R-ace GP Take First Win of 2025 Season in Spa-Francorchamps
The LMP3 Pro/Am win went to the only home team on the grid with Belgium’s Eric De Doncker and former MLMC Driver’s Champion Gillian Henrion taking the win. It was a nail biting finish as Henrion had to finish at least 5 seconds ahead of his nearest rival due to a penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement, but the French driver crossed the line over ten seconds ahead to secure the win.
The no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari took its second win of the season after starting on the back row of the grid. Murat Çuhadaroglu steered around the chaos at the start to move into third and hand over the car to David Fumanelli, with the Italian moving to the front and finishing over 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the GT3 field at the chequered flag.
The drama began before the start when there was a collision at the final corner involving four of the leading GT3 cars with the pole sitting no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari and the no51 AF Corse Ferrari colliding as they rounded the final turn to take the start, with the no95 Ebimotors Porsche and the no23 Biogas Motorsport getting caught up. The no17 Ferrari was judged to be a fault and Lorenzo Innocenti was later given a drive through penalty.
The main beneficiary of the incident was the no83 Iron Dames Porsche, with Vanina Ickx weaving past the two cars ahead of her to take the GT3 lead and Murat Çuhadaroglu also avoiding the debris to move from the back of the grid to third in class.
In another incident after the start the no4 Nielsen Racing Adess went off into the barriers at Les Combes and the Safety Car was deployed for the first time to clear the debris left by the accident.Mikkel Kristensen was able to get the car back to the pits for repairs before rejoining.
The race went green again after 10 minutes with the no85 R-ace GP of Hugo Schwarze leading from his teammate Antoine Doquin in the no86 Duqueine, with Oscar Tunjo keeping the pressure on Doquin in the no70 Gebhardt Motorsport Ligier.However, Tunjo’s Ligier was involved in contact with another car, dropping the Columbian back to 10th. This later resulted in retirement when the car had to pit to repair the damage.
The second Safety Car was deployed when the no30 CD Sport Duqueine of Arthur Rogeon pulled off the track at Eau Rouge with smoke pouring from the back of the car, with flames seen beneath the engine.The Duqueine had dropped oil on the track, and the marshals spent over 25 minutes dressing the spillage to allow race to safely resume.
The no84 ANS Motorsport Ligier, which had started on the LMP3 Pro/Am pole went off at Eau Rouge before the Safety Car was deployed, possibly due to the oil dropped by the stricken CD Sport Ligier. This dropped Julien Lemoine back to 11th place in class behind the Safety Car.
The no55 GG Classics was another retiree during the Safety Car period, the Australian team’s Ligier suffering a power steering failure.
The race went green after 45-minutes of racing with the two leading R-ace GP Duqueines split by 3.5 seconds and Schwarze pulling away from his teammate on every lap.Shahan Sarkissian had moved into the lead of LMP3 Pro/Am in the no31 CD Sport Duqueine and was just 1 second ahead of Romano Ricci in the no88 R-ace GP Duqueine.
Vanina Ickx was holding off a determined challenge by the no11 Code Racing Developments Aston Martin of Philipp Sager, but the Iron Dames Porsche was still leading when the cars started to head into the pitlane for their mandatory 160 second pitstop.
After the pitstops, David Fumanelli had emerged in third place in the no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari.He quickly caught and passed the no11 Aston Martin with Rory Van Der Ster now behind the wheel and then caught and passed the no83 Iron Dames Porsche driven by Marta Garcia on the same lap. Fumanelli then started to move away from the chasing pack of GT3 cars to build a substantial lead.
Garcia lost second to the no65 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG after putting up a spirited defence of her position. The Spaniard put two wheels into the gravel at T9 and Lukas Dunner pounced to take the position.
At the front of the field the no86 R-ace GP Duqueine of Edgar Pierre had been passed by the no92 and no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligiers, with Theo Micouris in the no16 Team Virage Ligier catching and passing Pierre before challenging Louis Rousset for third.
Debris had been dropped at the exit of Raidillon and a Full Course Yellow was deployed to retrieve the item from the racing line. After six minutes the race resumed with no further interruptions to the chequered flag.
The LMP3 Pro/Am battle was led by the no77 Reiter Engineering Ligier driven by Horst Felix Felbermayr, four seconds ahead of the no88 R-ace GP Duqueine of Fabien Lavergne, with the no31 CD Sport Duqueine in third.However, Gillian Henrion in the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier was on a charge.The French driver caught and passed Kevin Rabin in the no31 Duqueine and then closed the gap to Lavergne.
With 23 minutes left on the clock the no98 Ligier moved into second place but a 5 second penalty added to the next pitstop for a FCY infringement meant Henrion not only had to pass Felbermayr’s leading car but he had to be at least 5 seconds ahead at the chequered flag.Henrion accepted the challenge and was soon challenging for the lead. Felbermayr held off Henrion for several corners but the inevitable happened at the end of the Kemmel Straight with 15-minutes left on the clock.
At the head of the field Hadrien David had built up a 14 second lead over the no92 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier of Charles Roussanne, with Theo Micouris chasing hard in third place seven seconds further up the road.
The no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari had continued to pull away ad as the chequered flag approached Fumanelli was over 30 seconds ahead of Marta Garcia in the no83 Porsche, who was being challenged by the no65 Mercedes-AMG of Lukas Dunner, who had just served a driver through penalty for exceeding track limits. Dunner took the place with 5-minutes left on the clock and took the chequered flag with Garcia holding on to claim the final podium position in GT3.
The next race will be in the UK with the Silverstone Round on the 13 September, the penultimate race of the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup.
Results are HERE
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