Disaster at Spa ends the hopes of Bullitt Racing in the Le Mans Cup Series
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Arriving in Belgium earlier this week placed second in the GT3 drivers’ championship, the #99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Stephen Pattrick and Valentin Hasse-Clot was looking ‘steady’ during the earlier test day and into yesterday’s Free Practice.
Having ended private testing at the head of the class in both sessions, only some unwanted close attention and damage caused from an LMP3 car blotted their copy book into the first Free Practice and Bronze Driver Test before the #99 car came back strong with another first in Free Practice 2.
Then as the weather deteriorated again just ahead of Qualifying, Pattrick would deliver a timely lap around the greasy track that would have allowed him to start from the second row of the GT3 grid.
Then as the weather deteriorated again just ahead of Qualifying, Pattrick would deliver a timely lap around the greasy track that would have allowed him to start from the second row of the GT3 grid.
However, an unseen incident for the #99 on the way around to the grid unfortunately resulted in the car being backed into the barrier to lose its rear wing (with probably more damage underneath than that too) to sadly end its Spa adventure and championship chase on the back of a low loader.
With the #99 never getting back into the race and with the three GMB Motorsport Honda’s locking out the GT3 podium come the end of today’s round, that effectively ends Bullitt Racings GT3 chances at the final round of the season at Portimao later next month.
Photo credits - Team