The Six Hours of Spa has restarted after a two-hour stoppage due to barrier repairs following a heavy crash.
The race was suspended under red flag conditions for over two hours following an enormous accident just after the four-hour mark.The stoppage was triggered when number two Cadillac, driven by Earl Bamber, hit the number 31 WRT BMW GT3 car driven by Sean Galeal along the Kemmel Straight while pursuing the number 99 Proton Porsche for third. Bamber’s car struck the right-hand barrier at high speed and littered the track with debris.
Both drivers involved were able to climb safely from their cars without needing medical assistance, but barrier repairs along the straight caused a lengthy delay.
The race was originally scheduled to finish at 7pm local time, however, the red flag suspension exhausted the time remaining. Although the race looked set to end, race director Eduardo Freitas announced that once barrier repairs had ended, a restart would be given with one-and-three-quarter hours of race time remaining.
The field were led away by the Safety Car with the number 51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi leading the race with their sister number 50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen second and the number 99 Proton Porsche of Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer in third.
Spectators applauded the decision to restart the race at a venue which saw a controversially curtailled round of the Formula 1 world championship three years ago. The 2021 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix was abandoned after just a handful of laps under Safety Car, earning criticism from fans and drivers alike. However, that race was abandoned due to extremely wet weather, while today’s WEC race has been held in sunny, dry conditions.
Video: The crash which halted Six Hours of Spa
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Jere (@jerejj)
11th May 2024, 20:50
Hastiness to get past two cars at once through a tight gap between them proved costly.
Asd
11th May 2024, 22:52
“Those cars are so long” – exactly. It’s annoying to look at them from the side because of how long they are.
What also was annoying is that race control didn’t inform the teams, nor the fans, for the whole 2 hour wait that there was a possibility of resuming the race and adding the time wasted under red flag back. There was 5h50min on the race clock, which would not leave enough time to resume the race and everybody was convinced the race was over, the drivers had started giving interviews, and then suddenly they declared resumption of the race with re-stored clock. Terrible communication…. or they didn’t know their own rules and had to figure out that could do it first.
lynn-m
12th May 2024, 0:11
The Le Mans Prototypes have always been fairly long, especially when in the low drag configuration for le mans as they tended to lower & extend the rear bodywork for aero efficiency.
anon
12th May 2024, 8:03
Asd, do you look on cars such as the 917 L or 512 CL from the 1970s with similar fury then? Do 1980s Group C cars, such as the Porsche 962 or Jaguar XJR-9 also make you angry for their length?
MichaelN
12th May 2024, 8:41
The Hypercars are shorter than F1 cars, and they’re capped at 5000mm. That’s about the same as any generic family car like a Ford Mondeo or something of that type.
The side profile does look a bit off because if how high it is, or rather, isn’t.