Spa 6 Hours: AF Corse Ferrari triumphs again after flag-to-flag battle

Ferrari made it three out of three in this season's World Endurance Championship with victory for James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi at the Spa 6 Hours.
The trio took the win on Saturday 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 driven by Frederic Makowiecki, Jules Gounon and Mick Schumacher a further second in arrears.
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Ferrari might have dominated qualifying, the three 499P blocking out the top positions in Hyperpole, but the race in Belgium was a close-run affair in which it faced a stiff challenge from Alpine, BMW and Peugeot.
The second-placed Ferrari appeared to be in the ascendency after the second of two safety cars that ended with an hour and a 51 minutes remaining.
Race winner GT3LM, #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera, Race winner #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Race winner GT3LM, #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera, Race winner #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
FIAWEC - DPPI
FIAWEC - DPPI
But when the two factory AF Corse Ferraris pitted a lap apart with just over an hour to go Pier Guidi in #51 was able to overturn a 6s deficit to the #50 which Nielsen took over from Fuoco.
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Both Ferraris fell behind the two WRT BMW M Hybrid LMDhs, but Pier Guidi was able to quickly clear them, while Nielsen lost time, also falling behind the pair of Jota Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs.
The strategies of the two Ferraris diverged over the final hour, Pier Guidi pushed in the knowledge that he would have to make a late splash, while Nielsen went into fuel save mode.
Pier Guidi stopped with 12 minutes to go, emerging with an 11s advantage over his team-mate.
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi
FIAWEC - DPPI
FIAWEC - DPPI
Nielsen just had the measure of Schumacher in the closing stages as he eked out his energy allocation to the end. It was a case of what might have been for the #36 Alpine.
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A slow puncture in the penultimate hour blunted the French manufacturer's challenge, though it effectively allowed Schumacher to bring forward his splash for fuel.
BMW led the race with the #20 entry shared by René Rast and Robin Frijns, losing a clear shot at the podium with a brake problem that precipitated its retirement in the final hour.
The Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH that was best placed to gain a another podium for the marque also retired, after Malthe Jakobsen in the #94 shared with Loic Duval and Stoffel Vandoorne clashed with Frijns at Les Combes.
Peugeot had split its fuel strategies earlier in the race, which gave Jean-Eric Vergne, driver of the #93 car the lead, but when the safety car came out shortly after he stopped the tactical gamble was undone.
#38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button
#38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button
Eric Le Galliot
Eric Le Galliot
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Toyota took fourth with the GR010 HYBRID LMH shared by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sébastien Buemi, despite its two cars qualifying ahead of only the Aston Martin Valkyries LMHs.
The Jota Cadillacs ended up fifth and sixth, the #12 car shared by Alex Lynn, Norman Nato finishing nine seconds up on #38 driven by Jenson Button, Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais.
The second Toyota driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries claimed seventh ahead of the second Alpine shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin.
Porsche salvaged a best result of ninth with the #6 factory Penske 963 LMDh shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Pascal Wehrlein.
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BMW rounded out the top 10 with the #15 M Hybrid driven by Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello.
#21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera
#21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera
Andreas Beil
Andreas Beil
LMGT3 honours went to the AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3 shared by Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera, despite an early race penalty.
Rovera finished 40s up on the Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen, Giammarco Levorato and Stefano Gattuso.
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