Marc VDS in the Hunt as Morning Comes

BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS were in a close fight at the front the 24 Hours of Spa at the 16-hour mark. #77, with Dirk Werner, Markus Palttala and Lucas Luhr survived the darkness to emerge in second place. The race was emerging into a close strategic battle between Marc VDS and four Audis, most notably #1, which took the lead each time #77 made a pitstop. In fact, for more than half of each hour, it was the Marc VDS car that had the advantage.

Overnight running was top quality from all three pilots, with each setting a new best time for the car in successive double stints, and making ground on their competition despite a single lap pace disadvantage. A small rain shower around 8am was not enough to encourage the runners to take wet tyres, and more rain looked unlikely as the hour turned.

The team must now focus on keeping their pitwork perfect, and remaining aggressive but smooth in the traffic to avoid trouble.

#66, Maxime Martin, Augusto Fargus and Jörg Müller had earlier retired after hitting a rabbit and damaging the radiator.

Bas Leinders, Team Principal
“It’s hard to see at the moment how the strategy will play out, but we’re making good running for now. The drivers are putting in great, fast, consistent stints and that’s perfect. The pitwork has been nothing short of sensational, and it needs to stay that way! There’s still a long way to go.”

Markus Palttala, BMW Z4 GT3 #77
“It’s us against four Audis. They’ve all changed brakes and we haven’t, so that’s a small disadvantage for us. They are still a little quicker over a single lap, but we’re getting better and better as the track rubbers in. We’re pushing hard, and so far we’ve had a perfect race, no delays at all and the quickest pitstops. The strategy calls have been great, too. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing so far – that’s the best we can do.”