BMW snatch victory in dying moments of race
In an exhilarating end to the 12 Hours of Spa, the KS Motorsport BMW M3 snatched victory from the Volvo team with just over one lap to go.
Soon after the Volvo had been dropped a lap behind the Delahaye Racing Renault Mégane for passing the safety car, the Renault, being driven by Christian Kelders, went off the track and took over ten minutes to recover to the pitlane. The Delahaye Racing entry also lost a further eight laps whilst being repaired in the pitlandputting the Volvo S60 into a strong lead.
Rob Huff also explained the confusion around the safety car incident:
“We got the safety car boards – I was about 20th in the queue, and at the time of the safety car the Renault came into the pits.”
“The safety car coming down into Pouhon was indicating to the right, and pulling over on the right hand side of the track and everyone was going passed him. I left a 60m gap between myself and Jean-Louis in front of me, he went past the safety car, through the first part of Pouhon, and then I flashed the safety car two or three times to say ‘we’re here’, and he stayed on the right hand side with his indicators all the way through the corner, then coming out of the corner – so I pulled alongside him, looked at him, got no response, so for me I did the right thing, I went past.”
Huff commented “I think they lost complete concentration of what they were doing”.
The Volvo looked set to pull of a surprise victory in it’s first endurance race, until a late safety car bunched up the field again, and put the KS Motorsport BMW, which had qualified on pole but at this point had not led a lap of the race, right back in the mix.
After the restart, the BMW at the hands of Ruben Maes closed in on the Volvo during the final 20 minute stretch, and on what was the penultimate lap, managed to overtake the Volvo S60, now driven by Eric van de Poele – in a dramatic end to this special round of the championship.
Volvo’s Vincent Radermecker believed the final safety car is what caused the team to lose the race.
“Of course, the gap was enough to keep the first position, but the question was why was there a safety car? said Radermecker
“There was a car in the gravel trap, but there were a lot of cars in the gravel trap during the race, but not always a safety car.”
Rob Huff was disheartened, but contemplative about the result.
“The car ran beautifully throughout the race, for a brand new car” said Huff.
“To drive in the 12 Hour race here in Spa, is a very special event – it would have been very special to win it, but at the same time to have finished second, we have to be very happy”.
It’s KS Motorsport’s second win of the season, after taking the first race win at Dijon-Prenois.
The Duller Motorsport BMW M3 finished on the final position on the podium, five laps down. Delahaye Racing had to settle for fourth in the classification.
Provisional Result of the 12 Hours of Spa
