Page 30 - Paddock Life Issue 13 ADRENALINE

Racing Huracan of Mirko Bortolottis, with the number 2 WRT Audi driven by Connor De Phillippi hard on the Lambos exhausts as the 69th 24 Hours of Spa is underway. The noise, the smell and energy is awesome as they fly past me. The deep growl of the AMG Mercedes so different to the base tones of Bentley: every car of the ten brands represented has a different personality to its sound.
I head back into the paddock to meet Chris at the Blancpain Business Club and we watch the first few laps unfold on the TV screens. This is real racing, lots of overtakes and bumper to bumper action. We take a walk through the paddock and up to the Pit Stop Café where we have a drink and watch the action through the Chicane, then there is an incident (the first of many) that causes all the cars to drop speed and file through the pit lane, we move to get a view down on the pit boxes as we are nearing the first pit stop window. The 55 Kaspersky Ferrari holds the lead after the first hour as does Jonny Adam in the Pro-Am, whilst the best placed Am car is Kessel Racings Ferrari. The first three places change order between the race leaders as the cars pit, but there is plenty of action on track over the next few hours, with the Pro-Am Aston sitting overall in 7th place followed hard by Oli Morley’s Pro-Am Mercedes.
As Chris and I sat down for dinner in the Blancpain Club the M-Sport Bentleys had joined the fight at the front of the race, with the lead swapping regularly between about 5 cars. Unfortunately, our schedule meant Chris and I had to get on the Eurotunnel at 1am to get to Silverstone for the more sedate last day of the Silverstone Classic, so after a fabulous dinner we said our goodbyes and dragged ourselves away from the action. Once in the car Chris got the live stream up on the iPad as we flew through Belgium toward the tunnel. Now some ten hours into the race and the Bentley is leading, but the positions are constantly changing with pit stops as they plough on through the night. As I arrive home it’s about 5:30am and the battle is still on between these five cars.
I wake up at 8:30am to go to Silverstone and reach for my iPad. Back to the race. The Kaspersky Ferrari and the Grasser Lamborghini are gone? But the Black Falcon Mercedes has taken the Pro-Am lead. I search for information on what has happened. A bit of rain had sharpened the action and the night had seen a few casualties, but it was the 14th hour when the number 55 Ferrari that had dominated the race had contact with the number 90 Mercedes at La Source and Cioci crashed out at Raidillon from steering damage. Soon after sun rise the Grasser Lamborghini that had looked set for a podium had a brake issue hitting the barriers at the end of the Kemmel Straight, Engelhart was unhurt but a safety car had to be deployed whilst they recovered the mangled Huracan. Shortly after the restart the WRT Audi that had been fighting
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