Following a successful weekend at the Silverstone Festival, the Army Sports Car Racing GT Team were praying for rain at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium for the final round of the Masters GT Trophy, and we got it in droves! 🌧️☔️🌧️
The GT Trophy had entries from multiple international/professional drivers and we would also be sharing the track with the Endurance Legends series, which are full blown (and stonkingly fast) Le Mans LMP cars! We had free practice on the Wednesday, qualifying on Thursday and race day on Friday.
After a short practice session, the Sunvit-D3 Army F430 was into two qualifying sessions, one in the daytime and one at night. Both very wet! It took some time to find the grip and the wet line, but we found it, qualifying P1 in class for both sessions, with a P6 overall in the day session and P2 overall in the night. The night qualifying required a brave stint where many other teams pulled out due to the dark and wet conditions.
I can tell you racing at Spa at night was a special opportunity and one I hope we get to do again! It is incredibly dark and lonely once the sun finally sets, you certainly need to know where you are going!
Onto Race Day! The team had another early start for Race 1 with the track looking like it might be dry, but it was simply too cold and with no wind to clear the damp track, we opted to stay on the wet tyres.
Once again our strategy call and car setup paid off. We were dominant in the first four laps going from P6 to P1 overall! But, as we well know, motorsport is a harsh business and coming into lap 5 the exhaust snapped which, as you can imagine, was pretty loud. Not wanting to risk further damage, we pulled into the pits for repairs. The pit crew quickly patched up the car and we were able to get back out on track to limp home to a P1 in class and P3 overall, our first GT Trophy podium! 🏆
Following the race I was called to the podium, to stand where many world famous racing drivers had stood. With the Union Flag raising behind me and the British National Anthem playing to the crowds, it was a surreal but very proud moment for the team 😎💪
After a long wait and some more exhaust repairs by the pit crew, nighttime finally fell - as did more rain. We formed up on the grid under heavy rain and proceeded to roll into the formation lap. We were confident going into the night race after our impressive qualifying, with high hopes for another podium. However, there was so much standing water that even at low speeds the cars were aquaplaning badly. So unfortunately, due to the conditions, the night race was cancelled.
That wraps up our epic weekend at Spa-Francorchamps and the end of the season for the Sunvit-D3 Army F430 and the GT Team. A huge thanks to Sunvit-D3 and our other sponsors. We would not have been able to attend this amazing event without your support. Another huge thanks goes to the pit crew. This was one of those weekends that fought us to the end! The car would not have crossed the finish line without you 💪🙏💪
SSgt Will Ashmore
Army Sports Car Racing
Proudly sponsored by Sunvit-D3
