Phoenix Audi wins a tight one
24H SERIES SPA 12 HOURS (BEL) 23-24 APRIL ROUND 4/8
Audi stalwart Pierre Kaffer led Phoenix Racing to victory in the two-part Spa 12 Hours last weekend, after the team’s R8 LMS GT3 Evo II started Sunday’s action down in third position.
Saturday’s opening stanza of five and a half hours had ended with the leading trio on the same lap. Daniel Keilwitz set the quickest time in qualifying to assist the WTM Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 onto pole, but it was the American-crewed CP Racing Mercedes-amg GT3 of Shane Lewis, Charles Espenlaub and Charles Putman that was on top as the garage doors closed on Saturday evening.
The Audi, which Kaffer co-drove with Elia Erhart, Patryk Krupinski and Michael Doppelmayr, moved in front on Sunday when it was kept on track as others pitted under a Code 60 period. But the Ferrari, crewed by Keilwitz, Jochen Krumbach and father-son duo Georg and Leonard Weiss, was back ahead with 10 minutes remaining when Weiss Jr pitted for a late splash and a handover to his dad, allowing Erhart to take the flag by a lap from the Mercedes, with the Ferrari third.
Among the classes, there was a runner-up placing in the GT4 division for the Ginetta G56 of Mike Simpson, Freddie Tomlinson and Colin White.