The 24 hours race at Spa this year was run in a different format to previous years - This year GT1 cars were excluded, keeping to their current 1 hour sprint race format, which ran as support events to the 24h.
This left the 24h to GT2, GT3, GT4 and 'GTN' (cars which were similar to any of the other categories, but didn't quite comply to the FIA regulations).
This was somewhat frustrating and created some inconsistencies - it meant that the BMW M3, which complies to ACO GT2 regulations, were running in the GTN class, where as the Ferrari, and Porsche GT2 entrants were in GT2.
Anyway enough of the waffle - on with the race, and the photographs - the pace was hot this year, GT2 cars were ~2-3 seconds a lap quicker than they were last year, and only 3.5 seconds off pole in a GT1 car last year! Impressive stuff
Pole car was the AF Corsa Ferrari number 2 , and it led away from the start.
They were hounded closely by BMW, especially car 79, and after a slight problem for number 2, BMW took the lead in the early evening.
The Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMSes were quick too, although number 51, suffered electrical problems early on and dropped back
This left the battle for the lead 4 hours in between the two BMWs (78/79), Audi number 50, Ferrari 2, and some Porsches (13 - westbrook/lieb/etc, 23, and 16)
The Ferraris were the only ones regularly throwing flames
Westbrook/Lieb's car going through the pits
It was quite interesting to see how little the performance differential was between GT2 and GT3 - GT2 cars having more downforce, GT3 having more power. Porsche had spoiled the opportunity to demonstrate how close it was between the RSR and the R, by opting to put all its factory drivers in the GT2 cars, leaving GT3 cars to privateers... but Audi showed how close its GT3, the R8 LMS was by challenging for the lead with number 50, piloted amongst others by Mike Rockenfeller - winner of Le Mans this year
In the dry especially, BMW seemed to have the upper hand, setting times which matched their qualifying pace throughout the race...
In the lead car, number 79, all drivers had to be called Dirk - Dirk Muller, Dirk Adorf, and here, Dirk Werner seen walking back to the garage after another good stint.
BMW unusually were just running 3 drivers per car, which was quite a brave move - especially with the problems happening in number 78 - there was a lack of cooling, forcing the drivers to single stint.
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