New Zealanders Ryan Yardley and Madeline Stewart’s respective teams faced significant setbacks over the weekend in the 992 Endurance Cup at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Yardley’s teammate Tyler Hoffman and Black Falcon’s #5 Porsche came together at Turn 1 on Lap 1, forcing the former to tour the 7.004km circuit with heavy damage and a shredded left front tyre.
In doing so, Hoffman lost over a lap on the field, and the repairs put the Muhlner Motorsport #21, shared by Yardley, Hoffman, Anthony McIntosh, and Glenn McGee, over an hour down and out of contention.
The team returned to the track to complete a tidy 235 laps to be classified 24th and tenth in the AM Class, with Yardley at the wheel when the race finished in darkness.
“My first taste of proper endurance racing, and I’m addicted,” Yardley said on social media after the race. “I’ll take the amazing effort by everyone to qualify the car on pole, and look towards the next endurance race where ever that may be.”
Stewart’s MRS GT_Racing outfit lasted until the seventh hour when it was forced into retirement due to a failure of the left rear wheel hub.
Stewart, Therese Lahlouh, Alex Sedgwick and Nicolas Romano had show great pace over the weekend, and were in Pro/AM contention following a strong qualifying outing.
Two of the race’s three official retirements were from MRS GT-Racing, with the #89 ending its race against the tyre barriers on the exit of Eau Rogue.
The team’s sole remaining Porsche lost its left rear wheel on the Kemmel Straight after just 25 minutes of racing and struggled with tyre pressure issues, but did, at least, manage to finish 23rd.
H-2-H Racing’s #15, which had been running in a comfortable second overall at two-thirds distance, was the final retirement.
The Belgian team battled gearbox temperature issues for several hours before finally pulling the plug 90 minutes from home due to a suspected oil pump failure.
The #48 Black Falcon Porsche of Loek Hartog, Christopher Mies, Tobias Müller, and Noah Nagelsdiek were the overall winners, completing 276 laps to claim a dominant 2m 28.7s victory over the #8 Max Kruse Racing entry.
Jan Jaap van Roon, Tom Coronel, Paul Meijer, and Benjamin Leuchter completed an incredible comeback for their runner-up result, having spent the afternoon working their way back through the pack after an electrical gremlin forced the pole-sitting team out of an early lead and the top 20 altogether, earlier in the day.
Red Camel-Jordans.nl’s #9 of Ivo Breukers, Luc Breukers, Rik Breukers, and Fabian Danz completed the overall podium, crossing the line nine seconds behind the Max Kruse Racing entry.
