Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing has also confirmed its upward trend from the opening stages after darkness has set in during the 75th CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Meanwhile, four Mercedes-AMG GT3s have established themselves in the top 20. The spearhead is the car with starting number 88 of the AKKODIS ASP Team. Timur Boguslavskiy (FIA), Jules Gounon (AND) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) have made up further positions and are currently battling for a top 3 position. The #777 Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar car with drivers Lucas Auer (AUT), Fabian Schiller (GER) and Luca Stolz (GER) has made it into the top 10. The trio had started from 27th on the grid and temporarily ran as high as seventh. Varying pit stop strategies, however, continue to mix up the order time and again. Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing is also in a position with a good perspective in the Pro-Am Cup. In this category, SunEnergy1 Racing and CrowdStrike Racing by Riley are competing for a podium result.
The first points for the Endurance Cup standings of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS were already attributed after six hours. There are 12-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points to be won by the top 9 in all classes. Therefore, among others, the third-placed #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Boguslavskiy/Gounon/Marciello) and the ninth-placed #777 Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Auer/Schiller/Stolz) racked up valuable points. In Gold Cup, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with starting number 157 (Born/Schumacher/Zug) held third place after six hours while the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Braun/Fraga/James/Kurtz) also had a solid points’ haul in third place of the Pro-Am Cup.
“My stint went well. I got into the car after Colin and managed to keep us on the lead lap. Our goal is to minimise the error rate and to get us into a good position for the battle for the Pro-Am class win. It is still very early in the race, so therefore we want to drive conservatively and just rack up our laps.”
George Kurtz, CrowdStrike Racing by Riley #4
“I have now completed three stints in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with number 75. So far, everything went superbly for us and we didn’t have any issues during the race. Another two stints have been planned for me during the night and one more on Sunday morning. Our goal is to stay out of all the incidents.”
Martin Konrad, SunEnergy1 Racing #75
“For me, it went pretty well, although I had to be a bit careful with the track limits. Therefore, I drove quite cautiously, especially in the first and third sector. During my second stint, I got stuck in traffic and my pursuers were able to catch me as a result. I didn’t want to damage the car and therefore had to let two opponents get past.”
Lorenzo Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG Team AKKODIS ASP #87
“I had a great stint and brought the car back in fourth place. With third place after six hours, we have already scored solid points for the championship. The car handles well, but the opposition is strong as well. Now, the goal is to make it through the night without any incidents and then see who is still up there in the morning. Then we can really push. It is pretty wild out there, but that was to be expected with 70 cars. Our car is running well and hopefully we can continue like this.”
Jules Gounon, AKKODIS ASP Team #88
“I had some good moments in my first double stint. Now, we have to make sure that we make it well through the night to lay the foundation for a good result. Our goal is to keep the car out of all the incidents. Tomorrow, we want to shift up a gear and continue to fight.”
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar #777
