6H Spa-Francorchamps Preview: Part 2, LMP2 & GTE Am

DSC’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps preview continues this morning with Part 2, dedicated to the LMP2 and GTE Am classes. You can catch up with Part 1 HERE >>>

The LMP2 field for Spa is reduced to its 11-car full-season line-up, following the withdrawal of the #48 HERTZ Team JOTA ORECA, which was as a stop-gap race-by-race entry from the British team while it waited to take delivery of its 963.

At the front of the field, Portimao saw a hugely convincing performance from United Autosports. With a 1-2 finish last time out, the team bounced back from the misfortune for the #23 at Sebring, which cost the team a potential win, in fine style.

Perhaps the greater question is not whether United can pull off another 1-2 this weekend, but instead, whether or not the other teams in the class can prevent one?

On paper, Prema Racing and WRT have more than enough talent and resources to get closer, though it has to be said the Italian outfit has looked the more convincing of the two thus far.

In particular, Prema’s #63 crew of future Lamborghini LMDh pair Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, along with the young Iron Dames-backed star Doriane Pin, looks poised for a breakout race and victory, after showing flashes of brilliance in the opening races.

The sister #9 hasn’t looked up to speed yet, but this is a field where, as one team owner put it to DSC last weekend, being just slightly off can see you outside the top five in qualifying sessions and races. For proof, look no further than Alpine, which has a glittering LMP2 CV, yet has struggled to make an impact in this company on its return to the category. It’s been a similar tale for JOTA’s #28 ORECA, which failed to match the guest-entered #48 in Sebring and Portimao.

Being just slightly off can see you outside the top five in qualifying sessions and races

The remaining ORECAs from Inter Europol and Vector Sport have, on the other end of the scale, over-achieved in many ways. The only thing lacking from either team has been a ‘complete’ performance over an entire meeting. Gabriel Aubry’s pace in Portimao was an example of this.

Vector looked to be making huge strides in pace, with the Frenchman missing out on the pole by the slimmest of margins before mechanical woes let it down in the race. On the subject of Aubry, Vector will surely be exploring the possibility of him taking the step into Hypercar with the team when it takes the reins at Isotta Fraschini. If it doesn’t, then surely someone else will?

Looking at GTE Am, the #33 Corvette Racing effort, as with Toyota in Hypercar, comes to Spa in search of a third win. In the GTE ranks the margins between the double-winner and its closest competitors are significantly smaller though and are coming down.

As with every squad in the class, the heavy lifting is done by the Bronze-ranked driver. Ben Keating was dominant in Portimao, and whilst others were able to match his pace for a while, over the double stint, there are only a couple of other Bronze drivers in this field that can find pace as consistently as the enthusiastic Texan.

Add in the gathering pace of Nico Varrone and strength in depth from Nicky Catsburg, whose defensive drive at the end of the last race, stood out as one of the standout performances. The C8.R crew presents a formidable challenge here, even with another increase in success ballast.

Second in Portimao was the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari. After the disaster at Sebring the plan came together in Portugal. A solid opening stint from Luis Perez-Companc set the stage for an excellent run from Lilou Wadou, which set up a grandstand finish that saw Alessio Rovera close the gap to Catsburg but unable to find a way through, in what was as clean and close a lead battle as GTE has seen in its history.

Wadou equalled the best-ever WEC finish by a female driver with second place. The #85 Iron Dames trio completed the podium after another race-long battle in the lead group. Sarah Bovy’s Bronze-ranked pace was again a standout.

Prior to the Portimao weekend, class insiders predicted that the Ferraris would go well. The #54 and #21 AF Corse crews added to the #83’s successes, with fourth and fifth-place finishes after being in contention for podium honours. They only thing lacking for both was the lack of punch required for a win.

Prior to the Portimao weekend, class insiders predicted that the Ferraris would go well

The Porsche pack was back to full strength at Portimao, after the #88’s misfortunes at Sebring.

The duo of Ryan Hardwick and Zach Robichon will come to Spa on a high after taking a fine GTE win in the ELMS opener at Barcelona last weekend, joining Harry Tincknell again after spending a week in Spain with Alessio Picariello.

Project 1 AO Racing meanwhile, comes to Spa with a tweaked line-up, with PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeanette back after the clash with IMSA at Long Beach, to compete with Matteo Cairoli.

GR Racing has shown real form so far this season. If it can find consistency then the results may come, for a team that undoubtedly has a quick car in its garage.

The same can be said for the #77 Dempsey Proton outfit. Its new-look crew of Julien Andlauer, Mikkel Pedersen and Christan Reid is taking time to unlock strong results. For one of the most experienced teams on the entry, it’s been an uncharacteristically difficult start to the season.

There is one outlier in the Ferrari field, and that is Kessel Racing’s #57. Again, there is pace on tap, but one of the championship’s undercard storylines needs not to be a feature at Spa, with Japanese gentlemen drivers Takeshi Kimura and D’Station Racing’s Satoshi Hoshino showing something of a predilection for door-banging competition that has cost both better results thus far.

In the Aston camp, ORT by TF Sport has so far failed to produce the results that the team and its driver squad, including a proven Bronze in Ahmad Al Harthy, are capable of.

That leaves questions about the Balance of Performance for the Vantage AMRs firmly on the table, especially as a similar story played out in the ELMS weekend in Barcelona, where TF Sport and GMB Motorsport both had to keep expectations far lower than they were comfortable with. There has been a change ahead of this weekend to the GTE Am BoP to the benefit of Aston Martin’s customers, but it would appear on the face of it to be a marginal one.

Finally, it’s a fond farewell to Paul Dalla Lana in a last-minute switch for the #98 Northwest AMR squad, to a crew brought to the championship by Heart of Racing. Ian James and his teammates Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas will all make their FIA WEC GTE Am debuts this weekend. It will be interesting to track how quickly the trio can get up to speed.

Saturday’s race is set to get underway at 12:45 local time.

Images courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography

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