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Porsche set to abandon updated WEC engine

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A reliable run for the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport and customer entries at the Le Mans 24 Hours next month with the existing engine is likely to lead to a decision to leave the upgrade on the shelf, 963 project manager Urs Kuratle has revealed.

He explained that the improved durability of the 963 this year had largely removed the need for the new version of the engine, designed to reduce vibration in the name of reliability of the car’s hybrid system.

“Maybe it will be cancelled,” Kuratle told Motorsport.com.

“If we go to Le Mans and have no issues that we can trace to vibration, we are probably not going to introduce it at all.

“We have been to all these races this year and we have had no reliability issues, so why introduce it?”

An initial plan to have the engine in its fleet of 963s in time for Le Mans on 15-16 June was abandoned, but Kuratle was insistent at the Qatar WEC season-opener in March that the revised V8 would come on stream at an unspecified point this season.

Porsche started development of the new version of the 4.6-litre V8 last year as a result of reliability issues with the off-the-shelf hybrid system mandatory in LMDh.

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

It believed that the vibration from the engine’s 180-degree or flat-plane crankshaft was contributing to the poor reliability, leading to the decision to begin work on an updated engine with a 90-degree crank.

But improvements in the hybrid system, particularly the motor generator unit (MGU) supplied by Bosch Motorsport, since the back end of last season have turned the 963 into a much more reliable contender.

PPM claimed victory in the Daytona 24 Hours curtain-raiser in January and Porsche had no hybrid issues over the course of the event.

Porsche didn’t push on with plans to have the new engine at Le Mans because it would have required to race it for the first time at Imola last month.

Series organisers the FIA and the Automobile Club de Le Mans wanted two races before Le Mans to assess the impact of the engine on the Balance of Performance.

Because only one homologation is allowed in LMDh that would have meant introducing it in the five 963s racing in the WEC and the four in IMSA at the same time because the Long Beach round of the North American series clashed with Imola.

That would have left no time to undertake the necessary endurance testing to validate the engine ahead of a 24-hour race.

Kuratle explained that the logistical challenges of introducing the engine were an additional reason it might be left on the sidelines.

“You have to do endurance tests before you introduce it and that costs a lot of money.” he explained. “

“It would be a big effort to introduce it on all the cars at the same time in both series and to produce all the spare engines.”

The upgraded engine has run on the dynamometer but not in a car, Kuratle confirmed.

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Peugeot claims unfair treatment in veiled BoP attack following WEC Spa

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Jean-Marc Finot, the French manufacturer’s motorsport boss, told Motorsport.com at Spa that “my feeling is that we are being treated unfairly”.

He did not mention the BoP, because it is expressly forbidden for manufacturers, teams and drivers to talk about it in the series’ sporting regulations.

But the interference from his comments has to be that Peugeot believes its updated 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar should have received a performance break for its second WEC appearance at Spa last weekend.

“We have spent one year trying to improve the car and we don’t see the effect on the race track or in our results,” continued Finot.

“That is very difficult to understand and is very bad for team morale.”

The new version of the 9X8 wasn’t competitive on its debut at Imola in April and received no help from the BoP ahead of Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours.

The car was given a 4kg weight increase and a 2kW (2.5bhp) power decrease ahead of round three of the WEC in Belgium.

That was in accordance with a realignment in the BoP for the Circuit de Spa-Franchorchamps that resulted in only minor changes for all the cars in the Hypercar class bar the Ferrari 499P LMH, which was pegged back after Imola with a 12kg increase in minimum weight and a power reduction of 4kW (5bhp).

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller

Photo by: Marco Losi / KAPPAEMEDIA

But the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which co-organises the WEC with the FIA, re-iterated a key component of the new BoP methodology introduced for 2024 in reaction to Finot’s comments.

“The process of the BoP lays down a window, and if a car is overperforming we will slow them down quickly,” explained club president Pierre Fillon.

“But if a car is underperforming we will react much more slowly — this is to avoid sandbagging.”

Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie described the showing at Spa as disappointing despite the best of the two 9X8s finishing in the points in 10th place.

“We are quite disappointed by the performance of the car here,” he said after the race.

“We knew from the start, from Free Practice 1, that it would be quite difficult here to be honest, but we were hoping to be a bit closer than what we showed today.”

Jansonnie pointed out that at Spa the 9X8 was quick in the fast first and last sectors, which accurately replicate sections of the Circuit de la Sarthe at Le Mans.

“We hope that we can show better pace at the Le Mans 24 Hours,” he continued.

“It is quite different in terms of layout”.

Finot refused to make any predictions for Le Mans next month while again steering clear of mention of the BoP.

“There is something that I cannot speak of that will be different for Le Mans, so I cannot make any forecast,” he said.

Last year the original version of the 9X8 posted one of its best performances at Le Mans, leading the race on four occasions between the early evening and shortly before the halfway mark as the #93 entry shared Loic Duval, Nico Muller and Gustavo Menezes consistently ran in the top three.

The revised version of the Peugeot has abandoned the equally-sized front and rear tyres in favour of the narrower fronts and wider rears run by the rest of the Hypercar field.

The rearward shift in weight distribution that has accompanied the new tyre dimensions has resulted in an overhaul of the aerodynamic concept and the addition of a conventional rear wing.

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BMW hails WEC progress but «too many mistakes» remain

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Andreas Roos, boss of BMW M Motorsport, believes the German manufacturer again “did some steps on pure pace”, even though a series of penalties for its two Hypercar entries prevented it from following up on the points-paying finishes of Qatar and Imola. 

“The pace was there to fight for position five, six, seven,” Roos told Motorsport.com after the two BMWs came home 11th and 13th in Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours.

“We did some good lap times and when you look at the screens our cars are fastest in the first sector and fastest in the last sector.”

The pace of the BMW LMDh contender over the fast sections of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is significant as the marque and its factory WRT team build towards the Le Mans 24 Hours blue riband round of the WEC next month. 

Sectors 1 and 2 at the Belgian circuit more accurately replicate the Circuit de la Sarthe than anywhere else on the WEC calendar. 

“When you see that we were able to be fifth in first qualifying, the speed is there to somehow fight for good results,” Roos said. 

“I would not say we are already there with the pace to win races, but on pure pace, we again did some steps.

“We have to put everything together and there were definitely too many mistakes and penalties.”

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

The #20 BMW LMDh shared by Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde was awarded two penalties early in the Spa 6 Hours. 

Rast received a drive-through for causing a collision when he and Jota Porsche driver Phil Hanson came together on the run from Malmedy to the Rivage/Bruxelles hairpin.

Frijns, meanwhile, was given a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage as a result of leaving the track while lapping an LMGT3 car. 

Roos questioned the decision against Rast. 

“Where should Rene go? There was nowhere he could go?” he asked.

Rast had got a better run than Hanson out of the Malmedy righthander after Les Combes and had moved out of the Porsche’s slipstream on the run to the hairpin when the Porsche driver jinked right as he attempted to move past the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 driven by Ahmad Al Harthy. 

The rear of the Porsche made contact with the left front of the BMW, sending Hanson into the M4 and the barriers. 

Roos said the incident led to a “double penalty” because as well as the drive-through the #46 WRT entry that Al Harthy shared with Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi retired as a result of the incident. 

The #20 Hypercar entry driven by Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann received a 30s stop-go after the first named engaged reverse gear after overshooting his pit stall. 

BMW scored a point on the WEC debut of the M Hybrid V8 in Qatar in March after the disqualification of the Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh and followed it up with sixth at Imola in April.

Fifth place for Rast in the initial round of qualifying was the best performance at that stage of the weekend by a BMW over the first three races this year, though the German ended up only 10th in the Hyperpole session that sets the first 10 places on the grid.

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Jani explains fix for bizarre Porsche door problem while leading WEC Spa race

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After taking over the race-leading car he shared with Julien Andlauer towards the end of the second hour, 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jani struggled to get the door shut as he rejoined the track.

This continued for several laps as he circulated slowly under the virtual and then full safety car before eventually Jani succeeded.

Speaking after a spirited drive to finish fifth, Jani said: «I don’t know what happened with that door, it was like the mechanism somehow it got stuck and the door wouldn’t close anymore.

«In the end, I figured out that I had to pull the pin, pull the door, let the pin go and then it closes. But I had to first push it in with my finger.»

Remarkably, it was not the first time the Swiss had experienced a door problem with a prototype in racing conditions. Jani believes he missed out on a podium at Le Mans in 2018 when driving Rebellion’s ORECA-built R-13 LMP1 due to a loose door.

On that ocassion, the team was not confident it could be shut if opened again, which forced him into driving the final three hours solo and incurred two penalties for exceeding stint lengths as a result.

Photo by: Paul Foster

Asked by Motorsport.com if the problem was something he would talk to Porsche about to prevent a future recurrence, he replied: «Yeah we have to look at it mechanically.

«It’s too early for me to say what the problem in the end was, but clearly there was an issue.

«I had the same issue in Le Mans with the Rebellion and we lost the podium.

«Okay, it was only between P3 and P4 with the Rebellions [with Toyota taking an unchallenged 1-2] but it happened to me already once and it can happen, it does happen.»

Jani joked that «I would have cried» if it had occurred under green due to the car’s strong pace at Spa, «because afterwards we pulled away, and we actually were like ‘okay, we’re back in the race here'».

Running third after being overtaken by the two factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars, Jani was coming under pressure from Earl Bamber’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh in the fifth hour when the Kiwi clipped Sean Gelael’s WRT BMW M4 GT3 on the Kemmel Straight to send both cars crashing heavily into the barriers.

Pitting shortly before the resultant red flag vaulted the winning #12 Jota and #6 Penske Porsche Motorsport Porsches into unassailable positions following the restart, while Andlauer produced several eye-catching moves at the Eau Rouge/Raidillon complex to recover fifth behind the Ferraris.

Without the red flag, Jani was confident that «the podium for sure was ours».

«Would we have won? I don’t know,» he said when asked if a victory was possible. «But for sure finished third, that is clear, it would have been between us and the Ferraris.

He later added: «In terms of pace, we would have deserved to win as well.»

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Lietz «had no idea» last-lap WEC Spa move was for LMGT3 victory

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Lietz revealed that he at first «had no idea» about the significance of his pass on team-mate Klaus Bachler into Les Combes, which secured victory for the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche he shared with Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring, as he had begun the final tour in third place.

Franck Perera’s Iron Lynx Lamborghini was forced to pit for fuel with just one lap to go, but crossed the start-finish line to commence the final lap temporarily still in the lead. That handed Bachler the advantage, but he too was low on energy and put up little resistance as Lietz loomed in his mirrors.

Asked if he was aware of the situation unfolding around him, four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class-winner Lietz replied: «Honestly I had no idea.»

Dutch 19-year-old Schuring had been just about to hand over to Lietz when the red flags were shown following a heavy accident involving Earl Bamber’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh and the WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael, for which the former has been given a five-place grid penalty for the next WEC round at Le Mans. 

When the race eventually resumed with 1hr44m on the clock, Schuring was forced to pit immediately after the restart, which initially appeared to have scuppered their prospects as Lietz rejoined ninth and deep in the pack.

He reflected that the team thought «we were fighting for nothing», but showed strong pace over a stint after applying knowledge learned in a recent test at Interlagos to rise through the order.

As others running low on energy came into the pits in the closing minutes, Lietz advanced into podium contention but was «surprised» to find himself in the mix for victory.

«The engineer said ‘okay, you’re P5 now, maybe we are fighting for a podium’,» he recounted. 

«And then suddenly it was like ‘okay, now this is the pass for the victory’ and I was like ‘okay, I didn’t get P3 or anything else’. 

«So from the driver point of view in the last stint I was surprised by the result.

«But I think that team-wise, and especially with these team-mates here, we deserved to be on the podium or fighting for the victory. 

«After the red flag taking the victory basically a second time in this race, I’m really happy.»

Lietz revealed that he initially thought Bachler «had a tyre issue» due to the success ballast on the championship-leading #92 car co-driven by Alexander Malykhin and Joel Sturm as he rapidly closed on his fellow Austrian.

«I had no information from the team, it was not really clear what happened,» he added. 

Bachler explained that he had little choice but to allow Lietz through due to his precarious energy situation.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he’d have fought the issue harder if it had been anyone other than a team-mate, he replied: «I could decide to stop or to take the P2. 

«For sure if it wouldn’t be the sister car, I would try it. 

«But I think I would have no chance, because we ran out of energy.»

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Jota’s victory in WEC Spa is «proof» of the 963 programme, says Porsche

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Urs Kuratle, director of the LMDh project at Porsche, explained that the win for British team’s 963 LMDh shared by Will Stevens and Callum Ilott and the performance of the Proton Competition entry driven by Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani provided validation of the decision to produce customer versions of car. 

“This is proof of the 963 and our decision to build cars for customers,” Kuratle told Motorsport.com after the race.

“It was really nice to see the performance of our customers here at Spa and at the end of the day, it is good for Porsche, good for the WEC and good for the sport.  

“It is also good for Porsche Penske Motorsport because this kind of showing from our customers gives a push to the factory team.”

Kuratle and Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach have consistently highlighted the extra workload involved in introducing customer cars in year one of the 963 in 2023 while stressing that it was one of the key tenets of the programme.

Porsche is so far the only manufacturer involved in the Hypercar class of the WEC and the sister GTP category in the IMSA SportsCar Championship to sell cars to be run by independent teams.

Kuratle conceded that the Proton car, which led more laps than the two factory 963s between them prior to the red flag that interrupted the Belgium WEC round, and the winning Jota entry had the edge on pace over the PPM cars on Saturday. 

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“Ferrari was number one today on performance, then it was probably the Cadillac and then our customers and then the PPM cars — that is good for Porsche,” he said.

The #12 Jota Porsche prevailed over the #6 factory car shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre in what was essentially a two-car race for victory after the race was restarted beyond the original scheduled finish time.

They gained an advantage on the rest of the Hypercar field because they had pitted just before the race stoppage resulting from the accident involving Earl Bamber in the Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R and Sean Gelael in the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 on the Kemmel Straight/

Kuratle conceded that Porsche had luck on its side given that the two factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars were running 1-2 at the time the red flag was shown. 

“We needed luck today because we didn’t have the pace of the Ferrari and we got it,” he explained. 

But he also pointed out that the race stoppage was also unfortunate for Proton, which ended up fifth behind the two Ferraris at the chequered flag.  

“Proton was amazing today but they had bad luck,” said Kuratle.

Porsche factory driver Andlauer expressed disappointment with fifth pace after the race. 

“We had everything we needed to have a good result, to at least finish on the podium,” said the Frenchman. 

“We have to be disappointed with the final result.”

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Ferrari protest into WEC Spa result rejected

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The Ferrari AF Corse team submitted a protest against the the stewards’ decisions declaring that the race would be restarted after the original time the event was scheduled to finish and the provisional results of the race.

It was ruled inadmissible under the FIA’s international sporting code because “a stewards decision cannot be the subject of a protest”, according to the bulletin confirming its rejection.

The two Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars were running 1-2 when the race was red-flagged after Earl Bamber’s Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh triggered a crash that sent the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 driven by Sean Gelael into the barriers on the outside of the Kemmel Straight.

The accident happened four hours and 13 minutes into the race but the repairs to the barriers were not finished in time to allow a restart before the scheduled 19:00 finish.

A decision was taken by the stewards to resume the race at 19:10 for a period of one hour and 44 minutes, the remaining time left on the clock minus the three minutes it took from the red flag being shown until the cars formed up on the grid in parc ferme conditions.

Ferrari ended up finishing third and fourth with its #50 and #51 factory entries after the winning #12 Jota Porsche 963 LMDh and the second-placed #6 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport gained time as a result of the red flag because they had pitted just before the stoppage.

Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sportscar racing boss, told Motorsport.com after the race: “I do not understand what happened — the clock was running and the decision to restart after the end of the six hours was very unexpected for me.

“Frankly speaking we were in a condition to win the race and I am not happy.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“My expectation was that we could maybe restart for some laps to finish the race, but not to restart completely for one hour and 44 minutes.”

The decision to resume the Spa 6 Hours was unusual if not unprecedented in the history of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012, but was allowed under the series sporting regulations.

They state: “If the circumstances so require the stewards may take the decision to stop and/or modify the race time set. This may not exceed the time of the competition [meaning six hours].”

An explainer sent out by the FIA in the wake of the race stated that the decision to complete the full duration of the Spa 6 Hours “ensured sporting fairness for the competitors, who set their strategies for a six-hour race”.

“Cutting the race session short would mean that some competitors would gain, and others would lose as a result.”

Bamber was penalised after the race for his part in the accident after tagging Gelael as well as the back of the Proton Competition Porsche 963 with Neel Jani at the wheel.

The Cadillac will have to take a five-place grid penalty on the New Zealander’s next appearance in the WEC, which means the Le Mans 24 Hours double-points round on 15/16 June.



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Jota Porsche claims maiden win in crash-delayed thriller

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Will Stevens and Callum Ilott secured the first customer car victory of the Hypercar era for Jota in a 1-2 for the Porsche 963 LMDh, finishing 12.363s ahead of the factory #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre.

Taking fuel shortly before the 1hr44m red flag, caused when Earl Bamber’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh clipped the WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael on the Kemmel Straight to fire both cars hard into the barriers, proved crucial in cycling the Porsches to the head of the pack and denying Ferrari a first victory since Le Mans last year. 

Lotterer had been running ahead of Callum Ilott before their stops in fifth and sixth position, the cars emerging in the reverse order. 

At that juncture, a 1-2 finish for the factory 499P Le Mans Hypercars had been on the cards with Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 car leading the sister #50 entry of Antonio Fuoco that started from the back of the Hypercar grid after losing all its times from qualifying for running underweight.

But the race was turned on its head by Bamber’s misjudgement as the Kiwi attempted a move for third on Neel Jani’s Proton Competition 963, which triggered a violent accident and a lengthy delay while the barriers were repaired.

Teams were permitted to change tyres on the grid for the safety car restart, but the leading #51 Ferrari was forced to take emergency service before pitting again after the return to green. 

With Ilott and Estre only needing one more stop in the remainder of the race, they could control proceedings once it went green but Estre was never in a position to challenge the all-British crew, driving as a duo with Norman Nato on Formula E duty in Berlin. 

Estre was forced to pit one lap sooner than Ilott, and a gamble on four tyres at his final stop was not enough to get him back on terms as the Jota car reeled off the laps. 

The emergency stop under the safety car at the restart meant the #50 car Fuoco shared with Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina completed the podium, while Pier Guidi fought back past Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH to finish fourth.

Kobayashi had emerged from the pits ahead of both Ferraris, but lost out to Fuoco on the approach to Les Combes and was outfoxed by Pier Guidi at the same spot later in the race.

Julien Andlauer completed a storming drive in the Proton Competition 963 that had led at half distance to finish fifth, passing Kobayashi at Eau Rouge in the car he shared with Neel Jani.

Kobayashi also crossed the line sixth, but a five-second time penalty for making contact with the Iron Dames Lamborghini at La Source demoted him behind the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.  

 

Porsche doubles up in LMGT3:

#91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

#91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

In the LMGT3 class, Manthey Racing delivered a remarkable 1-2 finish after the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan that led onto the final lap had to pit for fuel.

Franck Perera had been set for a fairytale maiden victory after hunting down Gregoire Saucy’s United Autosports McLaren, but didn’t have enough energy to complete the final tour without a splash-and-dash.

This cycled the lead to the PureRxcing Manthey Porsche that had been rebuilt after a heavy qualifying accident for Alexander Malykhin at Raidillon, but his co-driver Klaus Bachler was also struggling for energy.

As a result, he didn’t fight too hard as team-mate Richard Lietz in the Manthey EMA car loomed in his mirrors and the Austrian outbraked his compatriot into Les Combes before stroking home to a 1.298s victory.

Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin had been the leading crew before the red flag, and initially dropped deep into the pack when Schuring pitted at the restart to hand over to Lietz.

But the Porsche remained in the mix and steadily moved forwards as those who had taken fuel before the red flag ran low on energy.

Points leaders Bachler, Malykhin and Joel Sturm completed their improbable recovery to finish second ahead of Perera, Matteo Cressoni and Claudio Schiavone.

The Iron Dames Lamborghini qualified on pole by Sarah Bovy dominated the early phases of the race but had a 40s lead wiped out by a safety car triggered when the second Jota Porsche 963 of Phil Hanson was hit from behind by Rene Rast’s BMW M Hybrid V8 and clattered into Ahmad Al Harthy’s WRT BMW, also causing barrier damage.

The all-female car Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting still appeared a contender for victory and led following the restart, but a slow right-rear change at what proved to be the penultimate stop dropped Gatting behind Perera, before she too had to make a late splash while pressuring Bachler for second. 

The Dames ultimately placed fourth, ahead of the McLaren Saucy shared with James Cottingham and Nicolas Costa.

WEC Spa — Race results:



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Spa WEC race halted after accident involving Cadillac and BMW in hour five

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Bamber was pressuring Neel Jani’s Proton Porsche 963 LMDh for third place with a little under two hours remaining in the race when the pair came upon the battle for fourth in the LMGT3 class on the run to Les Combes.

With Jani delayed slightly behind Gelael’s WRT-run BMW M4 GT3 and the D’Station Aston Martin Vantage of Erwan Bastard, Bamber had a run on the Swiss rounding the Kemmel Straight’s right-hand kink.

But as he moved to the right in a bid to draw alongside Jani, he clipped the front of Gelael’s car and speared his own Chip Ganassi Racing V-Series.R LMDh hard into the barriers on the right-hand side of the road.

Bamber’s car became airborne before landing on its wheels, while Gelael made heavy contact with the barriers on the left-hand side.

Both drivers are understood to be okay. 

 

«It could have been a lot worse, I think I’m quite lucky here,» Gelael told the WEC’s live feed.

«I was just in the middle, the two guys were fighting in front and they misjudged and sometimes the misjudgement can lead to bigger things. I think everyone else sees.

«We were going to salvage something this weekend, anyways we didn’t, but hopefully for Le Mans, it’s the big one that I hope it doesn’t happen in Le Mans. Fingers crossed, full focus there.

«But it’s also an accident you shouldn’t take lightly. I understand these things happen and it’s part of racing, but it’s also something I think very avoidable.

«The respect given between categories and the respect between drivers; some people do it very well, and some people do it a bit less. Today was the worst part.»

WRT’s LMGT3 team manager Kurt Mollekens said: «It’s very unfortunate, one weekend is not the other. We were the heroes of the previous one, now we go back with zero points both cars, big crashes, a lot of work to do before Le Mans.

«We would have preferred to avoid it like everybody else would, but it is what it is.

Ferrari was leading the race at the time of the stoppage with its pair of factory-run 499P Le Mans Hypercars.

Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 entry was leading Antonio Fuoco in the #50 car that was disqualified from qualifying for running underweight and had been demoted to the back of the grid.

Both had overtaken the privateer Proton Porsche that had led in Jani’s hands at half-distance, despite a bizarre problem with his door-hatch.

Shortly after taking over the lead from Julien Andlauer under a virtual safety car, the Swiss spent several slow laps trying to close his reluctant door and was shown a black and orange flag before managing to pull it shut.

The clock continues to tick down as barriers are repaired on the Kemmel Straight. 

The Bamber-Gelael crash was the second major incident of the race, with the VSC triggered by BMW driver Rene Rast tagging the back of Phil Hanson’s Jota Porsche on the run to Bruxelles and spinning it into the path of Ahmad Al Harthy in the other WRT BMW GT3. 

Both Hanson and Al Harthy retired, while Rast’s car was ordered to serve a drive-through penalty.

Repairs to the armco barriers meant the race remained under caution for almost an hour before resuming.

The LMGT3 class is currently led by the Manthey EMA Porsche of Morris Schuring, who was shortly due to hand over to Richard Lietz.

#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Jenson Button, Philip Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen, crash

#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Jenson Button, Philip Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen, crash

Photo by: Paul Foster



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