Audi score dominant Spa 24 Hours triumph

The WRT Audi continued the German marque’s fine sportscar campaign with victory in Sunday’s Spa 24 Hours.

The factory-supported #33 machine was dominant, leading for a total of 13 hours with Audi DTM racers Mattias Ekstrom and Timo Scheider and Belgian-born Greg Franchi sharing the work at the wheel. The #99 Phoenix-run Audi had lead much of the first half of the race before Christopher Haase crashed out and handed the lead to the #33.

“These guys did an awesome job,” said Scheider of the WRT outfit, “starting from the kitchen, to the tyre guys to the mechanics and the engineers. We made no mistakes and the Audi R8 LMS lasted till the end which is the key to why we are sitting here today.”

The Audi finished two laps clear of its nearest challenger, the Team Schubert-run BMW Z4 of Edward Sandström, Dirk Werner and Claudia Hürtgen. A further eight laps back the #35 Black Falcon (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG) of Kenneth Heyer, Thomas Jäger and Stéphane Lemeret completed the podium.

The #20 SOFREV ASP Ferrari of Franck Morel, Jean-Luc Beaubelique, Ludovic Badey and Guillaume Moreau triumphed in the PRO-AM class, finishing a strong sixth overall to beat their nearest competitors – the #20 Team Preci Spark entry – by a lap. The GENT class was won by the #19 Level Racing machine.

Meanwhile the much-talked about CRS Racing-run McLaren GT outfit saw only one of its MP4-12Cs take the chequered flag, with its PRO-AM entry taking 25th overall. The pro cars both dropped out, with the #59’s impressive looking combination of Oliver Turvey and Alvaro Parente not getting a chance behind the wheel as Andrew Kirkaldy crashed in to retirement after just two laps. The #58 machine lasted 88 laps before it too exited proceedings.

Watch Spa 24 Hours highlights on Motors TV


James Weeks