The Ferrari 458 Italia
GT3 made its debut in the famous Spa 24 Hours endurance
race over the weekend and after a very strong race, with
no less than seven of the new GT3 category sports cars
from Maranello taking the start, two of the survivors
finished inside the top six.
The Spa 24 Hours, this
year was the third round of the Blancpain Endurance
Series; the legendary race somewhat downgraded in terms
of machinery now as it
was reserved this year for GT3 class racing cars. The historic endurance
race runs over a seven kilometre course which winds its
way through the Ardennes forest in Belgium and there
were over sixty entrants for this edition.
Matteo Bobbi,
Frank Kechele and Giacamo Petrobelli delivered the best
performance of the seven new Maranello sports cars they took fifth
overall at the wheel of the #29 Vita4One 458 Italia GT3,
crossing the finish line ahead of the #20 Sofrev
Autosport Promotion Ferrari, crewed by
Ludovic Badey, Franck
Morel, Guliaume Moreau and Jean-Luc Beaubelique, who, as
well as claiming sixth place overall, took the top spot
in the PAM category.
Third spot in the PAM category, and ninth overall, went
to the 458 Italia GT3 entered by AF Corse and crewed by
Jack Gerber, Matt Griffin, Nicola Cadei and Marco Cioci,
who finished on the podium at the end of one of the
toughest endurance races in the world. The crew also
secured the honour of the fastest race lap among all the
Ferraris entered, stopping the clocks in 2.21.448.
The other AF Corse car, the #51, was less fortunate, in
the hands of Oliver Pla, Julien Jousse and Patrice
Goueslard, as they had to retire on lap 69, after around
3 hours and 40 minutes of racing. Also out, in the
nineteenth hour, were the two other 458 Italia GT3s of
Vita4One (Michael Bartels/Andrea Bertolini/Nick
Hommerson/Louis Machiels) and Sofrev Autosport Promotion
(Oliver Pla/Julien Jousse/Patrice Goueslard). The race
was won by (Matthias
Ekström/Greg Franchi/Timo Scheider (Audi R8 LMS GT3) who
covered 545 laps in 24 hours, fiinishing two laps ahead
of Dirk Werner/Edward Sandström/Claudia Hürtgen (BMW Z4
GT3). The final podium slot went to Kenneth Heyer/Thomas
Jäger/Stéphane Lemeret (Mercedes SLS AMG GT3) who
completed 535 laps.
The next round of the Blancpain Endurance Series takes
place on 27 August at the Magny Cours circuit, this time
for a slightly less demanding three hours.
