Um olhar sobre as corridas

Nas anteriores corridas de 24h que fiz em SPA, na de 2007 terminei em 4º, em 2008 - 2º e na ultima em 2009, estávamos em 1º a cinco horas do fim e com uma volta de avanço ao 2º classificado, quando a quebra duma jante nos fez despertar do sonho. Mas as corridas são mesmo assim e estas de 24h, têm muitas alterações tornando-as totalmente imprevisíveis.

Horário previsto C.E.T. ( -1 em Portugal )

Quinta-feira, 27 de julho
20:10 – 21:25 Blancpain GT Series Qualifying (LIVE TV)
21:55 – 23:55 Blancpain GT Series Night Qualifying (LIVE TV)

Sexta-feira, 28 de julho
18:50 - 19:20 Blancpain GT Series Warm Up
19:30 - 20:00 Blancpain GT Series Super Pole (LIVE TV)

Sábado, 29 de julho
16:30 – Blancpain GT Series 24h Race (LIVE TV)
A Blancpain GT Series pode ser seguida com vários apontamentos no Eurosport e na MotorsTV, assim como Live no link goo.gl/aSFMFV ou através da APP Oficial para IOS e/ou Android, disponível na App Store ou Google Play.

(SRO / Dirk Bogaerts Photography)"

In:

Right behind, in P25, was the second of Strakka’s 650S GT3s – the Pro-Am-entered #42 of Lewis Williamson, team founder Nick Leventis, Oliver Webb and Craig Fleming. The fastest time from the quartet came from Williamson, the Scotsman lapping the circuit in 2:19.219 during Night Qualifying to put the car P25 overall for the race and an impressive P3 in Pro-Am.

The British team’s other two cars, ended up P33 (#58 – 2:19.435) and P53 (#43 – 2:20.445).

Garage 59’s sole car in the race meanwhile, will start the race P5 in Am and P59 overall. Piloted by Top Gear Presenter Chris Harris, McLaren Automotive Test Driver Chris Goodwin, GT Open regular Alexander West and former British GT champion Bradley Ellis, the car's best time was a 2:22.671.

Both qualifying sessions proved to be extremely tight. The top 36 cars finished within a second of one another after the three hours and 15 minutes of track time. The two sessions decided the starting positions from P21 down, and the selection for tomorrow’s Top 20 Super Pole session.

So, while all five McLarens were unable to advance to Friday’s Top 20 shootout, the Strakka Racing and Garage 59 McLarens will nevertheless be in the mix during the weekend’s gruelling and unpredictable twice-around-the-clock classic.

Saturday’s Total 24 Hours of Spa is set to run from 16:30 local time in Belgium (UTC+1).

You can follow the race live for free at on the Blancpain GT website (http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live) and monitor McLaren’s progress throughout via the McLaren GT Pitwall (http://cars.mclaren.press/gt-pitwall).

On social media, in addition to the periodic reports here on Facebook, @McLaren_GT on Twitter and @mclaren_gt on Instagram will also be active throughout the race.

P24 (P23 Pro class) #59 – J. Jaafar, P. Schothorst, A. Watson
P25 (P3 Pro-Am class) #42 – C. Fleming, N. Leventis, L. Williamson, O. Webb
P33 (P26 Pro class) #58 – B. Barnicoat, R. Bell, C. Ledogar
P53 (P34 Pro class) #43 – D. Fumanelli, J. Kane, S. Tordoff
P59 (P5 Am class) #188 – B. Ellis, C. Goodwin, C. Harris, A. West"