CR Scuderia did an exceptional job for a team competing in their first 24 hour event
6 Hours
Midnight
14 Hours
24 Hours
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6 Hours
Welcome to Part One of CR Scuderia's Spa 24 Hours. It has been an eventful first few hours and the racing has been hard but all of the CRS drivers have now completed at least one stint and the team is fully settled into the rhythm of the race.
16:00
The race is on at Spa and Tim Mullen got a great start, from eighth on the grid all the way up to third. He is being chased hard by Andrew Kirkaldy though in fourth. By the end of lap two Mullen has improved to second and Kirkaldy is third.
16:15 Oops!
As the two CRS Ferraris come through La Source Hairpin Kirkaldy goes for the inside line and when Mullen turns in the two cars touch. Kirkaldy continues on in second place but Mullen drops to 10th.
The Team Principal's view:
"With incidents like that you have to laugh or cry. At the moment I'm laughing but ask me again tomorrow!"
16:40
Kirkaldy is still running strongly in second and Mullen has moved up to ninth.
16:51
Kirkaldy pits to hand over to Dirk Muller, the 56 Ferrari taking on fuel and tyres. This car was pitted slightly earlier than planned in case no.55 needed repairs from its spin at La Source. It makes sense to service the healthy car first in these situations in case repairs take longer than anticipated.
16:56
Mullen is in to hand over to Niarchos and take on fuel and tyres. It looks like the car got away very lightly and just ne eds a new rear diffuser mounting. This will be repaired at the next stop.
Andrew Kirkaldy has recovered from his stint now and explains what happened at La Source:
"I went for the inside and Tim didn't see me, turned in and we touched. It was pretty gentle and it looks like both cars are okay."
17:21
Muller is leading the GT2 class in the 56 Ferrari and Niarchos is pushing hard in 10th place.
17:42
Niarchos radios in to say he has run wide at Blanchimont, running over some grass, so the team decide to call him in early to remove the grass stuck in his radiators. There is still a very long way to go so nobody wants to risk an overheating engine.
17:48
Niarchos pits and hands over to Gordon Shedden for his first stint. Just as Gordon leaves the pits on slicks the drizzle turns to rain. The Scot was about to have an interesting initiation into racing in the wet at Spa!
"It was raining at the end of my stint and I had a bit of a moment at Blanchimont," said Niarchos. "Tim Sugden was coming through and I went a little wide and went onto the greasy stuff and some grass. It's all okay though and it is always good to get your first stint out of the way so that you can settle into the race."
17:50
Muller pits for intermediate tyres and rejoins as he is double-stiniting.
18:10
The rain is heavy, then it turns to drizzle, then dries, then rains again... you get the picture. Muller comes in for slick tyres and hands over to Bell. The current positions are Bell in fifth and Shedden in 11th.
"I had a pretty normal first stint," said Muller. "I can see that the other cars are pushing very hard already and using a lot of kerb. I was on the medium compound and in retrospect we should have gone for the soft. Going onto inters though was a perfect decision as it would have been too risky to stay on slicks. We're keeping it steady and we're doing okay."
18:55
Shedden pits no.55, handing over the wheel to Andrea Piccini for his first run. Shedden, who went out on slicks in the rain, is glad to be back!
"That was probably the worst case scenario for a rookie," he said. "You get in and it rains. But I survived! I've never driven this car on slicks in the rain so I had no idea what it would do. I had to do a steady job and not be a hero; I'm only an hour in to racing Ferrari 430s so I'm happy with how it went."
19:12
Bell is in from fourth place and Muller takes the wheel of no.56.
"That was a difficult stint," said Bell. "It was dry for the first few laps, then drizzle, then rain, then dry. I didn't have any dramas though."
20:05
Tim Mullen takes over in no.55 from Piccini, sett ing out on a double stint.
20:12
Muller pits for new slicks and rejoins.
20:40
It's time to provide a bit more of an insight into 24 hour racing through the eyes of the CRS team. Jeremy Metcalfe and Michael Meadows, two of the team's British GT drivers, are here with a very special job to do. They have just left the garage in full wet-weather gear to make their way up to the top of the hill to provide regular weather reports to the team. The rain comes in very fast at Spa so it's good to have a pair of night watchmen on the hill!
"Jeremy and I are off to do a 12-hour stint now," said Meadows. "Which is more than I can say for all the GT2 drivers doing the odd hour here or there!"
We'll bring you more insight into other team members as we go into the night...
Midnight
Midnight has passed at Spa and no-one has turned into a pumpkin yet so we're happy with progress. No.56 now has Rob Bell at the wheel, running in fifth place while 55 is being driven by Tim Mullen in seventh.
2100:
It's going dark now so the cars are all running with blazing headlights: white for the GT1 cars and yellow for GT2. The CRS Ferraris have an extra light on top of their aerials so the team can easily spot them in the dark; no.55 has a white light and 56 has blue.
2110:
Tim Mullen comes in for fuel and rejoins.
2115:
Dirk Mueller comes in to hand over no.56 to Andrew Kirkaldy.
CRS has a physio at this race to look after all eight of the drivers. Karl Bickley makes sure they are all as well as they can possibly be throughout the 24 hours by keeping them hydrated, nourished, making sure they sleep between stints, making sure they are wide awake when it's time to go and getting their kit ready for them. He also has a tendency to burst into song at any given moment!
2130:
Kirkaldy is running in seventh place and Mullen is in 10th.
2142:
The safety car has just come out but it is so close to the six-hour mark, when the first points are awarded, that most people elect to stay out on track. When the clock strikes ten, Kirkaldy is in sixth place so receives one championship point for CRS.
2202:
Mullen pits to hand over to Niarchos, the safety car is in and we're racing again.
Metcalfe and Meadows are doing a great job with their weather reporting up on the hill (see left hand photo above).
2224:
Kirkaldy makes a quick stop and rejoins.
The race engineer for the no.56 Ferrari is Eddie Hinckley. Eddie is one of the most knowledgeable engineers in the business; there is very little that Eddie hasn't seen or done. He likes his creature comforts though and when he saw the seat he would be sitting on - for 24 hours - on the pit wall he decided he needed to come up with something better. Well, by better, we mean more comfortable, as it certainly doesn't look good! You can see Eddie's bit of special engineering in the right-hand photo above. So far it is doing the trick as we haven't had any complaints from Eddie.
2235:
Kirkaldy pits again from fifth place after radioing in to say he is having trouble with oversteer. The team check the car over, give him new rubber and he r ejoins.
2240:
Niarchos is forced to pit as his right-hand wing mirror is broken so he can hardly see anything. It might sound simple but not being able to see when GT1 cars are about to fire up the inside of you is a pretty scary proposition.
2247:
Andrea Piccini takes over from Niarchos, with a new door mirror.
"I couldn't see a thing," said Niarchos. "I got hit a couple of times because of it and two GT1 cars actually crashed right next to me and the first thing I knew about it was when they came flying past me with debris going everywhere. If you can't see behind you it is difficult to know when to turn in which is pretty daunting. Once I got out of the groove I decided it was best to hand over to Andrea and let him get on with it."
2335:
Kirkaldy pits to hand over to Bell.
2355:
Piccini comes in for a scheduled stop and rejoins.
0035:
Rob Bell doe s the same but takes wet tyres as it is starting to rain.
0047:
The rain is heavier now so when Piccini comes in to give no.55 to Mullen the team send that car out on wets too.
It's time for a summary of the race so far from Team Manager, Malcolm Swetnam:
"It's full on and flat out!"
The team are all doing a cracking job here at Spa. It's late and everyone is getting tired but they continue to work hard and nobody has lost their sense of humour... yet!
14 Hours
Good morning! For those of you who aren't here (and that includes all those members of the press who slinked off to their hotels for a good night's sleep) this is our account of what we got up to during the night. Tim Mullen is in fourth place now in no.55 and Rob Bell is in no.56, currently running in eighth.
0118:
Its pitch black at Spa and Rob Bell is running in fourth place in the no.56 car. Tim Mullen is sixth in no.55.
0124:
The CR Scuderia boys suddenly spring into action; Rob Bell has gone off at the exit of Les Combes and hit the Armco pretty hard, damaging a radiator. He arrives at the garage at 0128hrs, driving straight in to let the mechanics get on with the repairs.
0157:
As the team continue to work on the no.56 Ferrari the safety car comes out as the No.51 car is in the wall at Blanchimont.
0202:
A couple of the crew working on no.56 have to stop for a moment as Tim Mullen is pitting in no.55. He's up to fourth place now and running very strongly. The safety car is still out.
The CRS team has a few extra staff for this event. Known as the ‘intervention crew' these guys are on hand for emergencies. It means that any repair work can continue uninterrupted while the other car comes in for its pit stops.
0220:
No.56 is pushed back into the pitlane after some sterling work from the CRS crew. With a new radiator and front wing (and a lot of tank tape!) the car rejoins the race in the hands of Andrew Kirkaldy. A few minutes later the safety car finally comes in and the race is back on.
0230:
"Fooey", CRS' cateri ng chief has just arrived in the garage with fresh supplies to keep us all fed and watered. He's really called Matt but only ever answers to Fooey; a nickname he got because he looks Chinese... Hong Kong Phooey, get it?! Turns out though that he's actually an orphan of the Vietnam War so he's not Chinese at all! It's amazing what you learn when you spend a 24 hour race with them.
0320:
The last hour has been very quiet, thankfully. Tim Mullen has just come in to hand over to Gordon Shedden. After his double stint Tim is now off for a nap before he gets back behind the wheel later today. A few minutes later Kirkaldy pits in no.56, which has been running beautifully since being repaired, and rejoins after a smooth stop.
0400:
Points time! The second batch of points are awarded at the 12-hour mark. This time it's Ferrari no.55 taking the spoils and bagging two points.
0405:
Shedden has been punted of f at Pouhon by a Maserati! Everyone holds their breath as they wait for the Scot to radio in with more information. It's okay, he is back on track and the car is undamaged. Most importantly he is still in fourth place.
0420:
Kirkaldy comes in to hand over to a refreshed Dirk Mueller and heads off for some shut eye.
0430:
Shedden is in and Piccini rejoins the race in the no.55 Ferrari.
0520:
Mueller pits and heads out for part two of his double stint and 15 minutes later Piccini does the same in no.55.
0600:
It's very quiet at Spa (apart from the engine noise of course). All the VIP guests have gone to bed, the media centre is almost empty and even Malcolm Swetnam is taking forty winks (on a sun lounger in the back of the garage). It won't stay like this for long though as the sun is coming up.
0620:
Dirk Mueller is in and Rob Bell heads out in no.56. During his time in the car Dirk discovered that there was a bright side to the earlier accident.
"Since Rob's accident the car is running really well, he said. "We lost a bit of front grip and now the balance is great."
0640:
Tim Mullen heads back out on track relieving Piccini after his double stint.
It's fully light now at Spa. Are there really still almost ten hours to go?
24 Hours
The CRS Ferraris have finished the 2008 Total 24 Hours of Spa in fourth and sixth places. The 55 car of Chris Niarchos, Tim Mullen, Andrea Piccini and Gordon Shedden took fourth and the 56 Ferrari of Andrew Kirkaldy, Rob Bell, Dirk Mueller and James Sutton came home in sixth. Finishing in the top six, in fact finishing at all, in its first 24 hour race is a good result for CR Scuderia. This is how the final hours panned out...
0715:
Rob Bell pits to take on fuel for the remainder of his double stint and 25 minutes later Tim Mullen follows suit.
0812:
After a trouble-free run, Bell comes in to hand over to Andrew Kirkaldy. At this point the 55 car is in fourth place and 56 is in seventh.
0850:
It's time for Chris Niarchos to rejoin the race so Mullen comes in to hand over to him.
0852:
Kirkaldy has been on the radio complaining of an ill-handling car. It turns out that one of his tyres has a suspect valve and the tyre is steadily deflating. It eventually let go at Blanchimont so Kirkaldy didn't have too far to go to get back to the pits.
"I would prefer it if it hadn't happened at the fastest part of the circuit," said Kirkaldy. "But it wasn't a big drama. I really enjoyed that run and I want to get back out there!"
0930:
No.56 has moved up to sixth place as the Trackspeed Porsche has dropped down the order.
0950:
Dirk Mueller has taken over the wheel of no.56 and Andrea Piccini joins him on the track in no.55. Both drivers complete trouble-free double stints.
1145:
Mueller is in and Bell is out for a double stint in no.56, his last run of this 24 hour race.
1204:
Piccini pits to hand over to Shedden who completes his final stint before Chris Niarchos takes the wheel.
1330:
It's raining again...
1337:
Niarchos dives in for a set of drying wets and a few minutes later Kirkaldy takes over from Bell and takes to the track on intermediate tyres. In typical Spa fashion though the rain is stopping... starting... stopping... starting...
Soon after 1400hrs Tim Mullen jumped into no.55 to take it to the flag.
1600:
The final two hours of the race fly by as the teams have to keep a close eye on the weather conditions. All goes to plan for CRS though and Mullen and Kirkaldy cross the line in formation in fourth and sixth places in GT2.
The team won't pack up the garage tonight. They'll have a quick tidy up and then leave the hard work for tomorrow as 51 pi t stops in 24 hours is quite enough work for any team!
The final word goes to Chris Niarchos:
"I guess that was a classic case of the Tortoise and the Hare... but the Hare tripped! Considering this was our first 24 hour race the entire team did an exceptional job. The cars ran faultlessly mechanically all weekend and all four of our new drivers gave it their all, as did the regular drivers. James (Sutton) did an exceptional job in testing; unfortunately for him he didn't get to race, but his day will come. Dirk (Mueller), Andrea (Piccini) and Gordon (Shedden) were all great and I have nothing but praise for them."