After a disastrous qualifying session, SFH had 24 hours to climb up from 27th place. At the starts our hopes were up. A kindly shared setup (thanks Joerg!) gave us back the 2 seconds each lap we were losing on the competition. The first stint should have been a blast, but turned out to be a hassle.

Even with a faster car, passing and staying in front was harder than we thought. It was hard enough to make a safe pass on Kemmel, even with draft and boost. Too many cars too close together often meant there was simply no room to get by. And when we did, we were a target for counterattacks, slowed down by the next car. The harder we tried, the more risk we took, which resulted in spins throwing us back down the order.

But after the first stop there was a bit more room, and stretching our legs during the second and third fueltank we quickly moved up from P27 to P10. But the further up in the field we came, the harder it was to make the next pass.

Wilfred van den Brink and Bert Knops had good speed though, and between them made up for most of the remaining positions gained inside the top ten, with Marcel Offermans driving steady stints and staying out of trouble – always the most important endurance racing factor.

The video shows the events in the 24th hour. Enjoy!

picture by Dietmar Sommerfeld

From P27 to P3, from the back of the grid to the podium! Granted, we had 24 hours to do so, but we’re still very happy with the result. On to the next one!

#150 - SFH Ford GT - 3rd