NEWS

For precisely 6.7-seconds, the dream looked like it might have been over. In 10 attempts at winning the 24 Hours of Spa, there had been 10 years of missed chances, and heartbreak. To lose a near-certain victory in the world’s largest GT3-only endurance event in this way, this close to the finish, would have been too much to bear, too cruel.

The frantic flaps of panic from the Grasser Racing Team mechanics as Mirko Bortolotti desperately tried to restart his #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 at the final pit-stop, seemed to last an eternity.

Then, almost miraculously, fate intervened. The bad joke was over, the coast was clear. At long last, Lamborghini – and Grasser Racing Team – had overcome the odds to claim the most significant triumph in the history of Squadra Corse.

Overarching the trials and tribulations of Lamborghini’s past experience with the classic Belgian race is GRT’s relationship with the Sant’Agata Bolognese firm. The Austrian outfit has been a key partner throughout the lifespan of the Huracán GT3, dating all the way back to its debut race at Monza in 2015, which was won by GRT.

Since then, the team has won some of the most prestigious endurance events in the world, such as the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours. But Spa holds a special place in the team’s eponymous team principal, Gottfried Grasser.
 

Practice and Qualifying

“From the very start of the weekend, everything went very smoothly for us,” Grasser explains. “From the truckie to the mechanics, we did our job, and everything went to plan.

“Already, from that moment, we felt like we were in a good position to do a good job, maybe not to win the race but we knew that we had a competitive car. Everything was exactly as we expected, so this was a great feeling.

“We followed our own strategy to find the find balance and the right setup for the car; it’s a car that we have known for many years, it’s like a family so we knew what basis to start from.”

The weekend began with the #63 placing 20th quickest in the opening free practice session, and 10th in the night session, focusing on finding the right setup for the race. The 90-minute session, much like the subsequent Pre-Qualifying – renamed this year as Free Practice 2 – is never a true representation of performance, with race trim preferred to outright qualifying pace.

Come qualifying, the #63 crew was 13th quickest at the end of the first segment, making it into the top 20 Superpole session on Friday. While the sister VSR Huracán was seventh, the #63 was 12th quickest, but demoted to 19th following a post-session penalty.

“We did not put any effort into the qualifying sessions from our side,” Grasser says. “It makes no sense to think about a single lap in qualifying for a race like the 24 Hours of Spa. We know from experience that qualifying does not win you the race, what is important is to build a car that will be fast and consistent during the race.

“When we won the Daytona 24 Hours for the first time [in 2018], we had a five-minute penalty in the early parts, and we still fought back to win it. So, qualifying for these races is not important.”

The Race

Due to its location in the middle of the Ardennes, the Spa circuit has a uniquely capricious nature, so the fact that searing heat and sunshine permeated the race was particularly surprising to the teams and drivers.

Indeed, come the finish, several drivers – including Bortolotti – suffered heat exhaustion and had to seek medical attention as a result of the cockpit temperatures.

Both Lamborghinis started the race on Saturday strongly, with the #63 making steady progress up the order to lie seventh as the sun began to set. The sister #163 VSR machine had already proven the Huracán’s competitiveness by leading the race outright courtesy of Sandy Mitchell, Marco Mapelli and Franck Perera. Unfortunately for the #163 crew, their race ended in the night due to a power steering issue.

That allowed the #63, with Engstler at the wheel during the arduous night stints, to assume the lead shortly after the halfway marker.

“We already knew that we had a chance in the opening hours, because we analysed the race pace, and we had seen that we had a good pace. But just because you are fast in the first hours, doesn’t mean that it will be good enough in the last hours.

“But we were optimistic from the first stages, we had a good potential, and everything went according to plan. In terms of reliability, we were not so concerned; if you do your job properly beforehand, normally there are no problems.

“But of course, this is Spa and there are so many other things that could happen, like accidents or full course yellows, so we had to keep calm.”

As the morning hours arrived, it was becoming clear that the #63 was in a strong position to challenge for victory. Luck also played a part too: despite concerns that they had missed the optimum time to carry out the regulation brake change, fate made sure that it turned into a golden opportunity.

“We were so close on the brake pads, I think around 1mm of material left on the pads, so we thought we might have missed the best timing to do the brake change.

“And then we had a moment during a full course yellow and we decided to make the change. I looked at the brake pads and I said, ‘this is unbelievable that we got this full course yellow now’, because for sure we would have had to make a stop 20 minutes later under green, and we probably would have lost the race.

“But when I saw the state of the brake pads, I thought to myself ‘okay, now we are going to win this race!’ – it was some hours before the end of the race, and it was almost like fate. I just felt like we had the luck we needed and the car to go and win it.”

Unusually, the race ran almost without incident on Sunday, despite the high temperatures and furious on-track action. Bortolotti, Pepper and Engstler each took turns at keeping the #63 ahead and, with a pace and fuel advantage on the Rutronik Racing Porsche, nothing seemed to be standing in the way of victory.

That was, until a stubborn starter motor at the final pit-stop inside the last hour, nearly ruined everything.

“The starter motor was a special moment!” reflects Grasser. “The funny thing was that when you are standing beside this situation, you have a different perception of time. So, for me, I felt we could go easy with the pit-stop but, when we analysed after the race, we saw that it was really close.

“We were quite lucky in this moment, but an absolutely great moment. It rounded up the race well. If we lost the lead, although we had better pace than the Porsche, overtaking at Spa is a different story and I would rather we kept the lead by a small margin than have to pass again.

Bortolotti held onto the lead, just, from future Lamborghini factory driver partner Patric Niederhauser, and was able to pull away in the final laps. Panic was over, the team could then finally celebrate after a nerve-racking closing 30 minutes.

“We just went through the roof! It was something so surreal and special, we didn’t realise what we had achieved until the days after the race, when we got home.

“From a sporting point of view, it’s the biggest win for me, for the team and it ranks as the best achievement. Every win is special, I love every victory and they all mean just the same as any other, but this was very special.”