WEC this weekend Spa-Francorchamp

[teamzr1]

C8.R at top of point standings at this time

WEC Spa-Francorchamp Race Info
Circuit of Spa-Francorchamp

April 27-29, 2023

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TV AND LIVE STREAMING:

US & Canada TV Broadcast:

Motor Trend TV Channel (showing 3 hours out of the 6 hours)
Saturday April 29 Part 1: 6:30 to 8:00 am EDT
Saturday April 29 Part 2: 11:30 to 1:00 pm EDT

Other online sources:
Motortrend Plus
Saturday April 29 6:30 to 1:00 pm EDT

https://www.motortrend.com/plus/show...FL_RbYo7oqCv4M

Qualifying: April 28, 2023
Q1 11:00 am EDT
Q2 10:25 am EDT
Q3 10:50 am EDT
Watch live FIA WEC app, MotorTrend or Motorsport TV. ( app purchases)

Radio: Radio Le Mans (RS1)
RS Player

RS Player

Live Timing & pit notes:
FIA WEC - Timing Results

TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2023

http://twitter.com/ @CorvetteRacing, @FIAWEC, @circuitspa, @PrattMiller

Official Hastag #WEC , #6HSpa

Social media platforms:
Website: https://www.spa-francorchamps.be/en
Website: TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2023

Facebook: Corvette Racing Fans
Facebook: FIA WEC
Facebook: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Spa Map:
Race Optimal
Spa-Francorchamps Circuit

Spa Entry List:
https://racer.com/wp-content/uploads...ist_290323.pdf

Spa Schedule: (note-race time is 6 hours ahead of eastern time)
https://storage.googleapis.com/fiawe...sXLHO3UqPVmxX4

Weather:
https://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Rac...s-Circuit.aspx

Circuit Guide:

 

[teamzr1]

Two wins, one pole position and a 31-point lead in the GTE Am Drivers and Team championships.
Any way you put it, it’s been a dream start to the FIA World Endurance Championship for C8.R Corvette Racing.

Less than two weeks after a stunning triumph in the Six Hours of Portimão, the No. 33 Corvette C8.R is back in action Thursday through Saturday at famed Spa-Francorchamps for the Six Hours of Spa the team’s final WEC race before the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The championship-leading trio of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone will share the wheel of the Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, which will race at Spa for the third time.

While each of the drivers have been fantastic in the two wins so far this year Catsburg’s final hour in Portimão is an early leader for drive of the season, the results are equally due to the work by the Corvette Racing pit crew and engineering team.
The strategy calls through two rounds has been spot-on with precise decisions on race and pit stop strategy.

Once in the pit lane, the Corvette Racing crew has been a difference-maker.
That was never more evident than on the final stop in Portugal when the Corvette crew completed their final stop five seconds faster than the runner-up Ferrari with a margin of 0.260 seconds at the finish.

That result means that regardless of what happens at Spa, Corvette Racing will enter Le Mans a double-points event with the championship lead.
It also means the No. 33 C8.R will carry 45 kilograms of “rewards weight”, per the GTE Am sporting regulations.
Cars that finish the previous two races first, second or third must on-board additional weight on a sliding scale of 15-10-5 kilograms. In addition, the same amounts of ballast apply to the top-three entries in the GTE Am championship standings.

The Corvette ran with 30 additional kilograms at Portimão, but it didn’t deter Keating from taking pole position, his first in the C8.R. While the task will be that much tougher to repeat at Spa, Corvette Racing can take lessons it learned from the previous two years in the Six Hours of Spa with the mid-engine C8.R.
Aside from the additional ballast, the C8.R will race in much the same shape as 2021 and 2022 similar engine power, same mechanical configuration and Corvette-specific Michelin tires.

The Six Hours of Spa for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. ET / 12:45 p.m. Central European Time Saturday. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both live television and streaming coverage.
Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage of qualifying and the race. Live-streaming video of qualifying and the race is also available through a subscription on the FIA WEC app.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Spa is one of my favorite tracks. Compared to Portimão, we have a lot more information from the last two years. But we also will have a very heavy car due to the reward's weight, so it will be difficult for us there. It’s also a good sign, though; it means we have won two races, which is the best thing you can do at the start of the season. So I’m looking forward to going to Spa. It’s an amazing track with high speeds.

I don’t think I’ve raced a mid-engine car around Spa, so that will be a new thing. But I’m looking forward to this event. It’s almost like a home race for me, so it should be a good weekend.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Going into Spa, it’s my favorite track on the WEC schedule. I really love Spa.
I qualified very well last year and put together an excellent lap. Based on what I know about the track and the characteristics of the Corvette, I expect us to be strong. Both of my co-drivers have a lot of experience there, so it should be good.

Because we won Sebring and Portimão, and we’re still leading the points, we’ll still have more weight in the car than anyone else. But the Corvette manages the weight very well. I have a ton of convince in the team and my teammates. We all love the track.
Usually, the track you love ends up loving you back! We hope that’s the case at Spa.”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“I’m really looking forward to this race. Spa is one of my favorite tracks in the world. It will be really nice to drive the C8.R there and I know I’ll love it.
We’ll see how it goes. We will have more success ballast, but we’ll do our best and get the maximum result and points as possible.
It would be good to arrive at Le Mans with good points in the championship.
Let’s see what happens first at Spa.”

Driver Standings

1. Ben Keating/Nicky Catsburg/Nico Varrone – 64
2. Christian Ried/Julien Andlauer/Mikkel Pedersen – 33
3. Simon Mann/Stefano Constantini/Ulysse De Pauw – 28
4. Davide Rigon/Francesco Castellacci/Thomas Flohr – 27
5. Daniel Serra/Scott Huffaker/Takeshi Kimura – 24

Team Standings
1. No. 33 Corvette Racing – 64
2. No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing – 33
3. No. 21 AF Corse – 28
4. No. 54 AF Corse – 27
5. No. 57 Kessel Racing – 24

 

[teamzr1]

After second practice

Cadillac Racing’s brand-new Hybrid No. 3 V-Series.R, which was finished being built up just before Free Practice 1, also lost most of the session to an issue.
Renger van der Zande was forced to stop the car due to a small fire after just two laps.

A statement from the team after the session revealed that the fire (put out by Renger) was caused by a “self-induced” mistake, which the team was not comfortable explaining in further detail. “We are going to have some extra work to do tonight,” the team added.

The most significant incident came with 14 minutes remaining in the session, when the No. 21 and No. 54 GTE Am class Ferrari 488s had a huge off at Raidillon.
The cars, driven by Diego Alessi and Thomas Flohr respectively, were damaged severely after contact with the barriers on driver’s right after Flohr reported he was rear-ended by the No. 21.

Both drivers exited their cars without outside assistance, although there was no information immediately available on their condition. The No. 21 sustained heavy right-side and rear-end damage, while the No. 54 sustained front-end damage.

In LMP2, Team WRT’s No. 31 ORECA set the pace with a 2m06.108s from Robin Frijns, who was quicker than the six of the 13 Hypercar class cars. United Autosport’s No. 22 and the No. 41 sister WRT ORECA completed the top three with times four and five-tenths off the Dutchman.

The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari, which was damaged in the Raidillon incident, led GTE Am with a 2m15.736s from Davide Rigon. The No. 57 Kessel Ferrari and GR Racing Porsche finished the day second and third.

C8.R was lousy in both practice sessions, almost last place :-(

UP NEXT: Free Practice 3 is set to get underway at 11:00am local time, Friday.

 

[teamzr1]

Antonio Giovinazzi secured pole position for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, outpacing Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi in a session that saw Brendon Hartley crash on his out lap.

The Italian driver set a best lap of 2:00.777 aboard the No. 51 Ferrari 499P to secure the Italian marque’s second pole position of the season.
He cleared the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi by 0.039 seconds, with Miguel Molina third overall and 0.059 seconds down.
Giovinazzi recovered from a spin at La Source earlier in the session to claim pole. It came not long after a session-halting incident triggered by the No. 8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley.

Hartley lost control of his car at Raidillon on his out lap and hit the barriers nose first, bringing out the red flag. He took no further part in the session.
Earl Bamber completed the second row aboard the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, 0.266 seconds removed from pole.
Teammate Sebastien Bourdais completed the top five in the No. 3 Cadillac, ahead of the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre and the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche in the hands of Will Stevens.

Olivier Pla qualified eighth for Glickenhaus, with Peugeot’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Fred Makowiecki completing the top five.
Gustavo Menezes and Tom Dillmann were eleventh and twelfth, respectively.

Blomqvist & Al Harthy on Pole in LMP2, GTE-Am

United Autosports will start Saturday’s six-hour race from pole position, thanks to a fast lap from Tom Blomqvist.
Blomqvist reeled off a best lap of 2:05.979 aboard the No. 23 Oreca 07 Gibson, besting the No. 41 Team WRT Oreca of Louis Deletraz by 0.339 seconds.
Daniil Kvyat qualified third for Prema, ahead of WRT’s Frijns and the No. 28 JOTA car in the hands of Pietro Fittipaldi.

Bent Viscaal was sixth, with the top eight completed by United driver Filipe Albuquerque and the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca driven by Fabio Scherer.
Ahmad Al Harthy took his maiden pole position in WEC in dominant fashion to lead GTE-Am qualifying.
The Omani driver steered the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage GTE to a best lap of 2:17.216.

He remained ahead of the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Sarah Bovy by a margin of 1.934 seconds.
Al Harthy already sat at the top of the times with an early flyer when the session was red-flagged, triggered by a big incident for PJ Hyett at Raidillon.
Hyett lost control of the No. 56 Project 1 – AO Porsche and hit the barrier hard, but was able to walk away under his own power.

When the session resumed, Al Harthy was able to improve on his early best lap twice en route to pole.
Ryan Hardwick took third aboard the No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche, ahead of Corvette Racing’s Ben Keating.

Luis Perez Companc completed the top five in the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

 

[teamzr1]

In the GTE session, which was interrupted by a red flag for an incident at Raidillon, Ahmad Al Harthy scored his first WEC pole in the ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin.
The Omani driver set a rapid 2m17.216s at the end of the session to go almost two seconds clear of the other Bronze drivers taking part.
The pole time was a big improvement on the 2m18.127s he set before the red flag, which was good enough for provisional pole at the time.

Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Porsche came closest to the Aston, with a late effort after the red flag to put herself and the Italian team on the front row. Her best lap was a 2m19.150s.
Ryan Hardwick completed the top three in the session in the No. 88 Proton Porsche.
He briefly sat second after his 2m19.481s, but Bovy’s lap, completed moments later, proved to be 0.3s quicker.

The championship-leading Corvette Racing C8.R, which is aiming for a third-straight win to start the season, ended up fourth.
Ben Keating, in a C8.R BoP forced to carry two sets of ballast for this event, still managed to set a 2m19.506s.
It will give him and the team confidence that it can bank plenty more points and solidify the team’s position at the top of the points standings ahead of Le Mans in the race tomorrow.

“I think the red flag benefited us,” said Keating. “P4 is a perfect result for carrying 45 extra kilos on this particular track.

Even without those, I don’t know if I was able to keep up with (pole-winner Ahmad) Al Harthy in the Aston Martin.
The Aston is really strong around here. Last year I qualified a second-and-a-half ahead of the field in the Aston around here.
But they’ve got a bunch more power, and we’ve got a bunch more weight.”

The fastest of the Ferraris, the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse, will start fifth ahead of the Northwest AMR Aston Martin that is here with its new-look crew. Ian James set a very respectable 2m19.976s ahead of the Heart of Racing driver trio’s maiden WEC outing tomorrow.

 

[teamzr1]

Just about 4 hours of 6 hours of race completed

C8.R started up front but falling back at this time

 

[teamzr1]

C8.R took a second place finish
Notice the car taking first place had one less fuel stop
If WEC had not BoP the C8.R with even more added weight it would have won

In GTE-AM, Alessio Rovera, Lilou Wadoux and Luis Perez Companc took class honors in the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

The trio finished 18.6 seconds ahead of the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nico Varrone, Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating.

Catsburg fought an intense battle for the second spot on the podium in the final minutes with the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Charlie Eastwood.
Eastwood steadily chipped away at the Dutchman’s lead in the closing stages and repeatedly attempted to pass the Corvette, but failed to do so.
Eastwood, sharing the car with Ahmad al Harthy and Michael Dinan, completed the podium in class.

C8.R still holds the season points

 

[teamzr1]

Watch how the #3 caddy crashes out

 

[teamzr1]

FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (April 29, 2023) – It wasn’t a victory, but Corvette Racing earned the next best thing Saturday with a rallying drive to a runner-up class finish at the Six Hours of Spa in the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone finished second in GTE Am with their No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R a remarkable result given some of the hardships working against the Corvette Racing team.

The team came back from 12th place early in the race along with the addition of 45 kilograms of success ballast for this race to keep its perfect run of podiums intact through the first three races and more importantly, keep its early-season momentum headed into the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For the second race in a row, Catsburg took a starring role late. After a stellar defense two weeks ago to win at Portimão, Catsburg held off the faster car of Charlie Eastwood for second place. The result means that against all odds, the Corvette team increased its GTE Am championship lead unofficially from 31 points to 39: 82 points compared to the No. 83 Ferrari team with 43.

Keating started fourth in class, but the big story even before the race began was the weather. With the track damp and mist falling, the Corvette team elected to start the race on wet-weather tires. Numerous cars on slick tires went off-track, and race officials elected to begin the race behind the safety car.

The additional formation lap allowed the dry-tire cars a chance to get their tires up to temperature, putting the Corvette and other cars that began on rain tires at a distinct disadvantage once the race went green and the track began to try.

Keating made a pit stop for dry tires at the 30-minute mark to fall down the order, and the Corvette team caught another bad break when the pits closed for another safety-car period as Keating was set to come in again for fuel, tires and a driver change.
Instead, he had to stop for five seconds of emergency fuel near the one-hour, 45-minute mark and came in a lap later for the scheduled service.

Varrone took over for a double-stint from seventh place and steadily worked his way up into the top-five through a full-course yellow and the race’s third safety-car period. The initial stint on his tires was difficult to manage as the team chose to try a harder compound in his run, but changing to a softer tire put him back on the pace of the leaders heading into the final two hours.

That set the stage for Catsburg’s double-stint to the end. A fourth safety-car period brought the Corvette back to the lead pack, and he managed to find himself in first before the final stop with 54 minutes remaining. A fierce duel over the final 40 minutes began with Catsburg getting around Eastwood on the latter’s out-lap and racing out to a nearly eight-second advantage.
It didn’t take long for the lighter and quicker Aston Martin to find its way back to Catsburg’s rear bumper.

The final 14 minutes saw the two cars run nose-to-tail, with Catsburg keeping the Corvette ahead despite traffic from the overtaking prototypes.
He crossed the line with a 0.249-second gap to third place.

Corvette Racing’s next event in the FIA WEC is the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 10-11. It is an event that Corvette Racing has won eight times.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R SECOND IN GTE AM:

“Somehow we managed to find ourselves in the top-five or top-six before I jumped in the car. The Corvette Racing guys did great work again in the pitlane. We were in the mix with the front-runners, and I was able to pass some on the out-lap. I knew we didn’t have the pace to challenge for the lead, and I was never expecting to keep P2. But it worked out. It was déjà vu back to Portimão!

I was struggling a lot to keep the Aston Martin behind. Charlie did a great job. He didn’t make any crazy moves and it was super-nice racing. An awesome feeling of two races in a row getting a good result. Great job to Ben doing the start in insanely difficult conditions.

Nico… what people don’t know is that Nico had to drive on the worst tire compound we had available because we used him as a guinea pig to test! So it was very difficult for him, and hats off to him for keeping the car on the track and keeping it in contention. I’m super happy with the work they are doing, and the team is doing. It’s super nice to have these big points.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R SECOND IN GTE AM:

"This is another team win. Even though we came home second, with 45 extra kilograms, this feels like it's better than a win. I came into Sebring with the idea that maybe we could win. I came into Portimao with the idea that a podium would be a success.

I came into this race thinking a top-five would be good. I never dreamed we would be second. It's an unbelievable finish, especially given how we started.
Normally in these races, you don't get the opportunity to make up lost time. We had three different times when we got a pass-around around the safety car. We were a lap down a couple of times because I made the choice to go out on rain tires at the start because I thought it was the conservative, safe choice.

It turned out to be the wrong choice and had to come in for an early stop. Because of that, we were off-sequence with everyone and kept going a lap down. The safety cars came out exactly when we needed them to, and we were able to get our laps back. It was a crazy race. It's hard to think that it was even crazier than Portimao!
I'm just glad I have a good heart! This has been unbelievable to watch. The whole team was fantastic. Nico did a great job. I don't know how Nicky stayed in front of the Aston Martin because they were so fast all weekend. It's just an incredible job by Nicky two weekends in a row. I'm ready to go to Le Mans!"

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R SECOND IN GTE AM:

“This was a really hard race. From the beginning, we weren’t looking to be on the podium. A top-five would have been mega.

But again the Corvette Racing team did a great job. We were lucky with the pass-arounds to get us back in the fight for the win. Nicky had great pace and did a great job defending, again as in Portimão. Today was just fantastic.
I can’t really believe it yet! It was a bit crazy. Big thanks to Ben and Nicky for the great job, and to Corvette Racing for amazing pit stops and the engineers on the strategy. Everything was perfect.”