AF Corse’s #21 driver Alessio Rovera secured LMGT3 victory at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s thrilling 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Ferrari secured a double victory across both the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories, following a marvellous drive with all Maranello machinery achieving a step onto their respective class podiums.
AF Corse’s #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 crew of Rovera and his teammates Simon Mann and Francois Heriau claimed the win after 137 laps of intense racing.
Proton Competition split the two Ferraris in second place, albeit at a small two-second margin, after Dennis Olsen and his #88 Ford Mustang LMGT3 co-drivers, Stefano Gattuso and Giammarco Levorato, completed the job.
The #54 AF Corse Ferrari crew of Davide Rigon rounded off the podium with his team-mates, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr.
Proton’s #77 Ford crew claimed fourth position after Ben Barker brought home a double top-five finish for the team along with his co-drivers Ben Tuck and Bernardo Soasa.
Heart of Racing took fifth position with the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo drivers Mattia Drudi, Zach Robichon and team principal Ian James.
The other Aston Martin, the #10 Racing Spirit of LeMan, finished behind them with Valentin Hasse Clot, Eduardo Barrichello and Derek Deboer.
Imola winners Manthey claimed seventh place with their #92 Porsche 911 LMGT3.R drivers Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick.
The pole-sitting Akkodis ASP #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 were unable to retain pole position in the end, as Finn Gehristz, Yuchi Nakayama and Arnold Robin finished eighth.
Team WRT’s #46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo trio of Kelvin van der Linde, Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy were ninth as the Iron Dames #85 Porsche rounded out the top-10 finishers, with Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Celia Martin.
Akkodis controls LMGT3 lead as WRT charges forward
At lights out, Robin in the pole-sitting #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus commanded the lead whilst Deboer in the #10 Racing Spirit of LeMan Aston Martin was unable to keep second position as he fell down to sixth position.
Both Proton Competition Ford Mustangs followed up one place for second and third place, whilst Al Harthy of the #46 WRT BMW conducted a strong start after he climbed from ninth to fifth.
Robin retained his lead for the course of his stint, but he had the #88 Proton Ford driver of Stefano Gattuso behind him, albeit at a gap increased to 10 seconds.
Al Harthy wrestled his way past the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Francois Heriau into fourth place.
The other #54 Ferrari, Flohr, made brief contact at the bus stop chicane with Manthey’s #92 Porsche 911 LMGT3.R driver, Ryan Harwick, which earned him 10 seconds added to his first pit stop.
Speaking of which Al Harthy jumped two cars during the pit stop sequence and thus gained the lead.
Despite the earlier contact, Hardwick soldiered on, fending off Heriau’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari for third place.
The #10 suffered more woes with a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release during that sequence, as Hardwick eventually turned up the pace for P2 on Gattuso’s #88 Ford and made a clean move into the bus-stop chicane.
WRT falls victim as first drama of the race
A virtual safety car deployed for Yasser Shahin’s stranded #31 WRT BMW. He ran wide onto the gravel after Turn 1 as a result of his broken steering having made contact with Flohr soon before at the bus stop. Simultaneously, the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus of Petru Umbrarescu stopped on the driver’s left side, towards the end of Kemmel Straight.
Most significantly, the leaders under the caution – Al Harthy and Hardwick – were under investigation for pit lane speeding, thus the #46 was later penalised with a drive-through penalty.
Even still, Al Harthy fought for eighth spot with Martin Berry’s #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3.
The Iron Dames Porsche was at the sharp end of the order, as Martin performed a great overtake on James’ #27 Aston Martin into the lead during the third racing hour.
Sean Gelael was at the centre of the next disruption after he, in the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo, was momentarily nudged off in side-by-side contact with Matteo Cairoli, of the #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, at Les Combes.
Proton splits AF Corse
The race resumed with 2 hours and 35 minutes remaining, with Tuck (#77 Ford) heading a Proton 1-2, especially after Levorato wrestled past Mann’s #21 Ferrari, which was ahead of Castellacci’s #54 Ferrari.
United’s other McLaren was also the centre of the next disruption when Sebastien Baud crashed at Bruxelles, although the #10 Aston of Barrichello squeezed the #59 McLaren onto the grass.
Despite this, the car, having entered the tyre barriers head-first, was recovered by marshals and continued on its way.
Pera led the restart from Olsen, Rossi, Rigon, and the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of WEC season debutant Lin Hodenius.
Ferrari AF Corse gained 1-2 formation during the penultimate hour, with the #21 AF Corse ahead of the #54 Ferrari.
Towards the end, Olsen played a key role keeping two seconds ahead of Rigon to withhold a Ferrari 1-2 finish.
Rovera pressed on despite his 20-second lead, which extended to 40 at the checkered flag.
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