Garage 59 well placed at for the start of the 2020 Spa 24
Friday, October 23, 2020
Everything is now set for tomorrows start of the 2020 Total 24 Hours of Spa after sole Aston Martin Racing Partner team, Garage 59 completed their Qualifying runs in the rain of last night with their two AMR Vantage GT3’s.
With this year’s events being firstly delayed but also (and very sadly) being run from behind closed doors, even from a TV screen you can sense that this year’s race has taken on a whole new dimension despite the best of efforts from all to make this year’s event extra ‘accessible’ for the viewing public at home.With track action for the GT3 event having started on Thursday with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying before quickly diving into the events individual Qualifying sessions, the teams Pro-Am and Silver Cup cars ended a very wet Thursday each Qualifying P5 in class for Saturday’s green flag.
With the circuit at its wettest in the earlier sessions, it was Alex West (aboard the #188 Pro-Am) and Roman de Angelis (aboard the #159 Silver Cup) cars who had to endure the worst that the 7km circuit could offer but conditions steadily improved as Chris Goodwin / Andrew Watson, Jonny Adam / James Pull and Maxime Martin / Valentin Hasse-Clot respectively all completed their required laps in order for their cars to be placed on Saturdays grid.
Their times equated to the #159 Qualifying P29 and the #188 P42 overall out of the 56 entries but both handily placed within their respective classes in which both cars are also well placed to challenge for should events over the weekend go in their favour ready for the final round of the season in the south of France in three weeks time.
Last night’s compulsory Night Qualifying session (despite the requirement in that session for each driver to set a further two competitive laps in the dark having already Qualified in the dark) proved to be a bit of ‘fun’ towards the end with the #188 car finishing the session P4 overall as the Pro drivers got to hit the track with slicks for the first meaningful time.
With both cars outside of the Top 20 Shoot Out, that has given the team some additional time to make any adjustments necessary before the start of the race on Saturday, with rain still a distinct possibility and probability over the course of the weekend.
All being well, the start of the race is scheduled to begin at 13:30hrs local.
Good luck to the both of them.
Photo credits - GTWCE