Aussie wins at Spa 24-hour

AUSSIES and Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 hour regulars have enjoyed mixed fortunes at the Spa 24 Hour at the weekend.

Aussie Liam Talbot teamed with Marco Zanuttini, Vadim Gitlin and Nicola Cadei to win the Am Cup in their Kessel Racing Ferrari, finishing 32nd outright.

“It is a long race and you never know what will happen so cannot afford to get ahead of yourself. We were happy for the race to come to us and it did when the Kaspersky Ferrari retired," Talbot said.

The race was won outright by Rowe Racing's BMW M6 GT3 driven by Maxime Martin, Alexander Sims and Philipp Eng, the trio resisting a downpour with 30 minutes left in the race to secure back-to-back victories for the German brand.

Tristan Vautier, Felix Rosenqvist, Renger Van der Zande finished second in the Akka ASP Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 while Laurens Vanthoor, Rene Rast and Nico Muller grabbed third in the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS - the top three cars completing the top three.

Bathurst podium finishers Bentley Team M-Sport finished fourth, though had held the lead of the race within the final three hours before dropping off the podium in the closing stages. Thomas Jäger, Gary Paffett, Maximilian Götz finished fifth in their HTP Mercedes Benz.

Bathurst winners McLaren faced a tough day, 12-hour champion Shane van Gisbergen finsihing 31st in his Garage 59 entry after striking dramas during the night, while Aussie Nissan NISMO GT Academy driver Matt Simmonds finished 37th after his car endured electrical issues overnight.

Lago Racing finished 35th outright and 12th in the Pro-Am Cup in their Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX, completing 509 laps.

FULL RESULTS

Photo: Liam Talbot Racing Facebook.