MEDIA INFORMATION
2023 FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE POWERED BY AWS ENDURANCE CUP
Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, Belgium, round 3
June 30th-July 2nd, 2023
For immediate release
Sunday, July 2nd, 2023
NINTH PLACE FOR AL-MANAR RACING’S STOLZ, SCHILLER AND AUER AFTER GRUELLING CROWDSTRIKE 24 HOURS OF SPA
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (BELGIUM): The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed trio of Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and Lucas Auer finished a hard-fought CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa in ninth position in the Pro Cup category in their Mercedes AMG-GT3.
Victory on the third round of the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup fell to Rowe Racing’s Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly in their BMW M4.
The AKKODIS ASP Team Mercedes, crewed by Raffaele Marciello, Timur Boguslavskiy and Jules Gounon, climbed to an eventual second place at the end of the 537-lap race and the Scherer Sport PHX Audi crew of Luca Engstler, Kelvin van der Linde and Nicki Thiim rounded off the podium finishers.
The 75th CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa started behind the safety car and the AF Corse Ferrari gained the lead through the opening hour with the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes down in 13th of the Pro category runners with Stolz at the wheel.
The Audi Sport Tresor Orange R8 LMS had taken the initiative as the race hit the two-hour mark, although Stolz had climbed to 11th place during his first stint behind the wheel. An hour later and the Scherer Sport PHX Audi had snatched the lead and Stolz had been replaced by Schiller and the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes was up to seventh.
The situation remained the same at one-sixth distance but the Manthey EMA Porsche had gained the lead after five hours and the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes had dropped back to ninth. Team WRT’s BMW M4 GT3 led the way at quarter distance, only for the
Scherer Sport PHX Audi to regain the advantage after seven hours with the Al-Manar car down in 10th.
Throughout the night, the Team WRT BMW traded the overall lead with the Audi Sport Tresor Orange R8 LMS, the Scherer Sport PHX Audi and the AKKODIS ASP Team Mercedes. By daybreak, the Al-Manar Racing crew had slipped back to 13th.
At two-thirds distance, after 18 hours of punishing racing and 391 laps on the register, the Rowe Racing BMW M4 had gained the lead and was running a little under eight seconds in front of the Scherer Sport PHX Audi. A useful morning stint has pushed the Al-Manar Racing car back up to eighth in the Pro Cup category with Auer at the wheel.
Heading into the final four hours, Rowe Racing continued to lead from Scherer Sport PHX and the Audi Sport Tresor Orange R8 team. Auer continued to push on with the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes and was up to eighth and still running on the same lap (440) as the leading crews, such was the competitiveness of this year’s race.
As the race headed into the final two hours, Team WRT led from Audi Sport Team Comtoyou and Rowe Racing, but Stolz had pushed the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes up to seventh with the Scherer Sport PHX Audi and the AF-Corse Ferrari slipping back.
But Rowe Racing came through to take the chequered flag and win the race by 11.129 seconds from the AKKODIS ASP Team Mercedes, with the Scherer Sport PHX Audi finishing third and Schiller taking the wheel of the Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes as it crossed the finish line in ninth, one lap behind the leaders.
Rowe Racing’s Daniel Harper, Neil Verhagen and Max Hesse had topped the Pro Cup times in Thursday’s free practice session with the BMW M4 GT3 setting a best lap of 2min 18.186sec. The Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes was classified down the rankings after a best run of 2min 19.407sec.
There were three qualifying sessions with each of the drivers taking advantage of 15 minutes to make their mark on the final grid line-up.
The Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Julien Andlaeur, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre claimed the fastest Q1 lap of 2min 20.441sec in the Pro Cup category to beat the Audi Sport Tresor Orange 1 crew of Richardo Feller, Mattia Drudi and Dennis Marschall. The Al-Manar Racing Mercedes was down in 20th of the Pro Cup runners with a time of 2min 24.347sec.
The fastest lap in the second of the Pro Cup qualifying sessions went to the AF-Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera, Robert Schwartzman and Niklas Nielsen. Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed’s Mercedes was classified in ninth.
The Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 of Luca Engstler, Kelvin van der Linde and Nicki Thiim won the last of the three sessions with the Al-Manar Racing Mercedes in fourth.
With the three sessions combined, the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R claimed pole position in the Pro Cup category from the Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing trio of Maro Engel, Mikael Grenier and Daniel Juncadella. Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed qualified in 13th.
Ends
For further information:
Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (gt-world-challenge-europe.com)