Aston Martin using Pirelli P Zero wins the centenary edition of the Spa 24 Hours
Over 150 Pirelli-shod cars in Belgian event. The P Zero DHF and Cinturato WHA ensure safety for drivers and cars in both dry and wet track conditions.
Braga: “The tyres were consistent and reliable throughout the stints while setting record lap times”
Aston Martin, running Pirelli P Zero DHF tyres has won the one hundredth edition of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The Comtoyou Racing Vantage AMR GT3 Evo #7 crewed by Italy’s Mattia Drudi and the Danish pair of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen took a win at the end of what was a very unpredictable 24 Hours of Spa both because of the weather and the on track action.
In fact, 45 minutes prior to the chequered flag Alessandro Pier Guidi and the AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 appeared to have the race win in its grasp but coming in for its final pit stop, the #51 car, Pier Guidi shared with Davide Rigon and Alessio Rovera found itself stuck at the entry to pit lane, behind a Lamborghini that had broken down and so it was overtaken by its rivals.
Having fitted new DHF tyres the Ferrari, which had dropped to fifth place, was able to get back up to second in the hands of Pier Guidi, but he could not catch Drudi in the Vantage, who managing the final laps carefully, ensured his team made it to the top step of the podium.
Third overall was the BMW M4 GT3 #32 entered by Team WRT crewed by Dries Vanthoort (with team-mates Sheldon Van Der Linde and Charles Weerts) thanks to pitting ahead of its closest rivals.
As in previous races, the tyres clearly played a major role in the outcome of this endurance race. All the cars made ample use, not just of the Pirelli P Zero DHF on a dry track, but also the Cinturato WHA in the wet.
The sunshine and high temperatures experienced in free practice, qualifying and the early afternoon on Saturday did in fact make way for the first rain shower, which was first spotted at Les Combes as from the third hour, leaving some sections of the track wet. In the early stages, the teams ran different strategies, some choosing to stay on P Zero DHF, others switching to the Cinturato WHA, some switching back after listening to the drivers’ comments. Then, once night fell, the rain tyre was definitely the one to use. The rain increased in intensity overnight from Saturday to Sunday, with a long Safety Car period because of poor visibility. It was right in the middle of the night that the Pirelli fitting area was at its busiest due to the high demand for wet tyres. There were 12 lines of fitting machines in use, monitored by a proprietary computer system, aimed at reducing waiting time for the teams and optimising the work flow.
This one hundredth edition of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is also the last in which the Cinturato WHA will be used. As from 2025, all the cars in the championship will run the updated WHB version, currently used in DTM and ADAC GT Masters, with a new design and greater tread rigidity, which further increases its operating window when conditions are crossing over from wet to dry.
A further unknown this weekend was the fact that the entire track, with the exception of the main straight and Eau Rouge, had been resurfaced, provided improved grip from the tyres, leading to an increase in car performance, especially through the corners. Proof of this can be seen from the fact that Franck Perera took pole position at the wheel of his Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 (GRT Grasser Racing Team) with a time of 2’13’’718, set on the Pirelli P Zero DHF, quicker than the outright lap record for the 24 Hours set in 2008 by Pedro Lamy who took a GT1 Saleen round in 2’13”923. Perera’s time was over three seconds quicker than the Superpole time in last year’s 24 Hours.
The ratio of Pirelli personnel to the cars at Spa-Francorchamps running the P Zero tyres was almost one to one. Apart from the 66 starters in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, the Italian company also supplied 19 cars in the Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli, the 57 in the GT4 European Series Powered by Rafa Racing Club and 13 McLaren Artura and 570S in the English marque’s one-make series. That meant 153 Pirelli personnel present during the event, including technical staff and others, looking after 155 cars.
Matteo Braga, Circuit Activity Manager di Pirelli:
“Congratulations to the Comtoyou Racing team for this win in the one hundredth edition of the 24 Hours of Spa and also to AF Corse who managed to recover from some unexpected bad luck which cost them the win. The top ten places featured seven different marques, separated by very small gaps considering how long this race is. Once again, this classic Belgian endurance race proved to be one of the most closely contested and unpredictable events in all of motor racing. Our tyres delivered maximum performance for all nine car manufacturers entered, proving to be consistent, ensuring total reliability, even though lap times were much quicker because of the new track surface, all of this in very changeable weather. The Cinturato WHA was equally effective in the transition from dry to wet, giving the drivers the confidence to push even in difficult track conditions.”
Next up for the Fanatec GT European Series it’s Hockenheim for round 5, the Sprint Cup from 19 to 21 July. On the first weekend in July Pirelli’s European team which follows closed wheel racing will be working on several fronts, all as sole tyre supplier. At Portimao, it will be time to support the Ferrari Challenge Europe and then the activity switches to the Norisring for the ADAC GT4 and the DTM and to Suzuka for the Fanatec GT World Championship Asia powered by AWS.
