6H Spa-Francorchamps: Thursday Paddock Notes

A testing day for Cadillac

Sebastien Bourdais pointed out in this morning’s pre-event press conference that the IMSA Cadillac Racing crew on site had been working tirelessly ahead of FP1 to finish prepping the #3 V-Series.R for its first session in anger.

Unfortunately, the #3 crew were given a chance to reflect on its build fairly immediately. The car stopped on track during Free Practice 2 this afternoon at the hands of Renger van der Zande, after suffering an onboard fire.

The root cause was believed to be an error made within the team during the car’s final preparation. Thankfully, Van der Zande successfully put out the fire himself and prevented a major drama. Parts were en route to the circuit this evening, with senior team sources telling DSC that the team was utterly confident the car would be ready for tomorrow.

Endurance Grandstand and Terraces now open to the public

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit officially opened its new Endurance Terraces and Grandstand this evening. The official ribbon cutting was performed by circuit management, municipal representatives, plus ACO President Pierre Fillon, LMEM CEO Frederic Lequien and FIA Endurance Commission President Richard Mille.

The new stand and terraces sit opposite the endurance pits on the run down to Eau Rouge from La Source and replace the old stand and terrace which offered 3,700 seats, with a new 4,100-seat grandstand and terraces for 3,140 fans, practically doubling the capacity for that section of the track. The grandstand offers an unobstructed view from the apex of La Source right up to Raidillon.

Glickenhaus auction

Jim Glickenhaus revealed that the team is set to auction a car at the Le Mans 24 Hours in aid of Unicef after it has had a special livery designed by a ‘world famous’ artist applied to it.

“We always try to do some good for everyone,” he said during the pre-event press conference.

Testing planned for Peugeot and Vanwall

Peugeot Sport is set to head to the Magny Cours circuit for a final pre-Le Mans test in May. DSC is told this will be a performance-focused test rather than an endurance test like its recent 30-hour run at Circuit Paul Ricard before the WEC meeting in Portimao.

Vanwall too is due to undergo another test before Le Mans, the team set to join Ferrari and Porsche for three days in Monza during May with its Vandervell 680.

Da Costa to arrive late

HERTZ Team JOTA driver Antonio Felix Da Costa missed today’s track action, the first for the British team with its brand-new Porshce 963. This is because the Portuguese driver was busy in Weissach doing some Formula E simulator work as part of his duties with Porsche in the series.

Thus, only Will Stevens and Yifei Ye turned laps in the new car today. Over the two practice sessions, the duo completed 40 laps with the car.

Another Hypercar driver who didn’t manage to complete any laps today was Jack Aitken. The Briton was due to turn his first laps in the Cadillac Racing #3 V-Series.R in Free Practice 1, but the session was red-flagged before he had a chance to climb in. The car then only completed two circuit tours in Free Practice 2 before the fire.

Alessi handed penalty for FP2 incident

#21 AF Corse driver Diego Alessi has been handed a 30-second stop-go penalty, to be served during this week’s race, or the next race he takes part in, which may be the Le Mans 24 Hours if the team is unable to get a car ready for the Saturday.

Alessi was found to have caused the FP2-ending collision with the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, which was exiting the pits on cold tyres and under the protection of white flags, and on the racing line, exactly as instructed by the race director.

Another team that was handed a significant penalty today was the Vanwall outfit. The Austrian-flagged team has been handed a 10-minute stop and hold at the beginning for Free Practice 3 or for the race if it cannot serve it during tomorrow’s final practice. This was given to the team after it failed to serve a 10-minute stop and hold at the beginning of FP2 because the mechanics undertook work on the car during the penalty.

The original 10-minute penalty was dolled out for the collision in FP1 involving Esteban Guerrieri and the #777 D’Station Aston Martin. Guerrieri was also handed two penalty points.

Weekend preview

Catch up with the FIA WEC’s weekend preview video with Alexa Rendell and Sam Smith with the YouTube link below:

#21 AF Corse image courtesy of Paul Mousley, Endurance Grandstand image courtesy of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps