After completing 532 laps around the 4.3 mile Circuit of Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, the #5 Carsport Holland Corvette C6.R took the checkered flag to win the 24 Hours of Spa. The win wasn't without drama. Weather became a major factor with the safety cars making their presence off and on during the times when thunderstorms raked the area. With an hour left in the race, the GT class leader Vitaphone Maserati MC12 missed a turn and landed in the gravel, which gave the lead lap to the #5 Corvette C6.R. The Maserati MC12 was able to get back onto the leap lap but was unable to catch up to the Carsport Holland Team and had to settle for second place. Third place was taken by the Corvette C5-R driven by the hometown team of PK Carsport.

The Luc Alphand Adventure Corvette C6.R started off extremely strongly in the Total 24 Hours of Spa, but dropped back due to a sequence of problems, and finished sixth. Oliver Beretta, clarifying what happened during his 2 hour 45 minute stint behind the wheel in the early hours of the morning, said:

"The first incident was when I touched a Maserati which caused a bit of bodywork damage but was not a problem, I could continue. Then, a few laps later, I was overtaking a Porsche into Eau Rouge when I saw a piece of debris on the track. I could not avoid it because of having just overtaken the Porsche; I heard a noise so knew something had happened and then I had a big understeer and knew the tire had gone. That was when I came back into the pits." Later on, Oliver Gavin had problems with the throttle. "It was about 3.30 in the morning and I came out of La Source and the throttle pedal went straight to the floor like it was broken. I tried lifting it with my toe but it was floppy. I guessed the linkage was broken. We lost about five laps while it was being repaired which is a huge shame as things were going pretty well until then."

The Maserati MC12's were very competitive at the 24 Hours of Spa with four finishing in the top seven. All four Corvette teams finished within the top ten. Unlike last month at LeMans where Aston Martin had been very competitive, this endurance race saw all three Aston Martin DBR9's fall from the race and did not finish.

Source:
FIAGT.com
PlanetLeMans.com
Photo Credt: © DPPI

Related:
Spa 24: Corvette Race Report - Hour 10
Corvette Racing: Reunited for the 24 Hours of Spa

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