24 Hours of Spa – 1 hour: sublime fight at the forefront!

The 2013 edition of the 24 Hours of Spa got off to a flying start! After a still delicate start with more than sixty GT cars launched at full speed on the Raidillon de l?Eau-Rouge, Stefan Mücke took off perfectly from pole position at the wheel of the?Aston Martin No. 99 of the Beechdean AMR. Yet under the obligation to perform a drive-through during the first 4 laps after receiving a penalty during the superpole, Alessandro Pier Guidi still found a way to spin at the wheel of there Ferrari 458 Italia n°70 of SMP Racing. Miraculously, no contact took place with the competitors who came to slalom around the sinking car. At the wheel of the McLaren MP4-12C n°7 of Hexis Racing, Alvaro Parente made one of the best starts: starting 10th, he was already in 3rd place at the end of the first lap.

At the head of the debates, Stefan Mücke mastered his subject despite a very pressing Nick Catsburg at the wheel of the #4 Marc Vds Racing BMW Z4. This would hold until the first half hour of the race, when the No. 3 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT32 from the Nissan GT Academy team RJN, then in the hands of Alex Buncombe, went off violently at Raidillon. After a mechanical breakdown at the right rear wheel, probably a broken suspension according to the team's Team Principal, the Briton, completely a passenger in his car, crashed into the wall of tires. Although he escaped unscathed after passing through the circuit's medical center, this exit required the very first intervention of the safety cars. Around fifteen minutes passed under this regime before the race resumed and a sublime fight began between the leading cars. Until his passage through the pits, Stefan Mücke managed to resist Nick Catsburg, who would take the lead at the hour mark once his opponent passed through his box.