Hour 6 Update: Renault leads, Kia falters

The Delahaye Racing Renault Mégane leads the 12 Hours of Spa at half distance, with the Volvo S60 close in tow. Kia’s strong charge hit a set back, but they’re hopeful of a good result.

Soon after hour three, the Volvo came in for it’s off sequence pitstop, which gave the lead back to the No.17 Kia Pro_Cee’d of Koen Wauters, Jeffrey Van Hooydonck & Jan Haylen – which had dominated the bulk of the first three hours.

Unfortunately, soon into the second quarter of the race, the Kia was hit by a problem. Driver Koen Wauters explained to us:
“It was running well…the oil drops in a certain turn, and when it goes below a certain level, the computer takes over and shuts the engine down.”

“I lost maybe like a minute or something…then Jeffrey (van Hooydonck) had the same problem. He came in, they sorted out the problem; they’ve put the alarm limit higher, put more oil in – so we think it’s stopped, but we lost two laps.”

The Delahaye Racing Renault Mégane then assumed the lead, and has held it since – after a short safety car period, the gap for the lead was reduced to zero to the Volvo.

Rob Huff started behind the Renault, but was unable to keep close, explaining the Volvo has a power disadvantage to the Renault and the BMW’s.

Vincent Radermecker told us Volvo’s strategy is consistency:
“It’s a brand new car so we are not perfect on set-up, but it’s driveable. It’s not as quick as the others, but if we have the reliability & consistency it could be good.”

“It’s an endurance race, it’s always the same story – drive as fast as possible without taking any risks, there’s no secret.”

Official Placings at 6 Hours: