Spa 6-Hour Preview: Ferrari Hands Porsche a Spa Advantage?
Porsche may have taken a double Spa benefit out of Ferrari’s tactical catastrophe at the Imola World Endurance Championship Six Hour in Italy.
Porsche may have taken a double Spa benefit out of Ferrari’s tactical catastrophe at the Imola World Endurance Championship Six Hour in Italy two weeks ago. Ferrari was fast at Imola. Very fast. But its tactics lost it the race. And it has unfortunately come to bear, as the Italian brand’s 499Ps took the biggest Balance of Performance hit for this weekend’s Belgian Spa 6 Hour.
Which is all very good news for Porsche, which ended second behind Toyota at Imola. While both those teams scored crucial Imola results, their lack of pace versus the red and yellow Ferrari trio sees them take a lesser penalty. Ferrari is worst off as it heads to the final stop on this year’s Road to Le Mans.
Porsche Smiling As Ferrari Takes a Spa BoP Hit
Ferrari’s Imola pace has earned its cars 27 pounds extra ballast bonus at the same time as the 499Ps have been docked six horsepower. Imola winners Toyota, as well as the second placed, championship leading Porsches, have on the other hand only gained 6 lbs. while losing just a horse and a half.
So, the black, and white and red cars are now per se the Spa favorites. The Porsches perhaps more so, considering that they were quicker than the Toyotas at Imola. And all courtesy of another famous Ferrari strategy blunder. Their quickest cars of the lot now sit compromised by team capitulation around those home race showers.
The rest of the teams have also all been more subtly affected by the BoP ebb and flow since Imola. They should however deliver more or less similar performance envelopes at Spa. Which will make BMW and Lamborghini’s progress most interesting. Especially the Bavarian cars, which came into the mix for the first time at Imola.
Is Porsche Looking Good Again in Belgium?
Other rivals, Cadillac, Peugeot, Alpine, and Isotta Fraschini were all affected by the first lap crash at Imola, so their real performance is all a bit of a mystery. And that leaves the mid-pack difficult to predict ahead of Spa.
Further back in GT3, the Qatar winning Porsche 911s Imola winning BMW M4s, and Ferrari 299s have all escaped BoP sanction, while the Aston Martins and new Ford Mustangs have been adjusted. Can the 911s win again? Or will Valentino Rossi win his first car world championship race for BMW at Spa?
Like many other things, time will tell, but Porsche is once again looking pretty good for Spa’s final 6 Hour stop on the Road to Le Mans 2024!