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Two
battle scarred Maserati MC12s ended up in the
top four of the Spa 24 Hours at the chequered
flag yesterday but the trio of Vitaphone
Racing-run Trident cars missed out on grabbing
victory after an action-packed race.
The
MC12 #33 driven by Pier Guidi, Lemeret, Vosse
and Rosenblad crossed the finsih line in second place, while
Bartels, Bertolini, Sarrazin and Negraõ got fourth
place. The race was
ultimately won by the Corvette Z06
driven by Hezemans, Kumpen, Menten
and Mollekens.
This result does confirms the Modenese
cars’ good relationship with
the classic Belgian racetrack and once again
demonstrates the MC12's great
reliability and ability to overcome
tough setbacks.
The race, which had
started out with all three Vitaphone
Racing Team’s cars in front, was
conditioned by quite unstable
weather conditions, with violent
downpours during the first few hours
and during the night.
It was a rather unfortunate race for
the Modenese cars, which had been
great protagonists at every stage of
the race up to at least the
eighteenth hour.
The
battle for the overall win raged right from the
start many hours; with the three Vitaphone
Maserati MC 12 cars battling the three
Corvettes. First to falter was the #8 Sangari
Team Brazil Corvette, which destroyed itself
against the tyre wall at Raidillon in the fourth
hour; then, a heavy rain shower seemed to shift
the balance in favour of Vitaphone Racing Team.
The first misfortune for the MC12s
on the 186th lap, just past
midnight. Andrea Bertolini, at the
wheel of the #1, slid on an oil
slick in Pouhon and violently struck
the barriers in Fagnes. The Italian
driver, who had been in second
position up to then, was unscathed,
but the MC12 was heavily damaged.
Repaired by mechanics in
approximately two hours, the
provisional rank leader was able to
get back to the track but without
hopes of winning due to loss of
leading position. The accident
necessitated also an hour-long safety car period
as the crash barriers were repaired.
Much to the team’s chagrin, the
Vitaphone pit became once again the
focus point a few laps later when it
became necessary to fix the #33 MC12
driven by Pier Guidi whose front end
was damaged while lapping a backmarker. The
MC12 #1's inheritance was
meanwhile taken up by Maserati #2
and Alex Müller, Pedro Lamy and Eric Van
de Poele were involved in a
thrilling contention with Corvettes
#33 and #4, managing to overcome
them and leading the group near the
twelfth hour.
The following six hours featured
heated contention between these
three GT1 cars with the MC12 of Lamy firmly in
command as of lap 328 and driving in
first position both at the start of
the 15th and the 18th hour, while
all this time the MC12 #33
regained fourth position and car #1, then driven by Sarrazin, was
making time in line with the
leaders, despite being behind by
over sixty laps.
Nevertheless, Maserati's hopes of
victory were dashed during the 419th
lap. Müller at the
time behind the wheel of the #2 saw
his back right rim
explod, irreparably damaging the
back of the car and forcing the
German driver to stop the car alongside
the track. It was a rather unusual,
unforeseen incident.
A few hours later, after
the #3 Corvette's pit stop which immediately
seemed quite a long stop meant the
possibility of the #33 ending at the podium and
the #1 getting a chance at earning
another position useful for the
championship, all kept the Vitaphone
Racing Team’s tension high. The
tension eased only upon the
appearance of the chequered flag which marked the second place for
Pier Guidi, Lemeret, Vosse and Rosenblad
and the fourth place for
Bartels, Bertolini, Sarrazin and Negraõ.
Ranking sixth despite its
unfortunate setback,
Ramos, Müller, Van De Poele and Lamy’s
MC12—as well as the reigning
world champion duo—take home
precious points for the
championship, which will resume in
Budapest, Hungary, on 30 August. With
two consecutive wins, Hezemans and Kumpen now
have a slender one-point lead over Maserati’s
Bartels and Bertolini going into the second half
of the season. The Maserati Vitaphone Racing
Team still retains its healthy lead in the Teams
classification.
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