WEC: Hertz Team JOTA victorious in dramatic Spa race
Hertz Team Jota’s Callum Ilott and Will Stevens took a surprise win in TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps, round three of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season
The gold Porsche 963 took advantage of a well-timed pit stop before the red flag to go out of sync with most rivals. The result was the first-ever overall WEC win for the Jota squad after previously winning races and a title in the LMP2 class. IIott and Stevens become the first duo line-up to win a top-class WEC race since 2014 and the first all-British winners since 2017.
Runners-up today were the #6 Porsche Penske 963 driven by Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor
The #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen rounded out the podium, finishing ahead of its sister #51 Ferrari AF Corse driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi
Earl Bamber crashed spectacularly on the Kemmel Straight after tagging the #99 Proton Competition Porsche of Neel Jani while battling for third position. The accident also collected Sean Gelael in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3. Both drivers emerged unhurt in the red flag-triggering incident.
Following the lengthy red flag period, necessary to repair armco barriers and catch fencing on the Kemmel Straight after the Earl Bamber/Sean Gelael accident, the race session was resumed at 19:10 local time for a period of 1 hour 44 minutes that was needed to make the necessary repairs and ensure the track is safe to race.
LAST LAP MOVE FOR LMGT3 WIN
Taking the LMGT3 victory, and doing so on the last lap, was the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 R LMGT3 of Richard Lietz, Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring, which went from P3 to winners in the last 4-miles of the race
The #92 Manthey PureRaxing Porsche 911 R LMGT3 took second place as Aleksandr Malykhin, Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm converted an epic revival after a qualifying accident which saw the team completely rebuilding their car overnight to extend their championship lead.
The #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Matteo Cressoni, Franck Perera and Claudio Schiavoni took advantage of the two-part aspect of the race and led until the last lap but were forced to splash for fuel. Perera overtook the #59 United Autosports McLaren driven by Gregoire Saucy in the final 20 minutes but the Lambo has to settle for third behind the Porsches.
