Total 24 Hours of Spa “Target achieved following dramatic race”
Blancpain | 27.7.14 | Aktuálně
Blancpain European Series
Louis Machiels together with his teammates Niek Hommerson (NL), Andrea Bertolini (IT) and Marco Cioci (IT) were out to clinch a top result in the 2014 edition of the 24 Hours of Spa, the classic GT event in the Belgian Ardennes. The quartet manning the renowned AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 already appeared to be out of the running just after one hour into the race due to a puncture, but nothing could have been further from the truth. In their black muscle car they fought back from literally the 61st and last place through to first place in the Pro/Am class and sixth place overall at the finish. This is Louis Machiels’ second victory at Spa in three years, having earlier twice been champion in the Blancpain Endurance Series.
The race was definitely one for the annals. On a personal front for the Limburg based driver for the incredible climb back up through the pack, but the entire race in itself that was also filled with incidents, drama and nail biting tension through to the finish. Saturday evening was overshadowed by a series of accidents, whereby the race was temporarily brought to a standstill.
“Not something a driver readily wishes to experience, but finally everything came to a relatively reasonable ending”, Machiels commented on the race. “For us personally the race didn’t kick off as hoped for, because after an excellent start Marco suffered a puncture and lost one and a half laps. All those supporters following us on the screens could only find us back in 60th place in the rankings. We were obviously disappointed, but we sat down all together and as a team decided as from there and then to go back out and fight tooth and nail for every place and then see where we would come out.”
As the race progressed the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 systematically moved on up, and by midday they had grabbed first place in the intermediate rankings.
“As from that moment it became nail biting, because the other competitors did not let go and it became a close battle with an Aston Martin, a BMW Z4 and another Ferrari 458 from our team. Depending on the pitstop strategies we kept on changing positions up front and after the final pitstop the gap amounted to a mere half minute with the BMW. Half a minute after 24 hours of hard racing … that’s when you realise that it remained tense through to the finish.”
Louis Machiels took the last stint through to the finish: "I didn’t want to know what our advantage was over the BMW lying in second place, so that I could remain fully focussed on my own performance. But my thanks go out to the team and all my teammates, who all produced fabulous work. This feels really great following half a season of inactivity."
The entire AF Corse team were delighted with the result. “Amato Herrari and his team produced brilliant work. 1 and 3 in our class and the same result in the gentlemen drivers’ class… That says it all. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate fellow Limburg based driver Laurens Vanthoor for his overall victory in Spa. It looks as though Limburg is a true motorsport province!”
Meer info: http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/
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