes so he goes through goes second so bouncer bell twirls drops back now but he's been released can't tip a bureau do anything about the mclaren he's got ten minutes to go and he's on the money for this isn't he fourth is lemma right fifth was your bear ass in the silver mercedes which just go through the corner ahead there's audi scraps going on this is the second wave really coming up through likkom number five there just at the head of that queue of cars uh that now is pierre corroy and it's not the benif anymore for fifth place because he's got past him and even yet he's also being run out wide by jamie caroline he tangled with jamie caroline at your peril but jamie is way off the race track there just about gets it back on got the tank tape special moving up one place then but that puts him into sixth spot so look up the inside porsche on aston that is the 55 car tom canning on the defensive a little bit surprising they're able to make the outside work at the beginning of pujol not so much on the exit has to fall back in line dropping the spot but what that has just done for bus nellie is put one car between him and his class rival gregory gilbert there going through the pit path so an important move for the porsche that as they go up now through the exit of the pif path down now into campus this is lap number 17 clock ticking on down and all of a sudden this has become very frantic indeed as everybody's got one last push for position haven't they not much time left just a handful of laps so the time to go is now charlie fang leading from timothy beret at the moment who made the pass just a few moments ago around beltons up at the front of this field further back though here's the charge from the other mclaren then we've been talking about mcdonald at the wheel watching a battle and fall down his windshield so united auto sports mclaren in the lead but the other one the sister car is carving its way through the field now dean mcdonald is doing a great job and he's not finished yet he's got time in which to gain more places but he needs to do it quickly before any gaps open up and he's a little bit stuck in the traffic at the moment coming up towards the chica the leader goes by 1.6 seconds is the margin with eight minutes to go beltwhile's down to third lemme raise false now where is dean mcdonald he's gained one place he's 17 as he comes across the line there might be another one though to gain coming into la source sulei fighting with gilbert that fight's not done yet gilbert had the spot uh momentarily looks like souly got it back they're side by side here through oh rouge nose to tail just a piece of paper between the two cars how much curb there did you give about gobble up coming down the hill so he's got sulei all over him he's got joe mathias behind him there's von jamal rich as well in number four audi and behind them you can see the uh next to the porsche's making a move coming up the hill where is mcdonald in all of that could he try and find ground seven and a half minutes just over on the clock because he there comes under attack from jamie caroline and maxine soulet giving greg gilbert a hard time as well those are two very experienced very capable drivers going toe to toe and certainly sulei here at this track this is home turf for maxime he's right there on the back diffuser of the 42 audi which slips just that little bit wide that's going to let zoole pounce to the inside makes the pass headed into speakers so downhill goes soolay and that of course gives him the place within the pro-am fight so the next target for him is the porsche right there in the hands of max bruce nelly that is running in eighth place overall his target is aviojoveras mercedes ahead he'd like as many cars between himself of the class opposition as he can get los nelly if i'm not mistaken is the leader in pro-am so it's also yes just about creating that buffer to his closest challenger which is soul like you talked about so that's why we're seeing him aggressive in this situation even though it does not matter as far as class result class points go similar story here with bullet buzzy in the leading am car coming under assault through paul freire and i'll say the lap ago you take on jamie caroline at your peril this is jamie caroline on the attack against champa lobazi let us see how this pans out because jamie caroline is having really his best showing of the season thus far despite the fact the car is all taped up despite the fact he didn't get to drive it in qualifying because it was eliminated in the session for this race but jamie low on seat time he's race round here he's won here in the past in single seaters comes down to the chicane this is the fight for second third and fourth and actually beret is not escaping is he from the alpine so beltware's he's right with him there is bonaparzia ahead of caroline we've got six minutes on the clock and a two and a half plus is a flying lap at the moment so three laps maximum i would offer you and charlie has got away 1.9 seconds of the good extended that lead by a further three-tenths of a second on that lap so a masterful restart to build a solid gap but now he's letting second and third squabble amongst themselves in his rear view mirror any time these two get side by side that is a sight for sore eyes as far as charlie is concerned he's got this race truly well in hand so fat climbs the hill onto lap number 19 and this battle for second place delaying the drivers letting him escape and a bit like we saw in stint one so liberating the toyota has fallen off the back hasn't he's not being able to stay with him he's in a solid fourth now what about fifth bmw versus mercedes up to nikon the alpine's on the attack first of all look to the inside more in hope than in anticipation from beltways and west carolina there he is last minute dive at the inside and through he goes and that was good it was and it was prudent by bullock bazi i suspect he knew that was coming giving the reputation that you've spoken about if caroline had no sense fighting that one too hard when it's not for class position saw the taped up mercedes coming through and said have at it yeah volleyball is his class rival his twentieth and he's just dropped to sixth overall so know your battles and he certainly did there right looking at this fight you have got now uh tom canny on the tail of xavier yoveras so that still means there are two cars between pro am position one pro and position two so that fight really is consolidating bustelly's advantage there's no way that sulei can get up with him if these two are hard-assed he's not yet caught but he doesn't want to get involved in that battle and get himself in jeopardy does he keep in mind soul is lurking right behind that green mercedes that is for class position as far as aston mercedes drivers are concerned so busnelly certainly doing everything he needs to do creating a gap letting traffic help him from that standpoint but soolay closing in on cannon caddy needs to make this pass as soon as possible or else he'll have company will indeed as they come through campus great gilbert struggling a little bit but none of the audis look to be quite as quick as you might have hoped we thinking in qualifiers they would have done better and they have just not really clicked come racing either uh it's counted over a bit where we are on the start and finish area so it's gone a little bit cooler over the last lap or so which might be helping some cars but there you've got the similar concept of the front engine mercedes and aston martin's running together and even the wife was briefly on there as tom canning may have just hit the switch in his elevator down to the there's time for two more laps and canning attacking and defending at the same time wants to get past xavier your house ahead of him but he's having to defend like mad now from maximum soul right on his tail and he's going to get no respite here it looked like sulei got the better jump out of the chicane now how defensive does does cannon get into the source the answer is quite defensive is it defensive enough soul lays the chrome horn to the back of the this is the run aston the hill there so tom canning it is hanging on to the position and if maximum soul can't find a way through suddenly he is going to be attacked by greg gilbert there'll be one more lap to run at the end of this charlie fang is now over two seconds clear of but we are not done yet so there is still a big big fight going on for second and third within pro-am and this is the battle now for second place overall belgrade's back under the tail of bureau yeah that didn't take too long did it it seems like he there's been an ebb and flow to that outfeed maybe it takes some time just to cool tires off to get back into peak operating temperature here is the mcdonald driven united auto sport mclaren tried to make a move on the camaro and got caught out on the outside at lake home it appeared and has actually to drop a spot that he had made just a few moments before around leclair the car up the road the camaro that is for position as far as class is concerned i think we've seen mcdonald's able to drag that car up into 10th in class by my count trying to get up a couple more spots before this is all said and done to salvage a decent result after what looked like a disaster this morning in qualifying but he's not found it easy has he been on the restart a lot of the effort was done early in the race and then that car has sort of peaked and losing a place that he just won from the lp which is almost in ua colors itself really the original red white and blue so that puts mcdonald for the moment back down to 16th overall well you would expect it to get harder not just because as you come through the field the driver should be faster but also in this second stint the pros are in in the pro-am lineup so the going does get tougher the deeper into this race you get it we've seen some of the progress stalling out as a blade i think that goes a long way to explain it [Music] so there chamberlain runs it out wide over the curve and that is max personally now looking for a way past him even dracula his co-driver will be one of a number of people doing double duty he's in the total energy 24 hours of spark and as they make their way up towards launch him off roland falzi hanging onto that sixth place right there behind him is bus nelly who's got the pace now whether he wants to force the issue and just go for his class points we'll wait and see now tom canning's not that far behind he does have the one car separating him out of class but that is not really the cushion you want even coming this deep in the race it's interesting the bmw and the porsche there that's a battle of respective class leaders and class leader and pro-am class leader as they run so there they go that class leaders both into the source and the porsche's got a bit stuck for the moment because tom canning in the silver cap aston martin as they go through for the last time out of the source now uh he is not to be denied what is ninth place on the road overall downhill plunges the bmw that actually gets away a little bit in a straight line said the am leading bm ahead of the pro am leading porsche they climbed the hill sixth and seventh we're on the last lap charlie leading by 2.7 seconds and no drama there as far as the lead is concerned but plenty as you go further back it was half a second between beret and bel tois we saw that at the end of the camel in that shot just a moment ago then it's lemorae caroline starting to reel in liberate toyota just that little bit and now we get to this fight here this is good stuff nose to tail soul putting the pressure on trying to get up into the lead of the class uh actions would be for second in class excuse me soulet and the mercedes canning in the aston all over the back of the aston van soulet but he's got to be careful he doesn't leave the door open to greg gilbert who in turn has got joel kamathias behind him so the one-time champ car racer you'd anticipate maybe a bit further up the order but he is working that quarter as hard as he can the car that was started by alexander harvick and now downhill they go for the last time but charlie fagg looking as though it's going to be a race win soolay cheekily tries to prize open the door but tom canning doesn't care whether it's the home town hero or not he's not going to let him buy zuma got a great run but nowhere to go with it canning did a great job not giving a car's width of a gap to the inside let's see what sulai can do shows the nose but not close enough to make the maneuver there while all this is going on you've got charlie heading for a third win of the season in the united auto sports mclaren there is tom canning he's certainly fallen back hasn't he now from the mercedes and you know why because he's going to stick out his elbows and hang on to his place as they head out of the pool forever for the last time chamberlain at barzio target for an am win max personality and evangelical for a pro-am win and a silver win and an outright race win for the third time this year for mclaren charlie and bailey boise charlie he's going to bring it home out of the bus stop chicane up towards the timing line and accelerating now up towards the checkered flag charlie is who wins the seventh race of the year in the gt4 european series the winning margin over timothy beret's mercedes 2.1 seconds beltwell's in the lp takes third stephan lemare's toyota was going to be fourth jamie caroline fifth really good effort by chambal at basie to win his class and the team is delighted with that for six the max personality and evan shakoma winning uh in pro am for seventh and a very busy uh of racing wasn't it it was the box score might say pulsating car one led most of the laps it was domination right but it wasn't that's not what we saw at all charlie did take control of the race in the second half but it did take a great restart here's some drama late in the race a couple of toyotas it appears coming together in the chicane and one going wide at the exit close fights across the line but remarkable battles especially second third and fourth class battles intermixed as well gt4 racing that's the calling card of this class of uh sports car racing so close such diversity pure entertainment it doesn't break the bank either does it and some top teams operating the cars as well these days so uh it's a very spectacular racing real shame that we lost the stern mother mad supporter early on because that could have played a part i think in that leading battle this is what happened at the last corner with the toyotas of anthony hodson and andrea benezei getting together hudson's car up over the curb it was not particularly in control though as it rejoined the racetrack i guess there was a sister supra that was just magnetically attracted well it wasn't as bad as i initially thought i saw the bodywork flapping on the one toyota but that was already there showing the scars of coming together earlier in the race but i'm sure the toyota crowd is not going to love seeing some internet violence there between the sister supras nevertheless they all do make it across the line so charlie fagg driving off the circuit for the pickup on the tyres to help with the weight of the ride height and winning for say the third time this year silver cup victory and a really good job down there so he will make his way around the lap down towards the uh claire may area and then eventually to the podium but a good job done at the united auto sports mclaren squad certainly proving their worth this year and it's becoming another fascinating championship across all three classes as well well that's what makes it fun because no matter what it seems like there's some battle to keep an eye on if it's not for a class lead then it has championship implications and now past the halfway point on the season 12 rounds i believe that was race number seven and you're starting to get those championship pictures coming into full light as we take a look at the results unofficially after the first race of two this weekend in spa so bailey's always in a charlie take the race win from paul everett and timothy pouray loris caberu vancouver belle twills third ahead of bountiful potty and stephan lemare john ludaria and jb caroline taking fifth sixth the winning arm chamber of quality seventh for winning pro ams evangelicoma and max persnelli with uh ibanez and davio yoveras taking eight ninth ruben delsart and tom canning ahead of luca bosco and maxim surly rounding out the top ten and a rather frustrated eleven fabian michel and greg gilbert in a car that you could normally put money on being right up in that leading battle but not today a little bit like the 87 mercedes of jim clara and jean-luc boba league which again is normally a front-running car and that too as we saw earlier on uh struggled and eventually was a retirement so there are quite a few hard luck stories out of all of that a few teams with work to do overnight and quick turnaround to do so exactly so tomorrow's race will have a different complexion not just because we'll see the pros start in the pro-am lineups the designated driver 2 starting for race number two of the weekend across the board but i suspect the weather might look a little bit different as well with rain in the forecast saturday and sunday here at spa looks like we might see a little bit when about 10 minutes or so before this race started but then the skies cleared we had perfect weather but you never know with spa the dye of fate what it will come up with on on the roll as far as the weather is concerned yes there's always that perennial sting in the tail just waiting for you isn't there so happy drivers in the top three in the three classes that will go to the podium the top three overall the same for the silver cup got the pro ams and the ams precision parking bay just be very careful opening the door but it's all right in mclaren it goes up as much as out so that squeezes the slimline charlie and another excellent drive that to add to the successes that they took at monza back at the start of the year so a third victory in seven races and in what's been a topsy-turvy season it's a commendable left of that so there they've always been being congratulated bailly's younger brother has started racing in genesis juniors in the uk he's an awkward part this weekend so the family keeping an eye on two different circuits over the weekend and so the boys in dynasty you can expect to generate yet more race wins and they're not too distant from afar at least it seems like that genetic juniors series is a real springboard for a lot of young talent in recent years absolutely i mean some like lando norris have gone in a specific direction but it's given us lots for um national gt racing or gt competition internationally and it gives great racing along the way it really does it seems like the drivers to show up well prepared and that's what we saw that was a great stint from voice and i think and the pace that he showed might get some of the headlines but boyson was under pressure that entire opening stint and for a driver of limited experience as you say never cracked never made that one crucial error that would have cost him the lead or perhaps the race yeah it's a very very good effort by both they're looked after by former racer phil glue and he's a calming influence on them and passing on his advice from winning multitudinous one make championships for example so charlie and bailey boys in take win number three of the season top effort and they can explain just how easy it was or wasn't to gemma scott first of all congratulations two boys what a drive and bailey coming with you first that was your first rolling start yeah first time starting on pole position so it was a bit daunting but um a few tips from charlie so that helped but to be honest it was just about keeping the first lap clean um and just trying to pull a bit of a gap but uh yeah i mean a few good battles uh which was just made it really interesting but uh yeah the united authors did a fantastic job so a big thank you to them um and then i passed it on to charlie absolutely and charlie you brought it home and looking very very happy as you got out the car there yeah no spot on um looked a tough stint for bayley but i'm just absolutely over the moon the mclaren has been absolutely mega this weekend united flawless and uh yeah just great to have the mclaren brand back on top big thanks to everyone watching danny ian allen everyone from mclaren this is a big thanks to them i think certainly we need to keep a good eye on you too and mclaren going forward yeah exactly thank you very much let's have a quick look at what happened in that race with the uh pole sitting mclaren storming down towards la source in the advantage and it was joel sturm's porsche that was initially the real thorn in the side but a great start by antoine potty brought the toyota into the mix the cars down through the hill but as they got to our rouge already the gap had opened up in fact that was eroded but it was a very very impressive first lap was excited to kick off lower down the field with the first drama befalling mercedes number 74 and so julie tapped into a spin then a suspension breakage for the cesar gazzo constantine lakinawa sandboard winning aston martin more squabbles raged on across the three classes as dropping down the order clemenzaila and he was eventually passed by evangelicoma as they went to the foot of the hill the porsche getting ahead bravely as they made their way up radion joel sturm squabbling with loris caberu in the lp but eventually the porsche with some electrical drama we think because it hesitated once and he lost a place he got going and then it stopped for good at the pit stop window the number 23 mclaren cycling through charlie taking over from bailey voicing coming out ahead was the alpine bounce on bellatois at the wheel but as it got up to pace so the mclaren jumped ahead and there was more drama down at the chicane because that is where sebastian bode was turned around suspension broken on the mercedes full course yellow became a safety car the field bunched up for the final segment of the race green flag flying and that enabled charlie fang to try and build that lead once more which he did whereas for second place vancouver peltoires and eventually it was the mercedes that went through there's some pretty other good battles lower down including jamie caroline he was able to go fifth at the expense of chambal at bowsey but through it all came charlie fagg to take win number three of the season for united auto sports for mclaren and for himself and baby boys in after a great drive winning by two seconds so now the drivers will make their way to the podium three of them to do there's the silvers which is the top three overall the pro-ams and the ams and uh a very busy spa it is because there are lots of sport races this weekend so really from the moment spa goes live on the thursday morning it is constant action all the way through and uh already the teams for the next race are on the grid but there are drivers on the podium so we'll at least get the overall top three one would we hope before leave spa but don't forget there's another race tomorrow with a different grid jumbled because different drivers did the time so there's more to look forward to tomorrow number of today's protagonists did not get the qualifying efforts they were looking for in q2 and vice versa as well and i think the dynamic of swapping the starting order of drivers it really does spice things up starting the pros in the pro-am lineups can put some less experienced drivers in some very difficult situations and the cream rises to the top it leads to fascinating races at least over a state side i can't wait to see how it plays out in the gt4 european series absolutely right so the podium's getting and that is our pro-am podium that we've had first incidentally greg gilbert fabian michelle for third for second place there maximum soleil luca bosco and the winners are max miss nelly and even [Music] jacoma [Music] the belgian national anthem of the belgian flags showing and flying because of a matter of respect to the belgian population after the awful flooding of recent weeks we'll see you tomorrow for race two from rahm marine and david anderson goodbye from spain [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 88,492

Rating: 4.9691029 out of 5

Keywords: BlancpainGT, Blancpain, GT, GT3, Endurance, Sprint, Series, Cup, Motorsports, watch, FIA, driver, sportscar, racecar, car, events, Spa, 24h, team, europe, pro-am, pro, racetrack, Gt world, 24 hours of spa, spa 24 hours, spa 24 hours race, gt world spa, gt world 24 hours of spa, spa Belgium, 24 hours of spa 2021, 24 hours of spa highlights, 24 hours of spa stream, 24 hours of spa live

Id: A5RuN6fI2zk

Length: 87min 15sec (5235 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021