WEC 2024: Round 3 - Spa-Francorchamps

[cg7aa]

I've managed to avoid seeing last weekend's results to date and I was hoping to catch up today; I normally watch the coverage synched with RLM commentary but I can't find the race commentary uploads on their website. Am I being blind? Would a kind soul point me to it if it's there somewhere and I'm missing it.

Incidentally, I have nothing against the WEC commentary, I like the folks involved actually. I just grew up with RLM and prefer the style for want of a better word.

[NaBUru38]

It's not listed yet here:

https://radiolemans.co/category/race...-championship/

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

It's not listed yet here:

https://radiolemans.co/category/race...-championship/

Thank you, at least it has confirmed I'm not going mad.

[tomcug]

It's added now. There's just a wrong label for the "part 3" in the lower left, that's actually the start of the race.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by tomcug

It's added now. There's just a wrong label for the "part 3" in the lower left, that's actually the start of the race.

Great, thank you!

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by tomcug

It's added now. There's just a wrong label for the "part 3" in the lower left, that's actually the start of the race.

They’d be no fun if they were competent

[skeeskirrt]

I was a little disappointed to see Bamber get a penalty for the crash but I guess those are the rules. He came up so fast and had no where to go! Maybe he could have lifted to avoid contact with the Porsche, but he's a racing driver - they don't lift.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by skeeskirrt

I was a little disappointed to see Bamber get a penalty for the crash but I guess those are the rules. He came up so fast and had no where to go! Maybe he could have lifted to avoid contact with the Porsche, but he's a racing driver - they don't lift.

Given Bamber, by not lifting destroyed two other cars races, not to mention the repair bills, from his 'dont lift' mentality. should the consequences go unpunished? Not to mention the resulting disruption to the meeting and other teams in pitlane.

I like Bamber (location checks out) but in my opinion I think the penalty was warranted.

[Mike E]

I think he got off lightly with a 5 place grid penalty especially considering the next race lasts 24 hours.

[flatlandsman]

He has been pushing the boundaries of what is reasonable for some time at Cadillac, and this time he has thankfully been caught out, sadly taking out another car who did nothing wrong and nearly ending the race for another class car, he has been fairly close to this a few times.

I say thankfully as I like seeing guys on the edge but he has been over it, and hopefully he calms down a bit

It seems he has not managed what Estre has, to calm down the GT driver approach. I think both Vanthoor and Estre have notably stepped back from their uber aggressive approach in GT cars!

Agreed I think his penalty should have been more, but thankfully the organisers made a brilliant decision of an incident that in the past would have totally ruined a race for tv, fans and other teams. I know that is not part of the decision, but at times you wish it was to stop this pathetic driving, particularly from Hypercar drivers at the start of races, you KNOW for instance something idiotic is going to be done at the start of LM. Qatar and Imola were a joke in my view and by rights I would maybe even started the race again after getting all of them on the start line out of their cars and publicly *******ing them!! Lol

[TF110]

I think he's mostly at fault but the Porsche did move right to block. That's allowed of course, but that compounded the crash. He was nearly clear and possibly had room if the Porsche stays straight without the block. Still too risky imo

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

He has been pushing the boundaries of what is reasonable for some time at Cadillac, and this time he has thankfully been caught out, sadly taking out another car who did nothing wrong and nearly ending the race for another class car, he has been fairly close to this a few times.

I say thankfully as I like seeing guys on the edge but he has been over it, and hopefully he calms down a bit

It seems he has not managed what Estre has, to calm down the GT driver approach. I think both Vanthoor and Estre have notably stepped back from their uber aggressive approach in GT cars!

Agreed I think his penalty should have been more, but thankfully the organisers made a brilliant decision of an incident that in the past would have totally ruined a race for tv, fans and other teams. I know that is not part of the decision, but at times you wish it was to stop this pathetic driving, particularly from Hypercar drivers at the start of races, you KNOW for instance something idiotic is going to be done at the start of LM. Qatar and Imola were a joke in my view and by rights I would maybe even started the race again after getting all of them on the start line out of their cars and publicly *******ing them!! Lol

What else have we seen out of Bamber in the Caddy that stepped over? Not having a go at all, just a genuine question as my memory is hazy.

I think penalty probably warranted, albeit these fine margins in traffic happen across every inch of every circuit. It's just in that particularly place the consequences are massive, and that needs to be factored in. Too many tragedies in that 2km stretch of track, even just in the last few years.

[Adam43]

Fastest lap spreads:

Average Maximum Speed

Rank	Car	Top Speed	Top 10	Top 25	Top 50	Most Common
1	83 Ferrari	315.9	312.9	311.0	308.6	304.4
2	36 Alpine	312.3	311.9	309.6	306.9	312.3
3	51 Ferrari	312.3	310.4	308.4	306.2	303.5
4	6 Porsche	310.5	309.5	308.4	305.1	308.7
5	94 Peugeot	313.2	309.5	307.6	305.0	307.0
6	93 Peugeot	311.4	308.5	306.4	302.3	296.9
7	35 Alpine	309.6	307	305.6	304.0	303.5
8	11 Isotta Fraschini	309.6	306.8	305.3	303.2	297.7
9	12 Porsche	307.8	306.5	305.2	303.8	303.5
10	50 Ferrari	315.0	305.5	303.5	301.1	301.8
11	2 Cadillac	314.1	307.1	302.6	298.4	295.3
12	99 Porsche	307.8	305.3	302.3	299.6	298.5
13	7 Toyota	310.5	303.9	300.9	298.0	298.5
14	63 Lamborghini	303.5	301.9	298.6	276.4	291.3
15	15 BMW	307.8	303.4	298.5	295.2	289.7
16	8 Toyota	306.1	301.9	298.4	295.0	281.5
17	20 BMW	306.1	302.2	297.4	293.4	285.9
18	5 Porsche	309.6	303.6	295.5	288.2	286.7
19	38 Porsche	301.8	294.3	286.2	269.5	282.2

[Adam43]

Lap time spreads

Average Lap time

Rank	Car	Fastest	Top 20	Top 40	Top 80	Laps
1	99 Porsche	2:06.459	2:08.052	2:08.629	2:09.294	141
2	12 Porsche	2:06.468	2:08.064	2:08.647	2:09.504	141
3	6 Porsche	2:06.611	2:08.188	2:08.680	2:09.517	141
4	51 Ferrari	2:07.189	2:08.370	2:08.832	2:09.405	141
5	83 Ferrari	2:06.883	2:08.477	2:08.994	2:09.949	141
6	36 Alpine	2:07.181	2:08.600	2:09.063	2:09.759	140
7	50 Ferrari	2:08.064	2:08.937	2:09.259	2:09.816	141
8	7 Toyota	2:07.920	2:08.894	2:09.314	2:09.997	141
9	15 BMW	2:08.171	2:08.949	2:09.327	2:10.064	140
10	8 Toyota	2:08.155	2:08.949	2:09.334	2:09.948	141
11	20 BMW	2:08.089	2:08.982	2:09.354	2:10.063	140
12	5 Porsche	2:07.496	2:08.504	2:09.387	NA	64
13	35 Alpine	2:07.918	2:08.946	2:09.461	2:10.167	141
14	2 Cadillac	2:07.345	2:08.968	2:09.625	2:15.164	95
15	94 Peugeot	2:08.498	2:09.533	2:09.892	2:10.738	139
16	93 Peugeot	2:07.808	2:09.392	2:09.894	2:10.631	140
17	63 Lamborghini	2:08.681	2:09.968	2:11.273	NA	59
18	11 Isotta Fraschini	2:09.470	2:10.668	2:11.339	2:12.527	138
19	38 Porsche	2:08.672	2:10.388	NA	NA	37

[pavloslepaul]

Proton with Andlauer especially were so amazing, a bit sad how red flag changed story, but still give outcome I'm pretty happy about, as Jota is one of teams I'm cheering this season.

[Gingers4Justice]

Bit late posting here, but I had an absolute ball going to this. My wife took me as a treat for my 30th birthday...and a treat it was.

A mad dash to the tunnel after work on Friday, an arrival at 2am, the queues to get in - all of it was worth it the moment I heard the Caddy through the trees on its reconnaissance laps.

Andlauer seemed to have a notification on his dash to pull off an outrageous move wherever we were standing on track. Unreal.

If, like me, you can't make your annual pilgrimage to Le Mans for whatever reason, these WEC events are enough of an event in their own right in this new golden era to be worth the travel and the expense.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Bit late posting here, but I had an absolute ball going to this. My wife took me as a treat for my 30th birthday...and a treat it was.

A mad dash to the tunnel after work on Friday, an arrival at 2am, the queues to get in - all of it was worth it the moment I heard the Caddy through the trees on its reconnaissance laps.

Andlauer seemed to have a notification on his dash to pull off an outrageous move wherever we were standing on track. Unreal.

If, like me, you can't make your annual pilgrimage to Le Mans for whatever reason, these WEC events are enough of an event in their own right in this new golden era to be worth the travel and the expense.

That is fantastic. I enjoy hearing about other peoples race experiences, because we all love racing here, but there is no substitute for seeing it in person!

[flatlandsman]

WEC is a huge deal at the moment, seen by the huge increase in attendance, I would imagine a big chunk of the Spa and Imola, OK praps tinged by Ferrari and Rossi but even so. It is a shame there are so many rounds far away but it is a world series after all, be interesting to see a crowd in America given IMSA< I did see that Laguna had a pathetic round however, which was odd.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Bit late posting here, but I had an absolute ball going to this. My wife took me as a treat for my 30th birthday...and a treat it was.

A mad dash to the tunnel after work on Friday, an arrival at 2am, the queues to get in - all of it was worth it the moment I heard the Caddy through the trees on its reconnaissance laps.

Andlauer seemed to have a notification on his dash to pull off an outrageous move wherever we were standing on track. Unreal.

If, like me, you can't make your annual pilgrimage to Le Mans for whatever reason, these WEC events are enough of an event in their own right in this new golden era to be worth the travel and the expense.

Brilliant. so pleased you had a good time. I always love the first glimpse of the track as you arrive.

Did you get round the track much while you were there?

Originally Posted by joeb

That is fantastic. I enjoy hearing about other peoples race experiences, because we all love racing here, …

It’s difficult to tell sometimes

… but there is no substitute for seeing it in person!

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

WEC is a huge deal at the moment, seen by the huge increase in attendance, I would imagine a big chunk of the Spa and Imola, OK praps tinged by Ferrari and Rossi but even so. It is a shame there are so many rounds far away but it is a world series after all, be interesting to see a crowd in America given IMSA< I did see that Laguna had a pathetic round however, which was odd.

Unfortunately, Laguna hasn't enjoyed a reputable attendance since the MotoGP days. Quite a shame given the circuit's history and significance to US motorsport. Perhaps the nuisance caused by the NIMBYs over the decades has had an effect.

[RL17]

I a bit biased to Caddy. Bamber was great on Kemmel straight for half an hour or so before- best action of whole race and pleased to see him get out so easily afterwards in front of us.

Surprised Porsche got away as did move left and then drove diagonally right to close gap - clearly on video - despite saying he drove straight after incident. Loads of room for 3 cars there and no need for Porsche to go right given next corner

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Brilliant. so pleased you had a good time. I always love the first glimpse of the track as you arrive.

Did you get round the track much while you were there?

We did! It’s funny, everyone always says that Spa it bigger and hillier than you expect, but after hearing that relentlessly for two decades, my mind had clearly overcompensated and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get around.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

We did! It’s funny, everyone always says that Spa it bigger and hillier than you expect, but after hearing that relentlessly for two decades, my mind had clearly overcompensated and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get around.

Same. I found Spa fine because I was prepared.

The opposite for Silverstone. "Oh it's so flat". I did the Half Marathon there. Running up Hanger Straight - it's not flat, I'm telling you that.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Same. I found Spa fine because I was prepared.

The opposite for Silverstone. "Oh it's so flat". I did the Half Marathon there. Running up Hanger Straight - it's not flat, I'm telling you that.

From this map it looks like the elevation at Silverstone is c14 metres, from 143 metres to 157. A lot more than I would have thought considering its airfield background. (It clicks to a large scale)

[Adam43]

As they say in cycling it is a false flat.