BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche Wins 2010 24 Hours Of Spa-Francorchamps
By OR Staff, Photography courtesy of Spa-Francorchamps
German race fans cried tears of sadness at the 2010 running of the 24 Hours of Spa as BMW failed to take the overall win and an Italian team came out on top using a Porsche chassis.
Held for the first time in 1924, the 86-year old 24 Hours of Spa race is one year older than the Le Mans endurance race, although not as famous. The track itself, the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorhamps, is known as one of the most technically tricky tracks on Earth, due to its fast and blind nature.
Much of the track’s reputation is derived from the Eau Rouge section, which is an incredibly fast and steep uphill left-right-left combination with a blind peak. A very long straightaway follows Eau Rouge and only the fastest drivers have the brass to keep their foot in it and maximize their straightaway top speed.
For any readers seeking a demonstration of how Eau Rouge should be done, watch fast blurring footage of McLaren F1’s Mika Hakkinen battling Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher in 2000. Needless to say, many far less talented drivers have lost their lives at Spa-Francorchamps.
The dominant and prolific BMW M3 GT2 contested the 24 Hours of Spa with BMW Motorsport and drivers Dirk Werner, Dirk Muller, and Dirk Adorf (#79) and Jorg Muller, Uwe Alzen, and Pedro Lamy (#78). The M3 GT2 was the favored car to win, amidst a field of Ford GTs, Audi R8s, and Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs.
The BMWs were in first and second place after the start and held on to that lead through raining nightfall. Many were ready to call the race until, with just 40-min remaining in a 24 hour race, the front left tie rod broke on the leading #79 BMW M3 GT2, sending Werner straight into the gravel.
Although the BMW had built up a lead of two laps, the repairs took long enough that the car fell back into third place when it rejoined the race. Its sister car, the #78 BMW M3 GT2, fell into 14th place from 2nd after two unscheduled pit stops but made up enough places to get it into 4th place, where it finished.
“We have experienced everything in motorsport,” said BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. “There have been races in which we have celebrated on the top step of the podium having started as outsiders. It was a different story here. We dominated the race and ultimately missed out on victory thanks to a comparatively small technical fault in the last 40 minutes. That is a bitter pill for the entire team, especially after a 24-hour race.”
Theissen continued, “but that kind of drama is also part of the sport. You have to get over it, be even better prepared for the next race, and then hope that you also have luck on your side. Despite all this, third and fourth place is a good result bearing in mind the strong field, and all the members of the team can be proud of what they have achieved.”
The winning car, inheriting the lead after the demise of BMW Motorsport, was the BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Driver Romain Dumas also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, a feat which has not been done since 1949.
The Italian racing team is no stranger to the world of professional motorsport, having competed in Formula One during the early 1990s with such drivers as JJ Lehto and found success in both rally racing and touring car racing.
