Spa Francorchamps Proximus 05/08/2001   The 24 Hours Part 7   © Janos Wimpffen Hour 17-19 Tassin continues to make the most of his local knowledge of the circuit, the weather, and the Dutch team’s trick sequential gearbox. The GT-Eins.com crew notes that the gearbox was the only good thing to come out of Toine Hezemans’ failed Bitter marque of a few years back. The GL PK Viper is back in with gearbox problems and returns after a long stop. It is no longer in contention. Neither is the no. 26 Silver Racing Viper that is basically at its limit. They can’t realistically expect a podium spot. The no. 12 Belmondo car has had a penalty while the sister no. 11 car is still technically being shown in the results although it has been stationary and somewhat dismantled for hours. The no. 96 Lamborghini has already begun a careful cruise to the finish. They have taken time to repair the hand clutch on the car in order to allow van Schevensteen to complete his stints. The no. 98 Lotus is the slowest car on the track. It is the 1999 Belcar series basic Elise. It is a near standard version of the car. They have suffered a steering failure from a shunt. The team is enjoying this rainy interlude as it allows them to catch up to the Porsches. The no. 91 Lotus remains the quicker of the two. They have been delayed by a silly problem when a piece of the clutch disc broke off and became lodged in the gearbox. After much troubleshooting they properly diagnosed it but wasted considerable time. Class standings at 0900 (17:00 ET) GT; 3 – 7 (-41 s) – 17 (-3 laps) N-GT; 77 - 57 (-6 laps) – 55 (-7 laps) Cat. 2; 78 – 87 (-26 laps) – 84 (-30 laps) Cat. 3; 95 – 94 (-5 laps) – 96 (-50 laps) The gap between the Carsport Viper and the Larbre Viper grew to the low 40s before stabilizing. It begins to shrink and then reverses itself when the Carsport car pulls in for slicks and a switch to Jeroen Bleekemolen — a risky move, to the tires that is. The rain has eased but it is far from dry. The Larbre car remains out on wets while the 5th place Belmondo car (Clerico, no. 12) has gone to intermediates. Belloc has taken over no. 7 and Bourdais no. 17. The JMB Ferrari has a slight pit fire after arriving with lots of grass underneath. It returns to the circuit a short while later. The RWS 996 continues to have overheating problems. The Cat. 3 leading Lamborghini glides very slowly down from Blanchimont, barely crawling into the pit entrance. The Gammon Megaspeed is doing well after its nighttime adventures. It was Gunnar Jeannette that had the little “off.” Luckily he came to rest in a precarious spot in the gravel and had to be pushed to solid ground, allowing him to rejoin. Kenji Iwagoe has been turning in wet times equivalent to his dry ones. The team is hoping to make it onto the top page of the scoring monitors, i.e., 16th from their present 20th overall. The Porsche 911 GT2 of the Ice Pol Team has been slowing. The Perrier Porsche has gone into the barriers at Poste 11, the exit of the Brussels turn up on the ridge. It is stranded there for a while before extricating itself and returning for quick repairs. Intermediates-wets-intermediates-and now slicks, that has been the pattern of tires for the two Larbre cars. The no. 7 car has been able to pull out a substantial lead because or in spite of these tactics, yet now the team is preparing slicks. However, Duez, planning to take over, insists upon intermediates. One would think that is a wise decision since the move to slicks has proven a poor choice for Carsport Holland. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport