Augusto Farfus will once again be swapping his BMW DTM car for a BMW GT car and will be heading to Belgium for his second 24-hour race of the 2015 season. This is for the Total 24 Hours of Spa, a classic event at the iconic circuit in the Ardennes, where he will be racing for BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS alongside fellow BMW works drivers Dirk Werner and Maxime Martin.
It was a very excited Brazilian driver who was looking forward to the weekend when he said: “It is potentially one of the best GT endurance races on the planet, and I am super proud to be sharing the number 45 BMW Z4 GT3 with Max and Dirk. I did it last year and we were doing pretty well until we had to retire in the night. We did a test recently and the car showed a very competitive pace and I think it will be strong there.”
Last year the car the driver from Curitiba shared with Martin and Jörg Müller was forced to retire after just 140 laps – the best BMW that came second covered 527 laps – after the radiator suffered irreparable damage due to hitting a hare. That was the first time he had competed in the race and was able to add it to his list of 24 hour races, which includes Daytona, Le Mans, the Nürburgring and Dubai.
The driver from Curitiba knows all about endurance racing, and knows how to approach them, having already done both the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours in the USA earlier this year. “I am really looking forward to this race. It is going to be pretty intense and you have to commit everything to the whole race. Although it is a long time this really is a sprint 24-hour event. I am very optimistic, as I think we can do well there,” he explained.
The first action for the GT cars on the 7.004 kilometre track is on Thursday (23rd July) from 12.00 to 13.30. Then from 18.10 to 19.10 there is pre-qualifying, followed by qualifying from 20.30 to 21.45 and night qualifying from 22.15 to 23.45. The action on Friday is just the Super Pole session from 15.30 to 15.55. This is for the fastest 20 cars in qualifying from the 66-car field. On Saturday there is a 20-minute warm up from 09.05 and then the race starts at 16.30 and ends on Sunday at 16.30.
