Everything to play for at the two-thirds mark

Everything to play for at the two-thirds mark

With eight hours to go in the 2016 Total 24 Hours of Spa #99 Rowe Racing BMW of Maxime Martin, Alexander Sims and Philipp Eng was in the lead, having taken top spot when the #8 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental of Maxime Soulet, Andy Soucek and Wolfgang Reip had to serve a drive-through penalty. In third was #6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix R8.

After scoring important points at the halfway mark, both Continentals GT3 of Bentley Team M-Sport continued to occupy top-3 positions, together with the #6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix. The #7 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental dropped back at the 14-hour mark, when taking its mandatory technical pitstop under Full Course Yellow, a period that started when the #12 Boutsen Ginion BMW stopped on track.

In front the #8 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental seemed to have a trouble-free run, but at the end of the 16th hour - right after another FCY caused by a crash of the #55 AF Corse Ferrari at the exit of Pouhon - the leaders had to serve another drive-through for a driving time infringement.

The #99 Rowe Racing BMW, which was only a second behind the Bentley at the time, inherited the lead and received a comfortable one-minute lead to boot. Behind the #8 Bentley was the #6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix R8,

In fourth, the #28 Audi Sport Team WRT R8 that had lost some time on Saturday evening after making contact with the #114 Jaguar, was trying to get back among the frontrunners. Laurens Vanthoor even set the fastest lap time of the race in 2'18.793. The car was still a lap down on the leaders however.

In Pro-Am Cup the #74 ISR Audi is still leading, despite serving a drive-through penalty for a pitlane infringement. The car of Swiss driver Giauque and French trio Perera-Lapierre-Hassid had only a ten-second lead over their countrymen Pilet-Jousse-Narac-Cornac in the #76 IMSA Performance Porsche. In third the #29 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini of the youngsters Zöchling-Gounon-Rettenbacher-Breukers.

The Am Cup fight is hotting up nicely as well, with the #888 Kessel Racing Ferrari less than a minute behind the #51 AF Corse Ferrari. Another Ferrari, the #333 of Rinaldi Racing was still in third.

In the Intercontinental GT Challenge the #8 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental still holds the lead, from the #6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix R8 and the #28 Audi Sport Team WRT R8. The #74 ISR Audi of Hassid and Giauque is the first of the Am-cars.