- AMG-Mercedes hedge bets and win big
- Landmark result for Valentino Rossi slips away
- 24 Hours of Spa | The rest of the Top 10
The #88 AKKODIS-ASP AMG-Mercedes of Raffaele Marciello, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella has held out for a terrific 2022 24 Hours of Spa victory, while Valentino Rossi successfully reached the chequered flag in his first round-the-clock race in 17th.
Mercedes’ first 24 Hours of Spa win since 2013 and maiden success in Belgium for all three drivers, the German firm – which is involved with its GT World Challenge Europe contenders in a supported customer capacity – celebrated a 1-2 result with the #2 GetSpeed car.
The #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari fended off a fast-approaching #55 GruppeM Mercedes on the run to the flag to complete the podium and deny Mercedes a 1-2-3 lockout.
Rossi’s 24 hour inauguration, meanwhile, enjoyed its positive highlights with the Italian running as high as fourth after benefitting from a good strategy call three hours into the race.
However, after issues as the race progressed took the momentum out of its unlikely podium hopes, the VR46 trio of Rossi, Nico Muller and Frederic Vervisch focused on reaching the flag, with the MotoGP legend getting the honour of doing exactly that in 17th.
AMG-Mercedes hedge bets and win big
In a race unusually unaffected by any weather changes and enduring just a single red flag period, it was thus left to the performance and durability of the drivers, teams and cars to make the difference in an endurance event that ebbed and flowed throughout the 24 hours.
It meant that several high-profile PRO entries remained well in the hunt for the win deep into the race, making it difficult to commit to a predicted winner until the closing stages.
Even so, by stitching together the fortunes of the different teams over the course of the race, it was the #88 AKKODIS-ASP AMG-Mercedes that ultimately prevailed by maintaining its consistency and rarely dipping outside the top six throughout.
Indeed, AMG-Mercedes – compared with its rivals – benefitted from strength in numbers with all three of its entries largely keeping out of trouble and avoiding technical issues, a feat reflected in its 1-2-4 result.
Then again, it did benefit from some remarkable luck with less than 2 hours to go when its two closest rivals on track suffered separate problems within seconds of one another.
Iron Lynx scuppered its victory hopes by losing 20secs in the pit-lane when stacked its Ferraris in the wrong order during a crucial stop, but in a race that saw its fortunes fluctuate throughout, it was a strong finish for Antonio Fuoco, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon.
Indeed, they were certainly luckier than #98 ROWE BMW M4 trio, Nick Yelloly, Nicky Catsburg and Augusto Farfus, who suffered late heartache having emerged as race day’s surprise package.
A trio that hadn’t even scored a point this season coming to Belgium, the BMW trio sprung to prominence towards the end of the first-quarter thanks to some advantageous full-course yellow periods but once there proved hard to shift.
Topping the leaderboard at both the 6-hour and 12-hour mark – thus earning the entry an extra 12 points for each – while the AKKODIS Mercedes looked to have the edge in the closing stages, a determined Yelloly was still within five seconds of the lead when he suffered a puncture.
Losing 50secs as he toured back to the pit-lane, it ruled the trio out of victory contention but would come home in sixth place, just behind the sister #50 ROWE BMW of Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen, which came on strong in the latter stages for fifth.
Not that it was all plain-sailing for the winning AKKODIS-ASP car though, the team getting away with being spun by a sister Silver Cup Mercedes at the Bus Stop late on, before surviving a trip across the gravel trap with 2h 30mins to go when Stolz’s aggressive defence of the lead almost escalated.
However, with Marciello anchoring the car’s success with excellent pace during his final stint, in retrospect it was a win that could have been predicted hours earlier.
Landmark result for Valentino Rossi slips away
While Rossi successfully achieved his target of reaching the flag of his first 24-hour car race, there will be some thoughts of ‘what could have been’ all the same following a startling turnaround in fortunes four hours into the race.
Starting down in 25th, it wasn’t a strong opening for the #46 WRT Audi as it got caught up in the busy mid-pack.
However, after Rossi stepped in to begin his first stint, three full-course yellow and safety car periods paved the way for a switch in strategy that played into the team’s hands, launching it up the order to fourth place at one stage.
It was a position it would hold for some time too, though it had dropped outside the top ten by the 6-hour mark. From here, the team’s fortunes began to turn with Rossi suffering a spin as he got to grips with racing at night-time, the Italian getting beached and needing recovery to cost him a chunk of time.
The VR46 trio’s fate was sealed around the 16 hour mark when Muller couldn’t react to an issue up ahead and struck the back of the #32 Audi. Impacting the sister car hard enough that it had to retire, Muller nursed the VR46 car back to the pits for repairs before rejoining again.
From here there were no more issues, with Rossi jumping back in the car for the final stint to have the honour of bringing the car to the flag in 17th.
24 Hours of Spa | The rest of the Top 10
Outside the top six, the #47 KCMG Porsche produced a superb fight back from the rear of the field to cross the line in sixth, albeit demoted to seventh by a time penalty after the flag.
Spearheaded by brilliant stints in the hands of Nick Tandy, such was his Laurens Vanthoor and Dennis Olsen’s relentless surge up the order that took it all the way into the lead with 10 hours to go, where it would remain for some time.
However, it’s alternative strategy – necessary to get back into contention – left it vulnerable in the closing stages, prompting another change that didn’t play out as expected, leaving KCMG seventh as the best of the Porsche contingent.
While it has plenty of experience in 24-hour competitions, multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Jota Sport weren’t considered a threat in this race courtesy of its pretty but unproven McLaren 702S package.
However, staying out of trouble allowed it to steadily ascend the order as others hit problems ahead, Jota getting as high as third at one stage, only to drop to eighth – the last of the lead lap contenders – towards the end when its hope of a late safety car didn’t materialise.
Iron Lynx made it two cars inside the top ten with the #51 car holding onto ninth, ahead of the #95 Beechdean Aston Martin, which looked in contention for victory at one stage after its own understated rise up the order during the second-half of the race.
However, after Nicki Thiim lost out in a game of ‘chicken’ with Gounon at Eau Rouge – with light contact between the pair sending the Aston into a leery, barrier-free double spin – the out-of-sequence stop dropped it out of contention with two hours to go.