24 Hours of Spa: The biggest GT race in the world 🎥
TV WEEKEND TIP Several Swiss drivers and Emil Frey Racing as a team are pinning their hopes on success at the Spa 24 Hours. The complete race can be seen on the Internet, the Hungarian GP on Sunday on SRF television.
It was thanks to Marcel Fässler's outstanding performance at the wheel of a Phoenix Racing Corvette that he and Geneva's Jean-Denis Delétraz secured the last Swiss overall victory to date in the 2007 rain race.
Three years earlier, privateers Enzo Calderari and Lilian Bryner scored their biggest individual success at this traditional event. They became the first Swiss to do so since Marc Surer in 1985 on BMW 635 CSi.
"Le Mans" of the GT3 sports cars
In the meantime, the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on the seven-kilometer GP circuit in the Belgian Ardennes has taken on a completely different significance. For years, many more manufacturers have been involved with factory-supported teams and factory drivers.
What Le Mans is for sports cars, this endurance race is exclusively for GT3 sports cars according to FIA regulations. They are divided into the Pro, Pro-Am, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories according to the classification of the respective drivers and their composition.
Of course, the overall victory, for which a good two dozen of the 66 cars are eligible under normal circumstances, is the most important. But the bar is also very high in the sub-rankings.
Nico Müller still lacks an overall victory
A total of 236 riders from 19 nations are lined up for the last official Start list. Switzerland is represented by several riders and a team with good prospects.
The best chances can be attributed to the #88 Mercedes team with Raffaele Marciello, the factory driver from Ticino. As in 2020 and 2021, "Lello" will start from pole position after the fastest Lamborghini was stripped of all its times due to a technical irregularity. However, the driver from southern Switzerland has never had luck on his side so far.
In Audi teams that are also factory-supported, Nico Müller (#46), Ricardo Feller (#66) and Lucas Légeret and Patric Niederhauser (#25), who are driving together, are hoping to make the most of their chances. For Müller's famous partner and MotoGP star Valentino Rossi, Spa is a premiere. The driver from Berne was already second overall with Audi in 2015 and third in 2016.
Italian Marco Mapelli (Lamborghini #6), who lives in Lugano, and German Marvin Kirchhöfer (McLaren #38), who has made Lucerne his home, will also be competing with Swiss licenses in the top Pro class, which is fought over by 23 teams.
More Swiss hope for class podium
Seven teams are fighting for a podium in the Pro-Am Cup, including Antonin Borga (in the only Bentley Continental, #107), factory driver Philip Ellis (Mercedes #75) and Niki Leutwiler (Porsche #24, lower gallery).
In the 15-car Gold Cup, Rahel Frey in the Ferrari 488 TG3 #83 of the Iron Dames wants to build on the sensational result at the WEC round in Monza, where they finished second in the GTE-Am class and were the first women's team ever to finish on the podium of a World Endurance Championship race (center gallery).
Karim Ojjeh (Audi R8 #10) and Julien Apothéloz (Porsche #91) also have podium ambitions in the Gold Cup, as do Mauro Calamia (Porsche #56), Dominik Fischli (Porsche #22) and Alain Valente (Mercedes #4) in the Silver Cup, which has a strong field of 19 cars.
Surely the 2022 edition can only get better for Emil Frey Racing with its three Lamborghini Huracán #14 (Silver), #19 (Pro) and #63 (Silver) (gallery below), after the Safenwil-based team had a disastrous race last year with two serious accidents and the third car out.
In full length on YouTube and on the Internet
On Thursday evening, as darkness fell, qualifying took place. The average time of each pair of drivers was taken into account. The fastest 20 teams qualified for the so-called Super Pole.
The start of the marathon will be at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday. Last year's runner-up WRT, which started from the back of the grid and missed out on victory by just four seconds, proved that the starting grid is not the decisive factor but good race speed.
Super pole and race can be viewed in full on GT World's YouTube channel at this Link and on the GT World Challenge Europe homepage under this Link can be followed. The livetiming is available at this Link.
Last GP before summer break
The fourth Grand Prix in July and at the same time the last before the four-week summer break of Formula 1 will take place on Sunday in Hungary. For Sebastian Vettel, a native of Thurgau by choice, who announced his retirement on Thursday, the Hungarian GP marks the start of his emotional farewell tour with Aston Martin Racing.
After his self-inflicted accident while leading the race at Le Castellet last Sunday, Charles Leclerc wants to redeem himself with Ferrari with a top performance. For the Scuderia, a success would be important in order not to lose touch with the clear WRC leader.
Hinwil-based Alfa Romeo Sauber is also hoping to end a three-race pointless streak to remain ahead of Haas, Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin and Williams in the World Championship standings.
With Oliver Sittler and Marc Surer as commentators, Swiss television will report from qualifying on Saturday on SRF two from 3.55 to 5.15 p.m. and on Sunday on the same channel from 2.20 p.m. from the twelfth round of the 2022 World Championship.
(Photos from qualifying 24 Hours of Spa: DPPI)
gt-world-challenge-europe.com/event/189/total-24-hours-of-spa
