Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP still in first after ten hours

Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP still in first after ten hours

The #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP continued its impressive performance, leading at the 10-hour mark of the 2020 Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Raffaele Marciello and Felipe Fraga have shared driving duties on the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP since the start of the race, and have not put a wheel wrong for ten hours. That results in a healthy lead over the #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini. The Italian car is among the frontrunners since the start of the race, but switched to an alternative strategy after trying to double stint the tyres just after the 8-hour mark. That did not work out as planned, so Dennis Lind had to cut short one of his driving stints.

In third is the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado, who passed the #98 ROWE Racing Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor just before the 10-hour mark. The #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, on the same strategy as the #63 Lamborghini, is in fifth.

The lead in Silver Cup is back in the hands of the #5 HRT Mercedes-AMG, now driven by Gabriele Piana. It holds a slender lead over the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini. Pro-Am is still led by the other Barwell machine, the #77. In the Am Cup the leaders of the #129 Raton Racing Lamborghini hit trouble, handing over the lead to the #108 CMR Bentley, with Clément Mateu at the wheel.

Earlier, some of the frontrunners hit trouble just after midnight. The #66 Audi Sport Attempto Racing R8 was penalized with a stop&go for a refuelling infringement and a drive through for speeding in pitlane. The #47 KCMG Porsche of last year’s winners Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz lost some 15 minutes and five laps due to technical issues. The car, which had to serve a drive-through in the opening quarter of the race, had climbed back up to fourth before it hit trouble. Once the car was repaired, Kevin Estre responded by immediately setting a new GT3 lap record, in 2m18.468s.

Watch the race live on the Total 24 Hours of Spa website, the event's official Facebook page and the GT World YouTube channel.