Spa 24 Hours Wednesday Morning News Notebook
Final Entry numbers 58 cars
Three withdrawals and one late addition to the 2021 grid should see 58 cars start the TotalEnergies Spa 24 Hours on Saturday.
Frikadelli Racing’s pair of cars were joined by the originally Am-entered #36 Walkenhorst BMW on the list of squads deciding not to compete in the wake of the flooding disaster last week. The late addition of the Schnabl Engineering #3 Porsche claws one back in the entry. Walkenhorst’s pair of Pro cars will still race.
The entry then sees 25 cars in Pro, 17 in Silver Cup,14 in Pro-Am and now just two in Am. 30 of the cars are also listed as being eligible as points scorers in the Intercontinental GT Challenge with the Inception McLaren and EBM Giga Porsche listed as points scorers in the Pro-Am Cup of the IGTC.
Ferrari Driver Changes
The #52 Pro-Am entered AF Corse Ferrari sees a couple of late river changes with WEC racer Alessio Rovera and Ferrari Challenge driver John Watrigue replacing James Calado and Lorenzo Bontempelli.
Louis Machiels and Andrea Bertolini complete the crew.
Change To COVID Protocol For Fans
A last minute change to the COVID protocol for the event sees fans attending the event needing to “be in possession of a negative test at all times while they are at the circuit. A PCR test is valid for 72 hours, while an antigen test lasts 48 hours.” That wording was altered from the original text of the public release issued yesterday morning at some point yesterday.
Rules Refresher
Looking forward to the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa but feeling in need of a rules refresher?
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— TotalEnergies 24Hours of Spa (@24HoursofSpa) July 28, 2021
Bronze Test
First track action for race week for the Spa 24 runners came with Tuesday’s Bronze Test, 16 cars took to the track in the three hour session.
Am Cup squad Hägeli by T2 Racing emerge on top with its #166 Porsche, a 2:21.976 lap from Pieder Decurtins topping the best effort of RAM Racing;s Rob Collard by half a second.
The #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin was third with Alex West at the wheel, a further two tenths shy of the #166 Porsche.
Orange1 FFF Racing (#19 Lamborghini) and Kessel Racing (#11 Ferrari) made it five brands in the top-five positions, though the Lamborghini squad did not enjoy a trouble-free afternoon, causing the only red flag of the session when it crashed at T14 during the first hour.
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