24h Spa: Podium for two Swiss drivers
WIN FOR BMW, PLACE 3 FOR SCHMIDT The BMW customer teams Walkenhorst and Rowe ensured a double victory for the Munich brand at the 70th 24 Hours of Spa. Jeffrey Schmidt climbed onto the podium in third place overall, Adrian Amstutz as the winner of the Am category. Only in the first hours did the cars entered by Swiss teams or with Swiss drivers [...]
Only in the first few hours were the GT3 sports cars fielded by Swiss teams or with Swiss drivers able to have a say in the overall victory. Immediately after the start, René Rast in the Audi R8 LMS later driven by Nico Müller took the lead from pole sitter Maxime Martin in the Aston Martin Vantage V12 from R-Motorsport.
With strong competition from 13 different brands, there was initially no dominant brand. Accordingly, the positions within the leading group changed frequently, also due to different refueling strategies and the frequent yellow or safety car phases.
No strategic luck for Nico Müller
Due to their speed in qualifying, all the Audi cars were given a short-term weight handicap of 15 kg before the start. This ultimately made itself felt in the performance over the distance.
Nico Müller: "We can still be very fast over a lap. But in traffic we have a hard time overtaking opponents or lapped cars."
During the night, the car of the three DTM drivers fell out of the immediate running for overall victory. The team had to complete the five-minute mandatory technical pit stop under green flag conditions, while others - such as the later winning BMW M6s - benefited from yellow phases.
At no pit stop was the number 2 car able to take advantage of the fact that the field was following the safety car at a slow pace and thus less time was lost during a stop. In addition, there was a pit drive-through penalty due to a collision with a Mercedes that was the driver's fault.
In the end, Rast/Müller/Frijns finished eighth.
Nico Müller: "Strategically, we didn't have luck on our side. From the second half of the race on, we had no more performance. We still have to analyze the reason. We were no longer at the level that would have allowed us to make up ground to the front. More than eighth place was no longer possible."
Early exit for Marcel Fässler
At least the man from Berne saw the chequered flag, unlike his four Swiss Audi colleagues. Marcel Fässler's car, also fielded by the Belgian team WRT, retired after just four hours (wheel lost after mistake during pit stop), whereupon the man from Schwyz was able to indulge in socializing with friends from his fan club in the balmy night...
Philipp Frommenwiler and Nikolaj Rogivue retired with the Aust Motorsport Audi R8 in the 18th hour due to an accident among three cars.
Double victory for BMW, happy ending for Jeffrey Schmidt
With the Austrian Philip Eng and the Swede Tom Blomqvist, their DTM colleagues involved in the northern German private team Walkenhorst Motorsport clinched overall victory, supported by the Norwegian Christian Krognes.
Second place went to Rowe Racing, the winning team from 2016 that also had VLN experience. The slightly less warm temperatures than on the heat days in qualifying benefited the BMW turbo engines.
Third place was decided between the Audi teams Saintéloc (last year's winners) and Montaplast by Land Motorsport in the final phase. The slightly better fuel strategy and the speed of the two South Africans Kelvin and Sheldon Van der Linde gave the Land Audi the upper hand.
To his chagrin, Jeffrey Schmidt from Basel was used much less than the two fast brothers, but not undeservedly took his place on the overall winners' podium in third place.
Respectable success for Aston Martin St. Gallen
The two Vantage V12 GT3s of Aston Martin St. Gallen and R-Motorsport, respectively, suffered several punctures and had to carry out unscheduled brake disc changes. In addition, the car that started from pole position lost further time due to a fuel tank problem, because of contact with a slower car and because of a change of the rear shock absorbers.
With ninth place overall by the second trio Thiim/Vaxivière/Dennis, who started from the back row, the Swiss team nevertheless achieved a respectable success at its debut in Spa.
Serious accident for Emil Frey Racing
Emil Frey Racing experienced the worst moments in such a race when Stéphane Ortelli crashed his Lexus badly after eight and a half hours and had to be transported to hospital. From there, team boss Lorenz Frey, who had traveled there anxiously, was soon able to give the all-clear that the Monegasque had not sustained any serious injuries.
The reason for the accident can only be determined after returning to Safenwil on the basis of the vehicle data read out and the autopsy of the wreck.
An even more serious accident with two seriously injured pilots - almost at the same spot in the notorious Eau Rouge dip - had even led to a two-hour race interruption shortly afterwards at 3 o'clock. However, the clock continued to run.
The second Lexus finished in a good 14th position, the Jaguar with the Swiss Alex Fontana and Adrian Zaugg and Mikael Grenier from Canada in 28th. However, this still only resulted in fourth place in the Silver Cup.
An unfavorable classification of the big cat for Spa and engine problems prevented such a good result as in the previous races.
Class victory for Adrian Amstutz from Lucerne
Of all the Swiss drivers who started, only Gentleman Driver Adrian Amstutz in a Lamborghini Huracan experienced a race that went practically according to plan. The owner of a company for chemical-technical products in Eschenbach LU led the Am class with his three partners from the third hour.
Their plan to start defensively from third place on the grid and deliver a flawless race was a complete success. The reward was a superior class win.
Besides Jeffrey Schmidt, the Lucerne native was thus the only Swiss to travel home from the Belgian anniversary race with a nice trophy.
