A crowd of 252.000 spectators where kept enthralled for the full 24 Hours as the story of 2019 unfolded, despite Toyota dominated the race. From the very start, the No.7 car of Conway, Kobayashi & Lopez were the quickest. In particular Mike Conway managed to get something extra from the car. The No.8 car, driven by Buemi, Nakajima & Alonso followed behind. Then there was drama...
With less then a hour to go, the No.7 car overtook a GT car and had to move off the racing line to do so. They had done this many times throughout the race, but this time they picked up a slow puncture. They were far enough ahead of the sister car, that they could afford to pit and still come out in front. For whatever reason they only changed the punctured tyre. As they rejoined the race the car was still registering a puncture, there was a sensor problem and they also changed the wrong tyre, the car had to return to the pit again! The stop combined with the slow running with the puncture allowed the sister Toyota to to catch and pass the No.7 car, the No.8 driven by Alonso completed 384 laps and took the chequered flag to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019. So Alonso also wins his second Le Mans, Vamos!
There was also a great race between the SMP and Rebellion Racing. With two cars each it was a fair fight which saw both ahead in different stages. In the end the No.11 SMP Racing, driven by Petrov, Aleshin and Vandoorne outlasted the Rebellion pair and took 3th place on the podium after the No.3 car had a major incident into a tyre wall.
Signatech-Alpine conquers LMP2 class
The race saw special performances from the No.29 car driven by van Eerd, vd Garde and de Vries, that came back from multiple punctures and a broken suspension after a collision with the wall. Dragonspeed were impressive early on and looked to be a contender until Pastor Maldonado crashed the car before sunrise. G-Drive and Signatech-Alpine were battling together from the very beginning. After a technical glitch during a routine pit stop and a loss of 20 minutes spent in the garage, it was the Signatech-Alpine, driven by Lapierre, Negrao and Thiriet, that dominate the final hours and finished ahead of Jackie-Chan DC Racing and TDS Racing who kept going until the end.
Ferrari takes GTE Pro class win, while Keating Motorsports loses GTE Am class win after been disqualified
The GTE class has been perhaps the most exiting of all for several years. The race managment tries to use the BOP (Balance of Performance) to ensure that all cars of all brands are very close to each other in terms of speed. Between Ferrari, Porsche and Chevrolet it was millimeters. In the end it is the Ferrari 488 AF Corsa with Guidi, Calado and Serra behind the weel who puls the longest end, for the #91 Porsche of Bruni, Lietz and Mackowiecki and the #93 Porsche of Pilet, Bamber and Tandy. In the GTE Am class, the Wynn's-liveried #85 Ford GT was handed a time penalty just large enough to drop it down to second in class behind the #56 Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR that inherits class victory. They did not meet the minimum complete fuelling time. Bleekemolen had crossed the line 44 seconds ahead of the Project 1 car of Bergmeister, Perfetti and Lindsey, this was followed by confirmation that the #85 Ford had been disqualified entirely for a total onboard fuel volume in excess of the permitted limit by just only 0.1l more than the maximum 96l that had been laid down by the GTE Am class. The Ferrari 488 GTEs of JMW Motorsport and WeatherTech Racing took second and third place.
Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix after holding off race-long pressure from championship rival Sebastian Vettel. A late Safety Car restart gave Vettel an oppertunity to pass the Mercedes, but Hamilton defended well enough to keep the lead. Daniel Ricciardo took third place for Red Bull ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Hamilton led away from pole, as he equalled Michael Schumacher's all-time record for the most pole positions in the Belgian Grand Prix.
He scored his 68th pole at his 200th race start, 41 races fewer then 'Schumi' did.
Max Verstappen had an early retirement after eight laps, losing power in his Renault power unit and pulling of to the side of Kemmel Straight in front of thousands of disappointed fans.
Jamie Green has won the Sunday race of the DTM weekend at Zandvoort. This makes him the ninth winner in ten races in 2016. He only lost the lead during the pit stops but drove clear to the win.
Polesitter Jamie Green had a good start and defended the lead against Gary Paffett. The best start came from race 1-winner Robert Wickens. The Canadian went through from fifth place between Christian Vietoris and Edoardo Mortara and took third place.
A few laps later, the Mercedes-driver was already in second place. Wickens was quickly on the way and narrowed the gap to Green quickly, but again. However, the Canadian shot off the track with six minutes to go and lost valuable positions and points in the battle for the title. Not much later, it went wrong with Christian Vietoris, who ran a flat left front tire on the straight. So the third place suddenly came from the hands of Edoardo Mortara while the German had to give up.
The battle in the rear was also regularly interesting, with the necessary incidents. Shortly after the start, Timo Scheider was tapped in turn 3 by Augusto Farfus. The Brazilian got a drive-through but the race was over for the experienced Scheider. In the second part of the race Maximilian Götz had to park his Mercedes on the side after he had lost his left rear wheel. Miguel Molina parked his Audi in the pits after a touch with Antonio Felix da Costa. At the front, Jamie Green drove the win home, followed by Gary Paffett and Edoardo Mortara. Championship leader Marco Wittmann scored solid points with the fourth spot, ahead of Nico Muller and Timo Glock.
The second round of the 2016 FIA WEC at Spa-Francorchamps was action-packed, with epic fights, crashes, punctures and mechanical failures shaping a surprising end result. The fans that attended the beautifully sunny Spa track enjoyed a pure endurance race. They witnessed the most thrilling WEC round in a long time. At various times of the 6 Hour race, each of the three brands was leading with a clear advantage at least once, but the heat and an action-packed race took their toll.
In the end Audi trio Oliver Jarvis, Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval emerged from the chaotic 6 Hours of Spa with an unlikely victory, as rivals Porsche and Toyota both hit trouble.
The #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid with Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani finished second, while the #13 Rebellion R-One AER, driven by Alexandre Imperatori, Dominik Kraihamer and Matheo Tuscher, came in a strong third place overall at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, followed home by the sister car, #12, driven by Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Nelson Piquet Jr.
Signatech wins LMP2 battle
The #36 Signatech Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi held on by four seconds to seal Signatech's victory, with Derani taking second for ESM. Roberto Merhi in the #45 Manor managed to clear Albuquerque in the #43 Ligier on the final lap to seal the British squad third in class.
Ferrari unstoppable in GTE
The GTE class was led from start to finish by the Ferraris. The #71 car of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird took a second consecutive class victory, a lap ahead of the #67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx, Marino Franchitti and Harry Tincknell. Aston Martin's #97 entry completed the Pro class podium in third place, while the #98 car of Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda benefitted from the late safety car period to pass the #83 AF Corse Ferrari for victory in GTE-Am.
Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix after holding off race-long pressure from championship rival Sebastian Vettel. A late Safety Car restart gave Vettel an oppertunity to pass the Mercedes, but Hamilton defended well enough to keep the lead. Daniel Ricciardo took third place for Red Bull ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Hamilton led away from pole, as he equalled Michael Schumacher's all-time record for the most pole positions in the Belgian Grand Prix.
He scored his 68th pole at his 200th race start, 41 races fewer then 'Schumi' did.
Max Verstappen had an early retirement after eight laps, losing power in his Renault power unit and pulling of to the side of Kemmel Straight in front of thousands of disappointed fans.
Nico Rosberg led a thrilling race from start to finish, to close the gap with Lewis Hamilton to nine points, who finished third after starting back on the grid. It was the German's first victory at Spa Francorchamps. Daniel Ricciardo finished second for Red Bull Racing. Starting at the front row, Max Verstappen dropped back to eleventh place at his home Grand Prix, after a collision with Kimi Raikonen at the start of the race in the first corner and had to make a serie of pitstops.
Force India had a superb weekend, Nico Hulkenberg equalled his best-ever result by taking fouth ahead of teammate Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel. After producing 'the drive of the day' started alongside Lewis Hamilton on the back row, Fernando Alonso finished seventh. Williams took eight place with Felipe Massa en tenth with Valtteri Bottas, while Kimi Raikkonen completed the top ten.
A crowd of 252.000 spectators where kept enthralled for the full 24 Hours as the story of 2019 unfolded, despite Toyota dominated the race. From the very start, the No.7 car of Conway, Kobayashi & Lopez were the quickest. In particular Mike Conway managed to get something extra from the car. The No.8 car, driven by Buemi, Nakajima & Alonso followed behind. Then there was drama...
With less then a hour to go, the No.7 car overtook a GT car and had to move off the racing line to do so. They had done this many times throughout the race, but this time they picked up a slow puncture. They were far enough ahead of the sister car, that they could afford to pit and still come out in front. For whatever reason they only changed the punctured tyre. As they rejoined the race the car was still registering a puncture, there was a sensor problem and they also changed the wrong tyre, the car had to return to the pit again! The stop combined with the slow running with the puncture allowed the sister Toyota to to catch and pass the No.7 car, the No.8 driven by Alonso completed 384 laps and took the chequered flag to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019. So Alonso also wins his second Le Mans, Vamos!
There was also a great race between the SMP and Rebellion Racing. With two cars each it was a fair fight which saw both ahead in different stages. In the end the No.11 SMP Racing, driven by Petrov, Aleshin and Vandoorne outlasted the Rebellion pair and took 3th place on the podium after the No.3 car had a major incident into a tyre wall.
Signatech-Alpine conquers LMP2 class
The race saw special performances from the No.29 car driven by van Eerd, vd Garde and de Vries, that came back from multiple punctures and a broken suspension after a collision with the wall. Dragonspeed were impressive early on and looked to be a contender until Pastor Maldonado crashed the car before sunrise. G-Drive and Signatech-Alpine were battling together from the very beginning. After a technical glitch during a routine pit stop and a loss of 20 minutes spent in the garage, it was the Signatech-Alpine, driven by Lapierre, Negrao and Thiriet, that dominate the final hours and finished ahead of Jackie-Chan DC Racing and TDS Racing who kept going until the end.
Ferrari takes GTE Pro class win, while Keating Motorsports loses GTE Am class win after been disqualified
The GTE class has been perhaps the most exiting of all for several years. The race managment tries to use the BOP (Balance of Performance) to ensure that all cars of all brands are very close to each other in terms of speed. Between Ferrari, Porsche and Chevrolet it was millimeters. In the end it is the Ferrari 488 AF Corsa with Guidi, Calado and Serra behind the weel who puls the longest end, for the #91 Porsche of Bruni, Lietz and Mackowiecki and the #93 Porsche of Pilet, Bamber and Tandy. In the GTE Am class, the Wynn's-liveried #85 Ford GT was handed a time penalty just large enough to drop it down to second in class behind the #56 Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR that inherits class victory. They did not meet the minimum complete fuelling time. Bleekemolen had crossed the line 44 seconds ahead of the Project 1 car of Bergmeister, Perfetti and Lindsey, this was followed by confirmation that the #85 Ford had been disqualified entirely for a total onboard fuel volume in excess of the permitted limit by just only 0.1l more than the maximum 96l that had been laid down by the GTE Am class. The Ferrari 488 GTEs of JMW Motorsport and WeatherTech Racing took second and third place.
The second round of the 2016 FIA WEC at Spa-Francorchamps was action-packed, with epic fights, crashes, punctures and mechanical failures shaping a surprising end result. The fans that attended the beautifully sunny Spa track enjoyed a pure endurance race. They witnessed the most thrilling WEC round in a long time. At various times of the 6 Hour race, each of the three brands was leading with a clear advantage at least once, but the heat and an action-packed race took their toll.
In the end Audi trio Oliver Jarvis, Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval emerged from the chaotic 6 Hours of Spa with an unlikely victory, as rivals Porsche and Toyota both hit trouble.
The #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid with Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani finished second, while the #13 Rebellion R-One AER, driven by Alexandre Imperatori, Dominik Kraihamer and Matheo Tuscher, came in a strong third place overall at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, followed home by the sister car, #12, driven by Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Nelson Piquet Jr.
Signatech wins LMP2 battle
The #36 Signatech Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi held on by four seconds to seal Signatech's victory, with Derani taking second for ESM. Roberto Merhi in the #45 Manor managed to clear Albuquerque in the #43 Ligier on the final lap to seal the British squad third in class.
Ferrari unstoppable in GTE
The GTE class was led from start to finish by the Ferraris. The #71 car of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird took a second consecutive class victory, a lap ahead of the #67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx, Marino Franchitti and Harry Tincknell. Aston Martin's #97 entry completed the Pro class podium in third place, while the #98 car of Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda benefitted from the late safety car period to pass the #83 AF Corse Ferrari for victory in GTE-Am.
Jamie Green has won the Sunday race of the DTM weekend at Zandvoort. This makes him the ninth winner in ten races in 2016. He only lost the lead during the pit stops but drove clear to the win.
Polesitter Jamie Green had a good start and defended the lead against Gary Paffett. The best start came from race 1-winner Robert Wickens. The Canadian went through from fifth place between Christian Vietoris and Edoardo Mortara and took third place.
A few laps later, the Mercedes-driver was already in second place. Wickens was quickly on the way and narrowed the gap to Green quickly, but again. However, the Canadian shot off the track with six minutes to go and lost valuable positions and points in the battle for the title. Not much later, it went wrong with Christian Vietoris, who ran a flat left front tire on the straight. So the third place suddenly came from the hands of Edoardo Mortara while the German had to give up.
The battle in the rear was also regularly interesting, with the necessary incidents. Shortly after the start, Timo Scheider was tapped in turn 3 by Augusto Farfus. The Brazilian got a drive-through but the race was over for the experienced Scheider. In the second part of the race Maximilian Götz had to park his Mercedes on the side after he had lost his left rear wheel. Miguel Molina parked his Audi in the pits after a touch with Antonio Felix da Costa. At the front, Jamie Green drove the win home, followed by Gary Paffett and Edoardo Mortara. Championship leader Marco Wittmann scored solid points with the fourth spot, ahead of Nico Muller and Timo Glock.
Macro photography is extreme close-up, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater then life size.
Macro
Grid Girls or Pit Babes is a term used in professional auto/motorsport racing for many years.
Auto/motorsport and Grid Girls are inextricably linked. It is more than just the game that is the fastest at the finish. It is a fantastic "world" in which everyone interacts comfortably because they share the same hobby. And especially to promote the entertainment side of motorsport, Grid Girls are regularly used.
Obviously, it is the intention that the hearts of the race fans not only beat faster when they see the race cars, but also with the Grid Girls.
