AF Corse Ferrari triumphs again after flag-to-flag battle

Ferrari teammates James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi took the win within the Spa 6 Hours on Sunday by 4s from the sister 499P Le Mans Hypercar shared by Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco, with the third-placed Alpine A424 LMDh pushed by Frédéric Makowiecki, Jules Gounon and Mick Schumacher an extra second in arrears.

Ferrari might need dominated qualifying, the three 499P blocking out the highest positions in Hyperpole, however the race in Belgian was a close-run affair through which it confronted a stiff problem from Alpine, BMW and Peugeot. 

The second-placed Ferrari seemed to be within the ascendency after the second of two security vehicles that ended with an hour and a 51 minutes remaining 

However when the 2 manufacturing unit AF Corse Ferraris pitted a lap aside with simply over an hour to go Pier Guidi in #51 was capable of overturn a 6s deficit to the #50 which Nielsen took over from Fuoco. 

Each Ferraris fell behind the 2 WRT BMW M Hybrid LMDhs, however Pier Guidi was capable of shortly clear them, whereas Nielsen misplaced time, additionally falling behind the pair of Jota Cadillac V-Collection.R LMDhs. 

The methods of the 2 Ferraris diverged over the ultimate hour, Pier Guidi pushed within the data that he must make a late splash, whereas Nielsen went into gasoline save mode. 

Pier Guidi stopped with 12 minutes to go, rising with an 11s benefit over his team-mate. 

Alpine was ‘better of the remainder’

#35 Alpine Endurance Workforce Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi

Picture by: FIAWEC – DPPI

Nielsen simply had the measure of Schumacher within the closing phases as he eked out his vitality allocation to the top. It was a case of what might need been for the #36 Alpine. 

A gradual puncture within the penultimate hour blunted the French producer’s problem, although it successfully allowed Schumacher to carry ahead his splash for gasoline.

BMW led the race with the #20 entry shared by René Rast and Robin Frijns, shedding a transparent shot on the podium with a brake drawback that precipitated its retirement within the remaining hour.

The Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH that was finest positioned to realize a one other podium for the marque additionally retired, after Malthe Jakobsen within the #94 shared with Loic Duval and Stoffel Vandoorne clashed with Frijns at Les Combes.

Peugeot had cut up its gasoline methods earlier within the race, which gave Jean-Eric Vergne, driver of the #93 automotive the lead, however when the security automotive got here out shortly after he stopped the tactical gamble was undone.

#38 Cadillac Hertz Workforce Jota Cadillac V-Collection.R: Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button

Picture by: Eric Le Galliot

Toyota took fourth with the GR010 HYBRID LMH shared by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sébastien Buemi, regardless of its two vehicles qualifying forward of solely the Aston Martin Valkyries LMHs. 

The Jota Cadillacs ended up fifth and sixth, the #12 automotive shared by Alex Lynn, Norman Nato ending 9 seconds up on #38 pushed by Jenson Button, Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais.

The second Toyota pushed by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries claimed seventh forward of the second Alpine shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin.

Porsche salvaged a finest results of ninth with the #6 manufacturing unit Penske 963 LMDh shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Pascal Wehrlein. 

BMW rounded out the highest 10 with the #15 M Hybrid pushed by Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello. 

LMGT3 sees one other Ferrari victory

#21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

Picture by: Andreas Beil

LMGT3 honours went to the AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3 shared by Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera, regardless of an early race penalty. 

Rovera completed 40s up on the Proton Competitors Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen, Giammarco Levorato and Stefano Gattuso.