Fortunes and Misfortunes of the WEC drivers in the 24 Hours of Spa

Although the big draw last weekend at the 24 Hours of Spa race of the Blancpain Endurance Series, was the trio of Audi factory drivers, Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Tom Kristensen, it was the Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Andrea Piccini, René Rast and Frank Stippler that took victory after a race where the safety car was out for no less than five hours. The Le Mans winning crew with 12 victories in La Sarthe between them could not do better than sixth.

Audi had a double success thanks to Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies and Stéphane Ortelli. Audi therefore achieves a triple victory after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Nürburgring 24 Hours, won by (among others), Frank Stippler and Christopher Haase respectively first and second in the Belgian Ardennes.

FIA World Champion Andrea Bertolini dominated in the Pro-Am category in the AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia No.52, definitely on-form this year after the victory in La Sarthe in LMGTE Pro. The Italian clinched victory for the third time the 24 Hours of Spa after 2006 and 2008 in the Vitaphone Racing Maserati, but this time he had be content with a class win. At Le Mans, he missed the foot of the podium in the LMGTE Pro category, leaving the podium and the joys of victory to his AF Corse team mates Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander.

Another good result of a driver involved in the FIA World Endurance Championship was the fourth place overall of the Finn Markus Palttala in the BMW Z4 of Marc VDS Racing. He drives the Porsche of JWA-Avila World Championship. He was accompanied by Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin, drivers of car No.35 of OAK Racing, which, although not included this year in the World Championship, raced in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and 24 Hours Le Mans, the second and third rounds of the Championship.

There were other drivers from the World Championship like Bertrand Baguette, driver for OAK Racing in LMP1, and Jeroen Bleekemolen, driver for Rebellion Racing in LMP1, and Pedro Lamy, who drives for Larbre Competition, recent winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in LMGTE Am, who drove a McLaren in the Ardennes.

All drivers have an appointment at the 6 Hours of Silverstone on the 26th August for the next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Dave Davies

Photo: Le Mans (Sarthe, FRANCE), CIRCUIT OF 24 HOURS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, Tuesday, June 12, 2012, signing autographs. Andrea Bertolini won his class with AF Corse in the 24 Hours of Spa.