Working on the mystique..weather permitting!

[Paul Franssen]

At 0900 hours this morning, three-quarters -18 hours- through the 24-hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a lone Porsche (as french-speaking radio literally said "the good old Porsche GT3"!) leads 2 Vipers. An hour before that, they also mentioned a Ferrari Maranello in 4th position. Apparently, it's been raining ever since the start, and the Vipers can't make full use of their extra power. The 2nd place Viper would be in the same 8 km lap as the Porsche, but the GT3 is in the pits for scheduled refuelling and change in drivers, the Viper also still has more pit-stops coming. The 3rd place Viper is having transmission problems (in the pits). So, it looks like an exciting last quarter before the finish at 3 PM: reportedly it has now stopped raining at Spa! The Vipers had been all-out favorites before the race, with the Maranello's as outsiders. Cross fingers for more mystique-building from "good old Porsche"!

[Paul Franssen]

12:15 update (2 hrs 45 mins to go), weather is dry
1. Porsche GT3
2. Ferrari 550 Maranello
3. Porsche GT3
4. Dodge (?) Viper or is that Chrysler?
5. Ferrari 360 Modena

[Paul Franssen]

Final results:
1. Porsche GT3
2. Ferrari 550 Maranello
3. Porsche GT3
the rest missed the podium
4. Viper...
The winning GT3, with driver S.Ortelli (won Le Mans with GT1 in 1998, together with driver Allen McNish), reportedly just "fuelled up, changed tires, and kept on driving"
It is noteworthy that these GT3's are in Class NGT, a class below the Maranello and Vipers. The Lister, Saleen, Corvette, Mosler (?), Vertigo, Lotus Elise and Morgan cars were "also rans".

[silverc4s]

Paul,
Thanks for the info. we rarely get any info on these races in the US, until the weekly magazines come out. Nice of you to share the Porsche victory with us..

[Jim Garfield]

Good work Paul....thanks for posting the updates and final results. A good showing for Porsche!

[Jim Richards]

Thanks for posting this, Paul. Way to go Porsches!