The annual Total 24 Hours at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit saw Lewis Plato deliver another strong performance until the car was forced to retire after 15-hours in the GT3 Pro-Am category in the Blancpain Endurance blue ribbon event.
Lewis and the GT Russian team arrived at Spa earlier in the week, intending to use the first two practice sessions on Thursday to set up the car for the unique characteristics of the Belgium track. Team-mate Marko Asmer drove the 15-minute qualifying session but despite his best efforts they were unable to set a representative time after struggling to find the optimum set-up for the #71 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 ahead of the short qualifying sessions.
With the onset of rain on Saturday and, with 24-hours of competition ahead of them, the team was comfortable that good progress could be made during the race. Once the race was underway the team of Lewis Plato, Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyer and Indy Dontje were performing well moving up the order as the hours ticked by. Lewis headed back out on track for a double stint at 6 am and once the driver changes and racing settled down he was running 10th overall and third in class. A huge achievement considering that this was the biggest event so far in Lewis’s career, and he had never driven in the dark, let alone faced the challenges of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. As they approached the 8 am mark, Lewis suddenly found himself on the grass on his slowing down lap as he headed to the pits for a driver change. The car then crashed into a barrier, and out of the race.
Said Lewis: “I have no explanation as to why the car violently went sideways across the Astroturf and into the wall. It is a slow part of the circuit, and I was following a group of slower cars. There were other cars behind me, so I am not sure if I was tapped from behind or something gave on the car”.
Having just driven a double stint, posting consistent lap times and matching the times of the front-runners, to end like this was a devastating blow to Lewis, especially as there is no conclusive explanation to what happened. “The Russian GT team did a fantastic job all week and during the race so to retire at the 15-hour mark was a major blow to everyone. I am so disappointed. I know everyone appreciates that 24-hour races can be cruel, and Spa certainly throws up some surprises that you will never forget.”
Lewis will be back in action this weekend (1-2 August) in the Avon Tires British GT event at Brands Hatch in Kent with Alistair MacKinnon in the RAM Racing prepared Mercedes SLS AMG GT3.