Ferrari AF Corse’s Alessandro Pier Guidi was able to benefit from Signatech Alpine’s Mick Schumacher choosing to short pit during the second and final safety car period Saturday (May 10). Pier Guidi was able to take advantage of full course yellows to conserve energy and keep the lead after a late stop. From there, he held on to win the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with teammates James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi. It is the trio’s second straight victory and the third in a row for Ferrari AF Corse.
“I still can’t believe it,” Pier Guidi said after the race. “At the end, I had to push every lap as if it were qualifying. After the splash [of fuel], I couldn’t believe that I was still P1.”
The margin of victory was 4.229 seconds over the No. 50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. Signatech Alpine’s Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki and Mick Schumacher was third, then Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa. Hertz Team JOTA’s Norman Nato, Alex Lynn and Will Stevens were fifth in the best of the Cadillacs.
Nielsen started from the overall pole in his Ferrari 499P. Calado was second, while the customer AF Corse No. 83 with Phil Hanson driving was third. Unlike the first two races of the season, things were a little different.
The customer Ferrari was out of contention early. A turbo issue put the car in the garage. They would eventually return to the race, but finished 39 laps down.
The fastest driver early on was Makowiecki, who started sixth, but quickly moved up into contention. He was able to get his Alpine A424 up to second behind Nielsen when the first full course yellow came out when Proton Competition’s Nico Pino stalled on course.
For much of the middle sections of the race, the battle at the front of the field was between the two Ferraris and the No. 36 Alpine. However, just before halfway, Jules Gounon was able to get past during a sequence of pit stops to take the overall lead. From there, Gounon was actually able to pull away from the Ferraris.
The safety car came out right at the halfway point when United Autosports’ Sean Galael spun hard into the tire barrier after contact from Iron Lynx’s Matteo Cairoli.
Galael was ok, but he was out on the spot. Cairoli was not penalized for the contact.
As compared to practice on Thursday and Friday, the race ended up being fairly clean. There were moments of contact and a couple of spins. However, Galael’s crash was the only one that led directly to a retirement.
Later on, Racing Spirit of Leman’s Eduardo Barrichello had contact with the other United Autosports McLaren of Sebastien Baud. Baud slid off-course and nosed into the Tecpro barrier.
Baud was able to back out of the barrier without assistance and drive back. However, the protocol to bring out the safety car had already been initiated.
During that safety car period, Gounon pitted to hand over to Schumacher in a short pit scenario. That handed the lead over to Pier Guidi, who had pitted before the safety car.
A full course yellow due to debris with 38 minutes to go changed a lot of things around. Schumacher was leading at the time since Pier Guidi had stopped early, but still had to make a pit stop.
That stop came with 29 minutes to go, putting Pier Guidi back in the overall lead with a big advantage. However, Pier Guidi also couldn’t make it to the end on his energy.
A brief full course caution for more debris slowed things briefly, but strife occurred right after the green came back out. Right before the interruption, Schumacher had taken fourth from Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nyck de Vries.
When the green came back out, de Vries immediately pounced on Schumacher. Contact was made between the two drivers on more than one occasion. Ultimately, de Vries was forced to make a pit stop that took him out of the hunt.
Pier Guidi pitted with 13 minutes to go to take on the necessary energy to reach the finish. The two full course yellows allowed him to go further than he would have. That allowed him to take on less energy than he would have had to otherwise.
What could have been an Alpine victory ended up with Pier Guidi exiting the pits with a 14-second lead. From there, he was able to hold on to take the win.
In LMGT3, Akkodis ASP Team’s Arnold Robin started from the pole in his Lexus and drove off to a 10-second lead over the rest of the class early on. However, the full course yellow shook things up significantly.
A slow stop for the Lexus squad allowed Team WRT’s Ahmad Al Harthy, driving a repaired car after he had contact with Pier Guidi right at the end of Free Practice No. 3 Friday, to take the class lead.
The middle sections of the race were dominated by The Heart of Racing and Manthey 1st Phorm. However, the Manthey Porsche was given a drive-through penalty when Ryan Hardwick had contact with Iron Lynx’s Martin Berry in the chicane, spinning Berry out.
The debris yellow with 38 minutes to go effectively gifted the race to Vista AF Corse’s No. 21. They had already made their final pit stop and were running the highest of those who had stopped.
When Proton Competition’s Ben Barker pitted his Ford Mustang GT3 with 23 minutes to go, Alessio Rovera took the class lead. From there, Rovera pulled away from the pack to take the class win with teammates Simon Mann and Francois Heriau.
The margin of victory was 40.23 seconds over Proton Competition’s Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato and Dennis Olsen. The No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Davide Rigon were third, then the No. 77 Mustang of Barker, Bernardo Sousa and Ben Tuck. A lap down in fifth was The Heart of Racing’s Mattia Drudi, Ian James and Zacharie Robichon finished a lap down in fifth.
FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Unofficial Results
Next up for the WEC is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the biggest sports car race of them all. The race will be held the weekend of June 14-15 and air live on Motor Trend and Max.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.