Sir Chris Hoy put his off-track excursion at Goodwood far behind him with an outstanding performance at Spa in round eight of the 2014 British GT Championship. Along with his Nissan team-mate, 2012 GT Academy Europe winner, Wolfgang Reip, he took a second place podium finish at one of the world’s toughest race tracks.
Spa-Francorchamps, the home of the Belgian Grand Prix, is high on the list of favourite tracks for racing drivers the world over. Renowned for it’s rollercoaster-like layout it boasts some of the best corners in motorsport, including the daunting Eau Rouge and the fearsome Blanchimont. To get a top result at Spa is an incredible achievement for any driver, let alone one who only saw the circuit for the first time on Thursday.
The day’s racing actually got underway first thing in the morning at a damp and misty Spa. Choosing to be on the side of caution, the team started Chris’ Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 on wet tyres but ultimately the track was just dry enough for slicks. It was a tough initiation for Chris but between him and Wolfie they kept the GT-R on the black stuff and finished the race in 14th place. Everything would hang on the result of race two.
Wolfgang Reip was on starting duty for the second of day’s two races and after a fantastic performance in qualifying he started from third on the grid.
The Safety Car came out after the pit window opened, bunching the field up again and taking away that hard-earned buffer but once the driver change was complete it was Hoy who led the race. When the race went green, Chris held onto first place. Then another Safety Car came out, giving him a little breathing space before what turned out to be a four-lap dash to the chequered flag. As the race went green, Chris had the entire field on his tail. This weekend’s racing at Spa has also provided Wolfie with a fantastic warm up to the Spa 24 Hours, which takes place in just two weeks’ time.
SPA BRITISH GT 2014 Results – 19 laps:
Pos Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sims/Attard Barwell BMW 1h00m01.668s
2. Hoy/Reip RJN Nissan +3.519s
3. Eastwood/Carroll FF Corse Ferrari +6.827s
4. Firth/Hughes Trackspeed Porsche +7.103s
5. Mowle/Osborne Triple Eight BMW +7.167s
6. White/Onslow-Cole Strata 21 Aston +9.192s
7. Mallegol/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari +9.625s
8. Lathouras/Lyons AF Corse Ferrari +10.031s
9. Dryburgh/Gaw PGF Aston +10.324s
- Al Harthy/Caine Oman Aston +13.354s
