SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS 24-HOURS 2003

The entry
In total 54 cars were accepted to start at the 2003 Spa-Francorchamps 24-hours. Of them 37 met the FIA-GT rules for GT-R and N-GT cars (there aez 18 GT-R cars and 18 N-GT cars). Of the 17 others 9 raced in the so-called NAT-GT class (G2) and 8 in the so-called Single Make class (G3). Among the 18 GT-R cars we find no less than 14 cars being regular entrants at the FIA GT championship plus two Vipers of Larbre Compétition (among them the Christophe Bouchut #1 Viper having won the last two Spa 24 hours, but having been retired from the FIA GT Championship after two rounds, due to the loss of the main sponsor) and two Belmondo Vipers (this year only seen at the FFSA Championship). Absent are the #8 Saleen S7-R and the #10 Ferrari 550 Modena. In total we five Ferrari 550 Maranellos are present: the #21-#22-#23 of BMS Scuderia Italia, the #9 of JMB Racing and the #16 Wieth Racing, having received a new motor tuned by engineer Mauro Forghieri himself. There are three Lister Storms, the #14 and #15 by Lister Storm Racing and the #6 entered by Creation Autosportif. There are two Saleens: the #2 of Franz Konrad and the #7 of Graham Nash Motorsport. The rest are the two Vipers of Force One Racing (#4 and #5), the Zwaan's Viper (#18), the Roos Optima Viper (#11), the two Larbre Compétition Vipers (#1 and #17) and the two Paul Belmondo Vipers (#24 and #25). A ninth Viper, however raced in G2 is the Zakspeed #126, using the same engine as at the Nürburgring 24-hours.
Among the 18 N-GT cars we find six cars not earlier seen at the FIA GT Championship: two Autorlando Porsches 996GT3-RS (#66, #67), two Seikel Porsches 996GT3-RS (#72 and #73, earlier seen at the AMLS), the Emeraude #171 Porsche 996GT3-RS and the #68 Ferrari 360 Modena, entered as third car by JMB Racing. There are six Modenas: #52, #53 and #68 by JMB, #57 by Thomas Enge (himself not present), #88 and #89 by Maranello Concessionaires. The twelve N-GT Porsches are entered by Freisinger (#50, #51), by Eurotech (#54, #55), by Autorlando (#66,#67), by Seikel (#72, #73), by Emka Racing (#61), by Proton Competition (#69), by RWS Yukos (#77 having let their #99 home), by Emeraude Racing (#171). Absent is the Polish Porsche #56, the two American Cirtek Porsches and the Auta Palace Star Modena #58. Of the seven other Porsches five are simple 996GT3 Cup versions and two are 996 Turbo versions (#102 and #105), bringing the total Porsche entry up to 21 of the 54 cars.
Remaining cars are two American G2 Moslers MT900R (#101 and #104), a Seat Toleda (#103), the 3 litre Alfa powered Belgian Vertigo Streiff (#100), the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (#106), the Aero Racing Morgan 8 (#107), all racing in G2, and a BMW Z3M and Lotus Elise, racing in G3.

Qualifications
Positions on the grid in a 24-hour race are less important than in shorter races. Nevertheless struggle for the pole position is heavy. The #23 Ferrari 550 Maranello of Biagi/Bobbi, having won the five previous rounds in the FIA-GT Championship is tipped as THE favourite, both for the pole and for the overall win, however a serious crash changes it all. At BMS Scuderia Italia they decide to retire the #21 and to use the pieces of this car to repair the #23. Pole position goes eventually to the #22 Ferrari 550 Maranello in 2'15"718, ahead of the #2 Konrad Saleen S7-R and the #23 Ferrari 550 Maranello. At the 11 first places we find exclusively GT-R cars. Fastest N-GT is the #89 Ferrari 360 Modena in 2'22"691.

The Race
As the #22 Ferrari passes the Konrad Saleen before the green lights are on - which means a false start - a restart, ten minutes later, will be necessary. Eric van de Poele (#2 Saleen) takes immediately the lead, followed by Thomas Biagi (#23 Ferrari 550 Maranello) and Mike Hezemans (#4 Viper). Big disappointment for the #101 Mosler when Martin Short blows the motor up during the real first lap. The Saleen is pulling away from the rest of the field and passes after a first lap 3" earlier than the #23 and the #4. During the second lap Hezemans moves in second position. After 3 laps the #15 Lister Storm comes in to change a flat tire. Meanwhile the #14 sister car, having started from the last place due to a broken engine on the Thursday practice, makes its way through the field. In 3 laps it moved from rank 53 to rank 24. The EMKA Porsche #61 leads N-GT ahead of three Modenas. Christophe Bouchut (#1 Viper) passes Hezemand for the second place at lap 4. In fourth position the JMB 550 Maranello is the rabbit for the Ferraris, preceding the #21. After 30 minutes the #15 Lister is already in the top-10, exclusively formed by GT-R cars. Then follow the two fastest G2 cars, the Zakspeed Viper and the Corvette C5-R, wheel to wheel.
The Morgan Aero 8 has a torrid first hour with two pit stops. The #25 Belmondo Viper looses three laps in the pits with clutch bothers. Shortly after the first half hour Hezemans goes violently off in the tire wall, writing off the #4 Viper. The pace car comes out, and slowly following the field the #18 Zwaan's Viper suddenly falls out with a broken transmission. Top-20 after one hour is:
1 2 GT Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R 00:56:12.786 19
2 1 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 00:56:15.742 19 0:02.956
3 23 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Ma 00:56:18.701 19 0:05.915
4 9 GT JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Ma 00:56:21.018 19 0:08.232
5 6 GT Creation Autosportif Lister Storm 00:56:21.553 19 0:08.767
6 22 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Ma 00:56:28.242 19 0:15.456
7 14 GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 00:56:32.937 19 0:20.151
8 126 G2 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTSR 00:56:34.046 19 0:21.260
9 106 G2 Escelsior Chevrolet C5-R 00:56:37.352 19 0:24.566
10 11 GT Roos Optima Racing Team Chrysler Viper 00:57:26.387 19 1:13.601
11 16 GT Wieth Racing Ferrari 550 Ma 00:57:27.140 19 1:14.354
12 5 GT Force One Racing Festina Chrysler Viper 00:57:28.295 19 1:15.509
13 24 GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 00:57:30.853 19 1:18.067
14 61 N-GT EMKA Racing Porsche GT3 00:57:35.599 19 1:22.813
15 52 N-GT JMB Racing Ferrari 360Mod 00:57:39.931 19 1:27.145
16 17 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 00:57:40.666 19 1:27.880
17 88 N-GT Team Maranello UK Ferrari 360Mod 00:57:41.490 19 1:28.704
18 89 N-GT Team Maranello UK Ferrari 360Mod 00:57:45.697 19 1:32.911
19 50 N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 00:57:49.591 19 1:36.805
20 77 N-GT RWS Yukos Motorsport Porsche GT3 00:57:49.921 19 1:37.135

It takes 40 minutes before the pace car withdraws. Just after Philipp Peter moves into second place with the #9 Ferrari 550 Maranello. It's starting to rain. Hardly 10 minutes later the pace car is again out after a crash of the #115 BMW Z3. Several cars take the chance to pit, among them the Konrad Saleen, so that the #9 JMB Ferrari 550 is the new leader, followed by the Corvette C5-R, having still to pit. Wen after 16 minutes the pace car withdraws, the #9 Ferrari has to refuel, so that the Corvette is the new leader. Under heavy rain 15 cars are closing up behind the pace car, most of them from the N-GT class. Having to refuel once per 90 minutes, against once per hour for the GT-R cars, and being on a wet soaked track as fast as the big-cylinder cars, the Porsches 996GT3-RS and Ferraris 360 Modena take advantage from the situation. Since it's now raining the proverbial pushrods, the N-GT cars are now setting the pace, initially with the #61 EMKA Porsche, later with the #77 Yukos Porsche, then with the #52 Ferrari 360 Modena, shortly with the #66 Autorlando Porsche, interrupted by the GT-R #15 Lister Storm, and eventually, after 3 hours, with the #50 Freisinger Porsche. 
Meanwhile the #7 Saleen, having had three pit stops is slowing again. Having gone into the barriers the Morgan is out after having been hit by the #51 Freisinger Porsche. That means that, after 3 hours of racing, the pace car is out for the fourth time. Nine cars are found in the same lap, followed by 13 others at one lap. Positions are heavily influenced by varying pit stops, yes or no, under pace car conditions. Top-15 positions are now: 1 #50 N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 55 laps,  2 #14 GT Lister Racing Lister Storm  55 laps at 0:04.432, 3 1 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 55 laps at 0:20.295, 4 #15 GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 55 laps at 0:30.721, 5 #126 G2 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTSR 55 laps at 0:34.983, 6 #61 N-GT EMKA Racing Porsche GT3 55 laps, at 0:47.031, 7 #9 GT JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 55 laps at 1:27.982, 8 #77 N-GT RWS Yukos Motorsport Porsche GT3 55 laps at 1:37.695, 9 #6 GT Creation Autosportif Lister Storm 55 laps at 1:57.913, 10 #5 GT Force One Racing Festina Chrysler Viper 54 laps, 11 #22 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello 54 laps, 12 #17 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 54 laps, 13 #24 GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 54 laps, 14 #66 N-GT Autorlando Sport Porsche GT3 54 laps, 15 #106 G2 Escelsior Chevrolet 54 laps, etc. Among the top 10 we note the three Listers, three Vipers, one Ferrari and three N-GT Porsches.
When the pace car retires after 18 minutes, under torrential rain, the N-GT cars take profit of the bad weather conditions, to go faster than the hairy GT-Rs. After four hours the remaining Freisinger Porsche - the #51 sister car is out - has a one minute lead over the #9 Ferrari 550, closely followed by the #61 EMKA Porsche. The #23 Ferrari - main favourite before the start - lost three laps in the pits. The Corvette had a gravely moment and is down to 30th. Both Saleens are on the point to retire with electrical problems. The #75 Eurotech Porsche is already out with transmission problems. The #11 Viper is black flagged to the pits with no headlights. During the fifth hour the #9 Ferrari Maranello, going a few seconds per lap faster than the Freisinger Porsche, takes over the lead. The #23 Ferrari Maranello, which never fully recovered from its crash at the Friday qualifications, is retired with engine problems.

The Konrad Saleen eventually retires with a broken gearbox and the remaining Mosler with a broken transmission. During the sixth hour we loose the fastest car on the track, the #14 Lister Storm, having spun off. The three JMB Modenas are all three suffering from alternator problems, contributing to an abandoned #52. Climatological conditions are worsening, so that under torrential rain the #9 JMB Ferrari looses its lead to the Freisinger Porsche. Since positions after 6 hours count at half points for the FIA-GT Championship, that means that JMB looses one point. After six hours of racing - among them 157 minutes behind the pace car - pace is ...58 laps down to last year, explaining the abnormal standings after six hours: 1 #50 N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 107 laps,  2 #9 GT JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 107 laps at 0:54.547, 3 #1 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 107 laps at 1:00.075, 4 #61 N-GT EMKA Racing Porsche GT3 106 laps, 5 #22 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello 106 laps,6 #17 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 105 laps, 7 #5 GT Force One Racing Festina Chrysler Viper 105 laps, 8 #24 GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 105 laps, 9 #57 N-GT Menx Ferrari 360 Modena 105 laps, 10 #72 N-GT Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3 105 laps, 11 #77 N-GT RWS Yukos Motorsport Porsche GT3 105 laps, 12 #6 GT Creation Autosportif Lister Storm 105 laps, 13 #88 N-GT Team Maranello UK Ferrari 360 Modena 104 laps, 14 #89 N-GT Team Maranello UK Ferrari 360 Modena 104 laps, 15 #74 N-GT Team Eurotech Porsche GT3 104 laps, 16 #15 GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 104 laps, 17 #126 G2 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTSR 104 laps, 18 #67 N-GT Autorlando Sport Porsche GT3 103 laps, 19 #117 G3 Land Motorsport Porsche GT3 103 laps, 20 #160 G2 Ice Pol Racing Team Porsche GT3 103 laps, etc.
As the seventh hour ends/begins, the Larbre Viper is just half a second behind the second placed #9 JMB Ferrari 550, it powers by and easily pulls away, and the JMB car makes a scheduled pitstop next time around. Ortelli takes over from Romain Dumas in the race leading #50 Porsche, and Stephane is due to double stint. Engine cover off for #50 though and a thimble full or so of water added putting an extra 10 seconds or so on top of the usually regimented pit stop. At Freisinger this sort of thing is regarded as a major disaster!! With this pitstop the #1 car takes the lead after a long, long period of N-GT class race leadership. A driver switch to Patrick Huisman and the Viper starts to pull away from the field at a rate of knots (probably an appropriate unit of measurement given the amount of water around). News from Team Maranello Concessionaires is that the hobbled #88 Ferrari has electrical problems, the team are still trying to talk the driver through a fix.
The #6 Creation Autosportif Lister is in electrical trouble, the team racing to trace the problem and the stop stretching to over 30 minutes at 6 ½ hours. There is also a problem with the steering rack, it looks like being a long night for the team. The car eventually rejoins after a 48 minute stop now down to 33rd position, 14 laps down on the leader. The Corvette is making progress again, well into the top 20 and running much more quickly than the cars ahead of it.

The weather and the glut of safety cars has still left us with a strange looking top six – four of the leading cars still coming from N-GT. The #72 Seikel car is now fourth overall. The #68 Ferrari 360 is off the circuit at Eau Rouge, it’s a tricky place to recover a car from, so guess what? – It’s Safety Car time! The leading Viper makes a scheduled stop and rejoins without ceding the lead to the chasing Freisinger Porsche. Have they had a second stop almost immediately under the safety car? The Safety car withdraws and the Viper disappears into the distance. Freisinger had planned to push hard for the points at six hours before easing off - and that’s exactly what Ortelli is now doing. He stays on the lead lap but lets the Viper take the strain ahead. Huismann is romping around up to 20 seconds faster than his pursuers, but is he taking a risk on this streaming track? He seems to be on a mission to put a full lap on the rest of the field. Shades of 2002?
There’s trouble though for the second, #17 Larbre Viper, an unscheduled stop interrupting a solid run. Much, much further back and there’s real pace on display from the Vertigo, it's back in 35th place but lapping consistently under 3 minutes and catching the cars ahead of it hand over fist. The #73 Seikel car retires in the pits, possibly with gearbox trouble. The #84 T2M Porsche is in the gravel, the safety car, now a familiar part of all our lives here, once more takes to the track. The leader pits, and unsurprisingly, after a long string of banzai laps, retains the lead. The safety car has worked very much in Freisinger’s favour and the Porsche now trails the Viper by just 21 seconds. The Safety car pits again after 14 minutes – don’t worry Mazda MX5 fans, she’ll be back. The #84 Porsche meanwhile seems to have been recovered from the gravel merely to retire out on the circuit. The leader stretches it legs again immediately pulling out a handful of seconds per lap.
There’s still a battle royal from 6th through to 9th slots, with the Festina and Zakspeed Vipers chasing the #15 Lister hard. Fourth in the train is the #57 Menx Ferrari and at times it was fastest of al of them but then an off, contact with the #5 Viper. The Ferrari pits and loses ninth to the #24 Belmondo Viper. The pack is shuffled with the Zakspeed Viper finding a way by the Festina car and pushing on to make inroads into the Lister’s advantage. It was a slow lap from the Lister though that allowed the Viper by and up into 6th place. A longish stop for the Freisinger Porsche allows the #9 JMB Ferrari back up into second spot. There’s an interesting scrap developing between fifth and eighth positions, the Seikel Porsche heading a train consisting of the #15 Lister and a pair of Vipers. The rain has halted and a more familiar night time endurance racing situation has developed. The Larbre Viper is now in a comfortable lead and for the first time since the early period we have a GT class 1-2 at the top. The no. 9 JMB Ferrari is as strong as ever, and indeed lapping quicker than the leader, but nearly a full lap down. The N-GT leaders are also on the same lap, and now back into a more realistic 3rd and 4th overall. The gap between the Freisinger and EMKA Porsches is about two minutes.

However, these positions will now scramble as we again have a safety car interruption. The #67 Autorlando Porsche and the #6 Creation Lister have crashed at Blanchimont and are blocking the track. Prior to that, the fastest car on the circuit had been this Lister. It was well down the order after its visibility problems. The #25 Belmondo car has been in the pits for a long time with a snapped driveshaft.
Five minutes after racing resumes (29-minute interruption), the leading Chrysler makes an unscheduled stop. There is some attention paid to the windscreen and the Viper’s wipers. The halt is long enough to re-promote the Freisinger Porsche into the lead. Down in third place, Chris Goodwin has just taken over the EMKA Porsche. The #89 Maranello Ferrari is having a gearbox repaired in the pits. It lost about 10 minutes and has returned to the race. It is now the fastest car on the circuit at about 2:39. The Larbre Viper is again running well and recouping its losses to the Freisinger Porsche. Belmondo woes continue as the left front corner is being attended in the  #24 pits. The Larbre Viper retakes the lead 10:40 elapsed time when the Freisinger Porsche makes a routine stop. The fifth place car is also worthy of note as the #72 Seikel Porsche is lapping reasonably quickly and has only spent about one minute more in the pits than the Freisinger Porsche. Speaking of the #50 car, (Lieb?) is going extremely quickly. The car is on slicks and is actually closing on the Larbre Viper, an amazing development as we close the 11th hour.
The no. 22 Ferrari is running cleanly after its earlier problems. The Corvette has made a perfect stop and driver handover as it too is beginning to work back forward. The weather is now mild. A stiff breeze moved through the area a moment ago, but it remains dry.
The Force One Lister has been heard to be running rough at several times in past half-hour and it stopped briefly at Turn 2. It has returned but its engine problems seem severe enough that it may not return. Von Gartzen has gone off course into the gravel (mud?) at Turn 10 with the remaining Eurotech Porsche. Beginning of Porsche problems? A more important runner, the EMKA 996, has also gone off at about the same section of the course. Heading into the 11 ½ - hour mark and the Freisinger Porsche again assumes the lead on the exchange of stops. The Viper is now lapping about one second per lap faster than the 996, considerably less than needed to merely catch it on the circuit. The EMKA Porsche returns to the circuit, but not before dropping down to 10th overall and 3rd in N-GT. The more delayed Eurotech Porsche also digs itself out. A rather brisk and windy rain returns at 03:50. But it is short-lived as only Spa can be. We’re ten minutes away from the second break point of 12 hours, when once more there will be an award of championship points. In N-GT the top three are quite firm with 50 (Freisinger Porsche) over the no. 72 Seikel entry, which replaced the fallen EMKA car - now third in class. The best race in that category is for fourth as the MenX Ferrari has passed the RWS Porsche after the Russian entered car made its stop. The surviving TMC Ferrari has slipped back with gear linkage and gear cluster adjustments / changes (the latter - twice - either side of halfway). The GT order is 1-9-17-15-22-11. However, this shuffles moments before the halfway point when the second Larbre car makes its stop and lets the remaining Lister move up a spot. Mixed among all these is the non-championship Zakspeed Viper which sits comfortably at 6th overall. The SMS leading Land Porsche is all the way to 13th overall. Not bad for a true club racer.

Positions at mid-race are: 1 #50 N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 220 laps, 2 #1 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper at 1:25.864, 3 #9 GT JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 217 laps, 4 #24 GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 216 laps, 5 #72 N-GT Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3 216 laps, 6 #126 G2 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTSR 215 laps, 7 #15 GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 215 laps, 8 #22 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello 214 laps, 9 #61 N-GT EMKA Racing Porsche GT3 214 laps, 10 #57 N-GT Menx Ferrari 360 Modena 213 laps, 11 #17 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 213 laps, 12 #77 N-GT RWS Yukos Motorsport Porsche GT3 213 laps, 13 #117 G3 Land Motorsport Porsche GT3  210 laps, 14 #102 G2 AD Sport Porsche GT3  209 laps, 15 #74 N-GT Team Eurotech Porsche GT3 207 laps, 18 #11 GT Roos Optima Racing Team Chrysler Viper  203 laps, 19 #53 N-GT JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena 203 laps, etc.
It's obvious that the ranking has been "falsified" by the bad weather conditions and the continuous in and outs of the pace car, having cost some cars one or more laps. Moreover the GT-R cars cannot undo their arrears on the leaders as long that there are no stable weather conditions: since they have to pit any hour, against any 90 minutes for the N-GT cars, their come-back goes rather slowly. The EMKA Porsches goes for a second time in the gravel, as does the #17 Viper (loosing 30 minutes). The #5 Viper struggles with all kinds of bothers and is falling in the standings. With eleven hours to go it's again raining. When the #9 Ferrari 550 Maranello has to pit with front suspension problems, dropping to 10th after a 20 minutes stop, the Belmondo Viper conquers rank 3. The #17 Larbre Compétition Viper is abandoned with a broken oil circuit. Shortly after 15 hours of racing the #24 Belmondo Viper has a long pit stop so that the #22 Ferrari moves into third. The #9 JMB Ferrari, back into seventh, has now obviously engine problems, loosing oil, and will be abandoned, just as the #25 Belmondo Viper. The #1 Larbre Viper goes now 6" per lap faster than the #50 Freisinger Porsche but is stopped by a tire puncture.  The Roos Viper spins at Blanchimont and is out. Out too is the EMKA Porsche. Positions after 18 hours are: 1 #50 N-GT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche GT3 346 laps,  2 #1 GT Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper 243 345 laps, 3 #22 GT BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello 340 laps, 4 #72 N-GT Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3 338 laps, 5 #15 GT Lister Racing Lister Storm 337 laps,
6 #57 N-GT Menx Ferrari 360 Modena 335 laps, 7 #126 G2 Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTSR 334 laps, 8 #24 GT Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper 330 laps, 9 #74 N-GT Team Eurotech Porsche GT3 329 laps, 10 #117 G3 Land Motorsport Porsche GT3 327 laps, 11 #102 G2 AD Sport Porsche GT3 327 laps, 12 #53 N-GT JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena 327 laps, etc.
It's obvious that the Freisinger Porsche won its first place rather in the pits than on the track. Of all cars it was the shortest time in the pits (21 minutes) against 40 for the Larbre Viper and 62 for the #22 Ferrari. Until 10.50 a.m. the track is drying. That makes that the Larbre Viper comes back to 1'37" behind the Freisinger Porsche. But then, at once, it has to come into the pits with a gearbox problem. Only 27 cars are still left, among them 13 of the 21 Porsches seen at the start. The #22 Ferrari and #72 Seikel Porsche move into second and third, with the Larbre Viper regaining the track in fourth. The Lister Storm returns several times to the pits and drops in the standings. The Zakspeed Viper can pass the Menx Modena for the fifth place. Positions hardly change during the last hour. That implies that the Freisinger Porsche (third last year) obtains a surprising historic win, beating all hairy GT-R machinery. Final standings are to be found below.

Cars in the picture at the Spa 24-hours