Spa-Francorchamps, 05 May, 2012

The second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship took place at the demanding Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Belgian Ardennes on Saturday 05 May. Despite predominantly inclement weather, as might be expected at Spa, with rain falling right up to the formation of the cars on the grid, there was a good size crowd who braved the wet weather and cool temperatures, which was estimated at around 31,000 people. There was a 42 car entry, and the main protagonists were a quartet of the new 2012 Audis, with two R18 Ultras and two R18 e-tron quattros, which locked out the front two rows of the starting grid in qualifying. The race also saw the debut of the Pescarolo Team’s new Dome S102.5-Judd, which was driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Nicolas Minassian. The field was reduced to 41 cars when the # 61 AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari crashed heavily in the Saturday morning warm-up session, and couldn’t be repaired in time for the race.

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The qualifying sessions on Friday afternoon were held in dry conditions, and in the LMP1 category it was the # 2 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro of Capello/Kristensen/McNish that claimed pole position with a time of 2mins 01.579secs, just ahead of the # 4 Audi R18 Ultra of Bonanomi/Jarvis, which in turn was less than 2/10sec ahead of the # 1 R18 e-tron Quattro Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer. The quickest of the petrol engine runners was the # 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60-Toyota of Prost/Jani/Heidfeld, nearly 3secs off the pole position time, with the # 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03a-Honda of Leventis/Watts/Kane next up. The LMP2 class pole position was won by the # 25 ADR-Delta Oreca 03-Nissan of Martin/Kerr/Graves. In the LMGTE Pro class it was the # 59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 of Makowiecki/Melo that took the honours, just ahead of the # 51 AF Corse example of Fisichella/Bruni. The LMGTE Am class pole position went to the # 67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 RSR of Armindo/Narac/Pons, followed by the # 81 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 of Perazzini/Cioci/Griffin.

Saturday dawned grey and misty, turning into heavy rain as the morning progressed, which was a situation that lasted right up to the formation of the cars on the grid for the grid walk at 13.25. At this time it started to ease, and by the time of the start at 14.30 the rain had ceased, but the track was still soaking wet, and would remain that way for the best part of the first hour. The stae of the track may judged by Karun Chandhok going off and damaging the # 22 HPD ARX 03a-Honda on the out lap heading for the grid, whilst the LMGTE Pro pole sitting Ferrari, driven by Frederic Makowiecki, spun on the formation lap. However, from the moment the lights went out, the qualifying performances of the Audis confirmed that these were the only cars fighting for overall victory, unless something untoward happened. This was the way the race went, despite a front end change for the # 2 car in the first hour when a headlight stopped working, then a later Stop-Go penalty for a refuelling infringement, which dropped it out of contention for victory. Otherwise it was pretty much status quo for Audi at the head of the field, the only other real glitch being a puncture for the # 1 car in the closing stages. The pair of Rebellion Racing Lola-Judd Coupes were the best of the rest, finishing 5^th and 6^th overall, the # 12 car of Prost/Jani/Heidfeld heading home the sister car of Belicchi/Primat.

In the LMP2 class there were tough fights throughout the race, but in the end it was the car that had qualified 3^rd in class, the # 38 JOTA entered Zytek Z11SN-Nissan of Dolan/Hancock that took the class honours, with the pole sitting # 25 ADR-Delta Oreca 03-Nissan of Martin/Kerr/Graves finishing 2^nd, only a little over 6secs behind after 6 hours of racing. The battle for victory in the LMGTE Pro class was even closer, with only a tenth of this time between the winning # 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Lieb/Lietz and the 2^nd place # 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Fisichella/Bruni. Porsche also took victory in the LMGTE Am class, courtesy of the pole sitting # 67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 RSR of Armindo/Narac/Pons.

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Keith Bluemel           05/2012.