The march towards the 24 Hours of Le Mans continues and this weekend the FIA WEC will contest the third round of the championship Belgiumon the famous track of Spa-Francorchamps. As already happened in the recent round of Imolathe race distance it will still be six hours. An important event for the teams registered in the World Endurance Championship which will allow us to test the vehicles in depth in view of the “hot” month of Junewith the seasonal highlight on the Sarthe of Le Mans.
499P SEEKING REDEMPTION
—
The lineup for the three Ferrari 499P Hypercars has been confirmed: on car number 50 Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen will alternate on the 51 Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi and on 83 Yifei Ye, Robert Shwartzmann and Robert Kubica. The three Hypercars from Maranello they are expected to promptly redeem themselves after the mocking 6 Hours of Imola. On the Santerno circuit, a long series of setbacks did not allow the “Reds” to confirm the excellent team performance in qualifying, thus leaving room for the Toyota GR010 Hybrid soon returned in great form after the disappointing debut at Losail and won in Romagna with Conway, Kobayashi and a reborn Nyck De Vries. Also watch out for Porsche 963which proved to be the cars to beat at the start of the season in both the FIA WEC and IMSA and held the lead in the general classification with the 963 of Lotterer, Vanthoor and Estre. Among other Hypercars, watch out for the growth of BMW and Lamborghiniwhile the “running-in” of the new Peugeot and of Isotta Fraschini Duqueine returning from a troubled Romagna match.
THE SITUATION IN THE RANKINGS
—
At the moment, the best 499P Hypercar is that of Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen who are fifth in the drivers’ standings, while they are further behind Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi who have to recover from eleventh place. The Maranello company is fully in the running also for the constructors’ cup: the delay from the leading Porsche is twenty-six pointswhile Toyota is only distant seventeen lengths. Among the Independents, Kubica’s car complains of just one point behind the Porsche 963 Team Jota of Stevens, Nato and Ilott.
FIGHT ALSO BETWEEN THE LM GT3
—
Great expectations also in LM GT3 with the Manthey Porsche of Bachler, Sturm and Malykhin leading the championship with sixteen points ahead of the surprising one Aston Martin by James, Riberas and our Daniel Mancinelli. However, the BMWs of Team WRT are hot on their heels: in particular Valentino Rossi has title ambitions, occupying it together with Martin and Al Harthy third place in the standings, 17 points behind the leading car. For the moment the AF Corse Ferrari 296s are forced to chase: the best placed is that of Mann, Heriau and Rovera who is thirty-two points behind the top. They are in difficulty Lamborghini Huracan: The Iron Dames Doriane Pin, Michele Gatting and Sarah Bovy they lost precious points with the withdrawal in Imola. The task for the Huracan Iron Lynx is also not easy Perera, Schiavoni and Cressoni still left empty in the rankings.
Don’t miss the entire new season of Formula 1® and MotoGP™ live streaming only on NOW! Activate the Sports Pass from €9.99 per month and enjoy Sky sports in streaming!
AN INTENSE PROGRAM
—
The program on the ups and downs of Spa-Francorchamps is long and spectacular, a true “temple” for Endurance races with critical points such as the Raidillon-Eau Rouge and Blanchimont. It starts on Thursday 9th with two rounds of free practice ninety minutes each, one at 11:30 and one at 4.30pm. A day’s break and then back on the field on Friday 10th with an hour of free practice from 11am to 12pm and the official tests at 3.30pm. At 3.53pm Hyperpole for the ten fastest riders in view of the actual race that will start Saturday the 11th at 1:00 pm sharp, ending at sunset after six hours of hard struggle. As in Imola, a variable not to be underestimated could be bad weather.
