WEC 2024: Round 3 - Spa-Francorchamps

[outnumbered]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

They have promoted Bovy for the last two seasons to silver and both times she has successfully appealed the decision, so has stayed a bronze.

Well, good luck trying that again next year after yesterday's performance!

[Bentley03]

Fantastic call to race the lost time, refreshing attitude and very unexpected. Well done to the decision makers, 10/10!!!

I'm really not surprised Ferrari protested, and honestly, I suspect other teams finding themselves leading as the race time elapsed would have done the same. You could even argue they had a professional duty to protest. Anyway, it matters not now.

What a grid! What a spectacle! What a race! What an era! What fun!

Bring on Le Mans...!!!!!

[PascaLM]

Ferrari have learnt how to warm tires. They could have won without the red flag, right ?

[PascaLM]

A spectator's point of view of the crash :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ualDTOfxIm4

[flatlandsman]

I was lucky,I went out for a bit with about 10mins of red flag left. Came home, saw it was still on Eurosport!

Amazing decision and I hope more places learn from this,simply a great thing to do

[flatlandsman]

And for all you Ferrari lovers,here is a nice thing they did.

Apparently they protested the fact the race was restarted!

If I was going to Le Mans I would be booing the bloody things all race!

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

And for all you Ferrari lovers,here is a nice thing they did.

Apparently they protested the fact the race was restarted!

If I was going to Le Mans I would be booing the bloody things all race!

Was an actual protest filed? I've seen they're unhappy but haven't read of an official protest.

Edit: Found it!

Ferrari lodged a protest against the stewards’ decision to extend the race as well as the provisional classification, but this was ruled inadmissible under the FIA International Sporting Code as it was not based on a specific breach of the regulations.

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Ferrari REALLY makes it hard to like them, almost like they've taken lessons from Horner on crying to officials.

The Porsche drifting to his right after clearing the BMW didn't help either. If he stayed on his line no issue I think but may have been passed by the end of the straight. I get the move but have to be aware of everyone not just the GT and your desired path. 5 place penalty seems harsh but apparently most seem to think Bamber is driving blind any more so surprised they didn't just exclude the car

He drove into the back of the Porsche (then moved right into the BMW), which is why he was found to be 100% at fault.

Same with Rast hitting the #38 Jota Porsche.

[tomcug]

They tried but there was no way for that protest to succeed Also an interesting comment I found on reddit about something I never considered myself:

First of all, get rid of FCY: if you are on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans and they roll out the FCY, you will lose up to 40 seconds to someone who is elsewhere on track because of the flat 80 kph limit. Just do a VSC with delta time. Today 51 gained 10 seconds during the FCY on the 99.

And this is true, when you get caught by FCY on the Kemmel you lose like 220 kph of racing speed but if you're just a bit further in sector 2 you lose a lot less. Obviously final outcome is decided by how long the FCY lasts and the biggest impact might be for short yellows, like a minute or around that (these happen too). Unfortunately I don't think there's an appropriate and fair solution to that. VSC with delta can't work imo due to safety reasons. The only "solution" that comes to my mind is for all cars to just stop on track Obviously not a good idea either. Anyway, this could be an interesting conversation for a new topic, I know there's a caution procedures topic for IMSA but I don't remember one existing for the WEC.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by tomcug

Anyway, this could be an interesting conversation for a new topic, I know there's a caution procedures topic for IMSA but I don't remember one existing for the WEC.

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthre...=156427&page=2

[JoeW04]

Poor form from Ferrari crying that the race restarted but not surprised. Fantastic decision from the organisers.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

He drove into the back of the Porsche (then moved right into the BMW), which is why he was found to be 100% at fault.



Same with Rast hitting the #38 Jota Porsche.

And it was so close! That video Pascal posted above shows the collision with the BMW was only a few inches of the caddy's rear hitting the front of the BMW.

[Coach Ep]

I've marshalled a few times at that spot, drivers left. It's amazing stuff like this doesn't happen more often as many times there's only mere inches in between cars!

Big one for sure. Glad all were okay including what looked like a few marshals behind the catch fencing on drivers right, basically right at the impact point!

[hondafan37]

I honestly don't understand the rule about not allowing refueling with the safety car.
We would have had a multi-car battle if this happened.

[Sodemo]

Perhaps not directly to blame for the crash, but I think the relative lack of straight line speed difference between GT3 and Hypercar is partly to blame here. The top class has had a big power cut and the GT class has had a minor power bump as from what I recall the GT3 cars have around 600bhp compared to 500-550 for the old GTE class.

I think the ACO should look as increasing the straight line speed of the Hypercar class in my humble opinion.

[Adam43]

Looking at the event maximum speeds the fastest GT3 was 46mph slower than the slowest hypercar. Not sure I’d want that to be any bigger.

There is danger in there being such a big difference in closing speeds and judging that. More so than getting past quickly.

There are things in the accident that meant it wouldn’t happen. The position on track, the Porsche moving, but Bamber just misjudged it. As Davidson said on the broadcast the length of the cars can be hard to judge, but back in the day Wurz warned him to always make sure he was clear.

[Hedley Verity]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

I've marshalled a few times at that spot, drivers left. It's amazing stuff like this doesn't happen more often as many times there's only mere inches in between cars!

Big one for sure. Glad all were okay including what looked like a few marshals behind the catch fencing on drivers right, basically right at the impact point!

That wall and catch fence on drivers right is (was) shiny and new, maybe just as well it had been replaced

[skycafe]

Will Cadillac ever leave Spa without comprehensively damaging a car. Wicked quick chain of events there.

Congrats to JOTA!

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Perhaps not directly to blame for the crash, but I think the relative lack of straight line speed difference between GT3 and Hypercar is partly to blame here. The top class has had a big power cut and the GT class has had a minor power bump as from what I recall the GT3 cars have around 600bhp compared to 500-550 for the old GTE class.

I think the ACO should look as increasing the straight line speed of the Hypercar class in my humble opinion.

The top speed difference is huge. What could be more of an issue is Hypercar drivers who don't race in IMSA getting used to passing LMP2s again at Le Mans. The top speed difference there is much smaller.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Mike E

The top speed difference is huge. What could be more of an issue is Hypercar drivers who don't race in IMSA getting used to passing LMP2s again at Le Mans. The top speed difference there is much smaller.

*Porsche curves alert!*

[TF110]

Great race! The red flag restart procedure did take away the race for the overall victory in terms of multiple makes but still the right call to not end it under red flags. Ferrari is the car to beat but this race didn't swing their way with the refueling not allowed before restarting or behind the safety car. A rule I think should be modified but that's my opinion. The big one is a month away, lets hope it's as close or closer than Spa.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by outnumbered

Well, good luck trying that again next year after yesterday's performance!

Bovy The Bronze Bandit

It is somewhat of a novelty for a female driver to be discussed as being 'too good'.

I suspect next year's Iron Dames line up might be along the lines of: Gatting (Gold), Bovy (Silver), and one of the current 'Road to Le Mans' pairing as the Bronze.

[tomcug]

Originally Posted by TF110

Great race! The red flag restart procedure did take away the race for the overall victory in terms of multiple makes but still the right call to not end it under red flags. Ferrari is the car to beat but this race didn't swing their way with the refueling not allowed before restarting or behind the safety car. A rule I think should be modified but that's my opinion. The big one is a month away, lets hope it's as close or closer than Spa.

Kind of but that's a yes and no for me. IMSA style restart with pits open for everyone and class separation would've been more fair, there's not doubt about it. But on the other hand the 963 was absolutely unstoppable in cooler conditions. So in the end gap from 1-2 to 3rd and below would be the only thing affected by this. Ferrari and Caddy were stronger at higher temperature but when it's colder... not anymore. Just like what happened at Daytona.

[Steve McQ]

Just to make it perfectly clear, it is allowed to refuel behind SC but only after 3 SC laps (2 if SC comes after a FCY). Considering the race restarted with 1h44 at the clock, almost as if nothing had happened, I think the greater interest of the sport was to do 4 or 5 laps under SC to allow everybody to make those pitstops, something that would have happened anyway if the race had not been red flagged and stayed under FCY/SC condition instead. Both Porsche still would have emerged leading, but Ferrari and Proton would have been in the mix for the win.
Furthermore, 4 or 5 laps under SC would have been good as warm-up period (no FP had been run in late afternoon during the event), reconnaissance of track conditions after repairs in the Kemmel straight. It would have allowed the Isotta and Alpine to go and pass around too !

Anyway, there is still a bit of work to do on the sporting regulation.

And Edoardo Freitas had nothing to do on crash site during the repairs. Is role was to stay at his desk to anticipate the restart procedure and provide information to the teams. Being on site was the duty of his crewmembers.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Mike E

The top speed difference is huge. What could be more of an issue is Hypercar drivers who don't race in IMSA getting used to passing LMP2s again at Le Mans. The top speed difference there is much smaller.

With LMP2 being pegged back at Le Mans (~500hp?) I think the top speed won't be the biggest issue, but as Coach Ep has said, Porsche Curves (and to a lesser extent, the first sector) are going to see hypercars get past LMP2 on the straight, but hold them up in braking/mid-corner.