Spa Francorchamps Proximus 05/08/2001   The 24 Hours Part 2   © Janos Wimpffen The second hour began with a brief yellow to extract the Lamborghini. It turned out to have been Larrousse behind the wheel, not Kremer! Within 20 minutes the circuit completely dried and the Carsport Holland cars both went through a second cycle of stops. This left Clerico out in front, but he’s on some form of wet tires as the gap to second place is rapidly diminishing as the slick shod Freisinger N-GT car of Ortelli (N-GT second overall!) closes in. The no. 11 Belmondo returned after a 43-minute stop but a few laps later pits again with yet more gearbox woes. The Speedster is suffering from a mysterious loss of power. The FOREM Lotus has had an alternator problem. The no. 93 Diablo damaged its rear tray in the accident. A story of inspiration is that of Arnaud van Schevensteen (no. 96 Lamborghini). He lost a leg to cancer and has returned to race with his Diablo. It uses a specially adapted steering wheel mounted clutch. A separate system is in the car for the two-legged drivers. In 1999 he finished the 24 Hours with AD Sport’s BMW 320i. Another noteworthy Belgian here is defending Belcar champion Bert Longin in the GL PK Racing Viper (no. 21). His team’s strategy is to lap steadily at 2:30 / 31 and not worry about position. This may gain them 2-3 stops over the 24 hours. They are shooting for a top 5 finish. At 15:45 (1:45 elapsed time) Ortelli pits, relinquishing a fine second place overall. Ortelli remained out as long as possible, enjoying good handling in the rain and only stopping when the tires got tricky in the dry. Andrea Chiesa has taken over. Vosse is now in the lead car. When the track went dry, the team for some unknown reason switched from wets to the old slicks on which they had started the race. As a result they will have to pit again in a few laps to take on real new rubber. Tassin was rapidly closing in on Vosse, but the second place Carsport Holland Viper pitted first, allowing Vosse some breathing room. At the moment Eric van de Poele’s Ferrari is the quickest car on the circuit. The Vertigo is suffering not from vertigo but from steering problems, nearly collecting a couple of Vipers while finding this out. The no. 94 Land Motorsport Porsche chews up some land in a lurid but harmless spin. Marino Franchitti has the right rear tire explode on the DD Racing Porsche and has pulled off at the Bus Stop. Marino digs into his pocket for coins, ready to flag down the 18:04 local coach to Spa. He has second thoughts and nurses the car back to the pits. The no. 11 Belmondo returns to the circuit, vying for last with the Speedster. The GL PK Viper collides with two Porsches at Poste 16, down in the valley below Blanchimont. All continue. One of the Porsches was the no. 84 Ecurie Bruxelloise entry that spins a second time. The Gammon Megaspeed Porsche is running well and up to 15th overall. At 18:13 both Vosse and the second place Viper of the Bleekemolens stop (Sebastiaan hands over to his dad, Michael). This puts the Ferrari into the lead of the Spa 24 Hours for the first time since 1953. The Dutch Viper returns quickly, only taking on fuel, with Tassin chasing down van de Poele and catching him on the run down from Blanchimont. Eric Helary (in for Vosse) has had a long stop, taking on tires and starts the stint from sixth place. Mollekens stops after an excellent run that brought the PSI Porsche turbo well into the top ten. He hands over to Stephane Cohen. The no. 91 Elise has been running well, especially in the rain. Van de Wauwer has complained about being balked by some Porsches. At 18:45 the Ferrari makes its stop, leaving it a Carsport Holland 1-2. The Larbre car is up to third place, nearly a lap down. Next up is the best of the Belmondo trio (no. 12), then the Ferrari and the Art Engineering, N-GT class leading, Porsche. The Seikel Porsche is not in 10th overall—first in Cat. 2. It is increasingly cloudy with some light rain on the back portions. Vanina Ickx, the only woman in the race, steps aboard the no. 58 Freisinger Porsche for her first stint. A new alternator has been installed on the no. 91 Lotus and it is running well. Just short of the three hour mark (a full FIA GT sprint length) and there has not been a single retirement. Thierry Tassin shows that he has lost none of his form nor any of his local knowledge as he sets fast lap (2:24.583). He is aiming for his record fifth win in the Spa 24 H. Tassin has remained sharp through the years while the other four-time winner, J-M Martin has only raced sporadically. At 19 o’clock the skies are rather sunny, although the shadows are lengthening. The Carsport 1-2 is perhaps less of a surprise at this point than is the good showing of the Ferrari and the surprising poor run of the Belmondo and Larbre squads. The N-GT contest is aback to a 22 second gap between the no. 57 Freisinger car and the Art Engineering Porsche, in which Babini is attempting to win back-to-back 24 Hours class victories, following Le Mans. While the Rafanelli Ferrari is doing well, the N-GT class version of JMB is faltering. They are finding it difficult re-starting after pit calls. The moral of the race thus far is that one does not need Prototypes for good sports car racing. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport