Ford GT in the Spa 24 hours 2010

[GT101]

Following the well reported valiant efforts at Le Mans, this coming weekend a Ford GT will return to the famous Spa circuit in Belgium. Mountune are proud to be working with RPM Motorsport who will be contesting the race with a newly liveried car in black with yellow stripes piloted by Alex Mortimer (previous British GT champion), Matt Griffin (currently running 2nd in the GT3 class in the British GT Championship) and Peter Bamford. The car is a customer car supplied by Matech.

I'll be there, posting up regular updates recording how we get on. Let me know if you want any particular insights into the action as it happens..........

The car looks something like this:

Dave Jones

 

[RALPHIE]

We'll all be watching and wishing you the best !

 

[RALPHIE]

Spa Timetable

The Schedule for Spa includes the GT1 Qualifying and Championship races, and the GT2 24 Hours of Spa. The timetable of events is given below:

Thursday 29 July:
09:00 - 10:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Free practice
10:45 - 11:15 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Free practice 1
11:30 - 12:50 FIA GT1 World Championship Free practice
13:05 - 13:45 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Free practice
14:00 - 15:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Pre-Qualifying
15:45 - 16:15 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Free practice 2
16:30 - 17:50 FIA GT1 World Championship Pre-Qualifying
18:05 - 18:35 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Qualifying
19:30 - 20:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Qualifying 1
20:45 - 21:30
21:45 - 22:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Qualifying 2 (night)
22:45 - 23:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Qualifying 3 (night)

Friday 30 July:
09:00 - 09:30 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Qualifying
09:45 - 10:45 FIA GT1 World Championship Qualifying
11:15 - 11:55 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Race 1
12:25 - 12:55 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Race 1
15:00 - 16:00 FIA GT1 World Championship Qualifying Race
16:30 - 17:10 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Race 2
17:40 - 18:00 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Race 2

Saturday 31 July:
08:30 - 09:00 FIA GT1 World Championship Warm Up
09:10 - 09:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Warm Up
10:00 - 10:40 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Race 3
12:05 - 13:05 FIA GT1 World Championship Championship Race
13:35 - 14:15 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Race 3
16:00 - 00:00 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Race

Sunday 1 August:
00:00 - 16:00 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Race


www.GT2Europe.com

 

[RALPHIE]

Following the well reported valiant efforts at Le Mans, this coming weekend a Ford GT will return to the famous Spa circuit in Belgium. Mountune are proud to be working with RPM Motorsport who will be contesting the race with a newly liveried car in black with yellow stripes piloted by Alex Mortimer (previous British GT champion), Matt Griffin (currently running 2nd in the GT3 class in the British GT Championship) and Peter Bamford. The car is a customer car supplied by Matech.

I'll be there, posting up regular updates recording how we get on. Let me know if you want any particular insights into the action as it happens..........

The car looks something like this:

Dave Jones

Dave - What changes are incorporated to run in the GT2 race?

 

[johncho]

MARC VDS also has 2 cars entered in the 24 hour race.
The "GT2 cup race" is a misnomer - any FIA GT car is eligible, can include GT3,GT2,GT1. Both the MARC VDS cars and team RPM cars are the Matech GT3 specification.

 

[GT101]

As johncho says this is a GT3 spec Matech car. It was rebuilt into a new chassis this year after a crash in testing. I believe this is now GT3 Chassis No 13.

 

[BelgianGT]

I hope they got good brakes. Belgium is only 68 miles in diameter.
We call it Spa-Francorchamps.

 

[Joe Dozzo]

Thanks for the news and best of luck in the race!

 

[gtinmyblood]

Awesome car! Best of luck!

 

[Ed Sims]

The Mountune - RPM Motorsports Ford GT looks fantastic. I wish you all the best.

Ed

 

[RALPHIE]

As johncho says this is a GT3 spec Matech car. It was rebuilt into a new chassis this year after a crash in testing. I believe this is now GT3 Chassis No 13.

Thank you for the clarification.

I hope they got good brakes. Belgium is only 68 miles in diameter.
We call it Spa-Francorchamps.

I'm sorry - I know that, as I spent a night in Francorchamps in June. I have no excuse other than to apologize.

 

[The One]

in the wet

Lots of racing this weekend.
http://www.gt1world.com/
http://www.gt2europe.com/
http://www.spa-francorchamps.be/en/index.php?lg=en
Good location:
http://www.sportresult.com/car-races/

 

[RALPHIE]

Is the qualifying race on live streaming? Haven't been able to get it on http://gt1world.com/gt1tv

Results now give the following:

Corvette continued their dominance of the fifth round of the FIA GT1 World Championship at Spa-Francorchamps with a lights-to-flag victory in the Qualifying Race going to the No.11 car of Xavier Maassen and Jos Menten.

Second was the Reiter Lamborghini No.25 of Ricardo Zonta and Frank Kechele with the Phoenix Racing Corvette No.13 of Marc Hennerici and Mike Hezemans third

After an after race adjustment -

6th Matech - Westbrook/Mutsch
8th Marc VDS - Martin/Leinders
14th Marc VDS - Pattala/Kuppens
20st Matech - Grosjean/Neel

Full Results - http://gt1world.com/results/event/5 - Select Qualifying Race

 

[The One]

I couldn't find any live feeds. I can't figure how the race works on Sat. Start the 24 and then throw the GT1's in 3 hrs. later, for an hour? I hope I can get a feed or find it on Bloomburg. If anyone finds anything, please post.

 

[RALPHIE]

I couldn't find any live feeds. I can't figure how the race works on Sat. Start the 24 and then throw the GT1's in 3 hrs. later, for an hour? I hope I can get a feed or find it on Bloomburg. If anyone finds anything, please post.

GT1's and 24 hour GT2's warm up Saturday morning, along with a Lamborghini race as follows:

Saturday 31 July:
08:30 - 09:00 FIA GT1 World Championship Warm Up
09:10 - 09:30 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Warm Up
10:00 - 10:40 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Race 3

Afternoon is the GT1` race at:

12:05 - 13:05 FIA GT1 World Championship Championship Race


and a Formula 3 race at

13:35 - 14:15 Cooper Tires British F3 Int. Series Race 3


The 24 hour GT2 race starts at 4:00 pm and runs through to 4:00 pm Sunday

16:00 - 00:00 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Race
Sunday 1 August (continues):
00:00 - 16:00 Total 24 Hours of Spa - FIA GT2 European Cup Race

The GT1 race is scheduled to be fed on the FIA GT1 website (http://gt1world.com/gt1live) starting at 11:00 GMT

Go Blu
​

 

[The One]

Thanks for the break down Ralphie.
Watching replay now, quite a bit of the ol' argy-bargy, the best racing in the world at the moment.
Spoiler Alert for those who haven't seen it:

 

[GT101]

Great to see a podium result for Matech in the GT1 race. Nice to meet up wth Steve Nesta too.

Just 20 minutes to the start of the 24hr race now, the sun is hiding a little behind some thin cloud. All of the drivers parade excitement is over. The serious business of keeping drivers hydrated and cool is in full flow.

Typing this from the RPM Race truck and presuming that the internet connection survives I'll type out an hourly (or thereabouts) update as the race progresses.

Fingers crossed............

 

[The One]

Good luck, Mountune/RPM, cool is the rule, make us proud.

 

[The One]

Live feed spa 24

http://www.total24hours.com/24h-spa/fr/videolive2.cfm

 

[GT101]

One hour and a quarter in. Alex Mortimer started the race 25th on the grid. A steady but consistent start saw him clmbing up the order. The Ford is good on fuel so we were able to run a fairly long first stint up to lap 25. By this time a good number of the cars ahead had pitted so by the time Alex arrived in the pits for the routine change he had climbed to 9th overall and 1st in GT3. Possibly a bit flattering but if we can maintain a long run each time we should be in a good position overall.

Peter Bamford has taken over the car now and after our stop we're back to 17th overall and 7th in GT3.

Small amount of rain just in the last 15 minutes but nothing to affect tyre choice.