24hr of Spa

[Crash_Nemesis]

Race day.

The official BMW factory team is team Marc VDS driving two BMW z4 GT3 cars. Number 45 and 46. Martin maxim, Timo Glock, Dirk Werner, Lucas Luhr and Augusta Farfus are the BMW drivers. If you do not know team Marc VDS, they have proven themselves in the Endurance racing the last few years. They were leading the Spa 24hr race last year but lost to Audi by 7 seconds. 24 hour race and the difference between first and second is 7 seconds. Mind blowing. Martin Maxime proved himself in the 2013 Nurburgring 24 hour race when in the final lap he caught and passed both 2nd and 3rd Place Mercedes cars in three corners to put Team Marc VDS in 2nd place. Team Marc VDS replaces team Schubert who used to be the official BMW racing team. Schubert has won the 24 hour race at Spa and Nurburg back in 2010 and 2011. None the less, today, car 45 starts p6 on the grid.

There are other BMW teams to look out for. One with an all star driver selection is car #9 driven by 2011 DTM champ Bruno Spenglar, F1 star Timo Glock and some may remember Alex Zanardi from the F1 championship back in the 90's, a disabled driver who has no legs. His car is adapted to help him drive with extra controls, and he has prosthetic limbs fitted. Very awesome to see. They are racing in Car #9 for Roal Motorsport in the Pro series in a BMW Z4 GT3.

Other BMW Z4 cars that are racing in Pro Am(atuer) series are cars #12, #78, #79 and #888.

Race is about to begin.

Live video below. Select live race and not onboard video.

[video=youtube]

 

[Nick]

raise: OMG i forgot!

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

8 hours in and BMW car number 45 is leading the race.

Martin Maxime is driving. Big crashes so far with two ferarri's hitting barriers, the Bentely #7 had a massive crash missing the braking point at the Les Combes corner after the long straight, overshooting into a wall. Many other big contenders submitting to the difficult track that is Spa, but both BMW team cars are in good nick, as well as the Pro Am private team BMW car. The number 1 Audi had an incident and fell back 5 laps. It is a very dark and semi wet track. The rain has gone but the cold weather hasn't helped dry the track. The racing line has dried up but any driver who finds themselves deviating from the line soon finds themselves in the wall. Very hard to overtake currently. Traffic posed a constant nuisance for the BMW #45 car as it tried to catch the #1 Audi.

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

15 hours and 20 minutes into the race and BMW car number 45 is still in the lead with 334 laps currently completed. 1 lap ahead of the number 2 Audi Team R8 Gt3. It was a long night, but the car has behaved. No mechanical failures like 2013.

Martin Maxime is back in the car again, doing what he does best. Lots of Fog on the track.

4th place is the number 46 BMW with Luhr at the wheel, keeping the pace with the number 99 SLS mercedes who is in third.

#1 Audi (Last years winner) is currently in 12th and out of contention for the win.

#8 Bentley has succumbed to the night and retired with mechanical problems. Also both the #3 and #4 Audi R8's have retired, joining them as well was the #19 Mercedes SLS ending up in the gravel.

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

BMW car #45 still in the lead.

Car #46 had to do a penalty drive through for overtaking during a yellow flag, which was then overruled and discovered that the car did not infact overtake during a yellow, but it is too late as they already served the penalty and are now in 4th place.

Audi car #2 is in 2nd.

Mercedes #99 is 3rd.

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

What a race. BMW win the 24hr of Spa.

Car 45 was in the lead but had engine failure 5 hours before the end. Leaving Audi car #2 to take the lead and Mercedes #99 in third. Bmw car #46 was 4th and started pushing hard. Nick catsburg at the helm overtook both the merc and audi, lapping more that 3 seconds faster a lap and ended up winning the race by almost 2 laps.

Well done team Marc VDS racing driving the BMW Z4 GT3. This marks the last 24hr race for the Z4, as next season the M6 gt3 has its debut for all BMW factory teams.

 

[Nick]

I missed the race

This past weekend was such a rush.

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

Hey Nick,

Here is the full race if you wish to watch it when you have 25 hours free. =P

Part 1
[video=youtube]

Part 2
[video=youtube]

Part 3
[video=youtube]

Part 4
[video=youtube]

Part 5
[video=youtube]

---

I missed the race

This past weekend was such a rush.

 

[ChefDJ]

Wow well done BMW. What a victory for #46 :clapper:

 

[Luis Malhou]

was pissed off not on DSTV.. a once a year event :smashScreen:

but well done BMW

:clapper:raise:raise: