Part 2 of our Spa 6 hours preview, this time with both GTE classes.
GTE Pro
AF Corse returns with
both Ferrari 488 GTE's to Belgium. After dominating the GTE field in
Silverstone last month, both prancing horses are favourite for the
race in the Ardennes this weekend. The #71 of Sam Bird and Davide
Rigon was all over the place last month, leaping away from the
competition with ease. The #51 showed the raw pace of the new 488 GTE
while storming through the field after starting at the back of the
grid and a 3 minute stop & go.
Chip Ganassi's Ford
Racing Team also headed to Motorland Aragon in Spain after the
Silverstone race for a vital endurance test ahead of Le Mans. WEC
team principal George Howard-Chappel said the objective of the test
was to test the Ford GT to its limit in an endurance run. Ford has
completed a run that was comfortably longer than the Le Mans 24
Hours, giving them great confidence in the car. Last weekend, the
Ford GT took its maiden victory in the WeatherTech Championship at
Laguna Seca. After a very promising race at Silverstone, the European
team will be eager to climb onto the podium on Saturday evening.
Porsche didn't really have things going their way in Silverstone. The
#77 Dempsey-Proton Racing 911 RSR not being able to make it to the
finish due to a technical gremlin. Throughout the weekend, they did
show some good pace, if they don't have any problems this time, they
might be able to stay close to the Ferrari's.
Aston Martin won at Spa
last year in the #99 of Fernando Rees, Alex McDowall and Richie
Stanaway. Jonny Adam will join Rees & McDowall again in Spa,
after missing the Silverstone race due to the calender clash with the
British GT race. In Silverstone, the #95 AMR came in third, after
losing second place to the charging Ferrari #51 by the end of the
race. The team is still adopting to the new Dunlop rubber, so Spa
will be a good test for Le Mans.
GTE Am
As in the GTE-Pro
category, AF Corse arrives at Spa with the first win of the season
under their belt. The #83 Ferrari 458 Italia of François Perrodo,
Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas took the win at Silverstone. No doubt
that they will want to do that all over again this weekend.
Patrick Long will take
his seat back in the #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing after missing
Silverstone due to other racing commitments in the USA. After some
technical glitches for both the #88 and the #78 KCMG three weeks ago,
both teams will want to bounce back and show the potential of their
cars again.
Good news from Gulf UK
Racing as their Porsche has been rebuilt after the crash with Hartley
in the 919 Hybrid. Wainwright, Carrol & Barker had a promising
start in the WEC at Silverstone, let's hope they ar more fortunate in
Spa.
Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro
Lamy and Matthias Lauda took away the win in Spa last year. Their #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage looked very strong at Silverstone, so they might be in contention for
the win again here.
Last but not least it's the #50 Larbre
Competition Corvette C7R, who had a strong start of the season with a
third place on the podium. The long straights at Spa will help the
C7R to use all of its power again. GTE-Am will be a class to watch
with some fierce battles during the race !
Kristof Vermeulen.
