Over the weekend, the 6 Hours valid for the Endurance World Championship is raced on the Ardennes track. Let’s retrace the main events of the red on the difficult track in Belgium
– Milan
Inaugurated in 1924, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has always been the scene of epic F1, Gran Turismo and Endurance races. Ferrari has built a particular love-hate relationship with the Belgian track, alternating wonderful victories with epic setbacks. Let’s find out the most important ones.
f1, the triumphs of schumi
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On the difficult Ardennes track, Ferrari won fourteen F1 Grands Prix, resulting in the most successful team at Spa-Francorchamps. Michael Schumacher won four GPs (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2002) but the tally would have been more conspicuous without some epic reverses like the one in 1998, with the impact under the downpour against the McLaren Mercedes of David Coulthard who left Schumi’s red on three wheels compromising his race for the title, or that of 2000 with the epic overtaking suffered at the hands of Mika Hakkinen at the Kemmel during the dubbing of Ricardo’s Bar Zonta. Another Ferrari winner in the Ardennes is undoubtedly Kimi Raikkonen who won both in 2007 and 2009. More recently, the victories of Sebastian Vettel in 2018 and of Charles Leclerc the following year. Going back in time instead, there are two victories of Alberto Ascari in 1952 and 1953, a Phil Hill triumph in 1961 and John Surtees in 1966.
24 hours, few but good
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Another of the workhorses of the Francorchamps circuit is undoubtedly the 24 Hours, which over the decades has hosted the most varied types of cars alternating from Gran Turismo to Sport up to the more “spartan” Group A and Group N Touring cars Ferrari has won a few editions of this grueling marathon, one of the main events of world Endurance which has always been characterized by changing weather conditions, sudden twists and memorable feats. In 1949 Louis Chinetti And Jean Lucas lead to triumph 166MM in the “one-day race”, then in 1953 there is the triumph of Nino Farina And Mike Hawthorn with the Ferrari 375MM. After this triumph, achieved on the fourteen kilometer long historical track, the race goes through an interlocutory period. The GTs and the Sports gave way to the Touring cars and in the 1980s the race was valid first for the ETCC and then for the WTCC; starting in 1979 the competitors compete on a circuit drastically shortened to seven kilometers for safety reasons.
the open era
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From 1989 to 1993, after the WTCC era ended, the race became Open and once again welcomed Gran Turismo cars with the occasional presence of Ferrari cars driven by Belgian and German crews. After the ’93 edition, stopped after fifteen hours as a sign of mourning for the death of King Baudouin, there followed seven years reserved exclusively for touring cars. Starting from 2001, the 24 Hours became the main event of the GT World Championship, but for various reasons Ferrari repeatedly failed in the attempt to win. In the early zero years the Reds found in Maserati MC12 an insurmountable obstacle to success, but in 2004 the triumph of the Ferrari 550 Of Luca Cappellari, Lillian Bryner, Enzo Calderari And Fabrizio Gollin. After a long period characterized by the successes of the German cars, another Ferrari triumph arrives in 2021 with the 488 Of Pier Guidi, Nielsen And Ledogar.
the mini endurances
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The particular layout and charm of Spa Francorchamps have also been exploited by other, shorter Endurance races. In 1953 Olivier Gendebien wins a 1000 km with the Ferrari 166MMwhile in the two-year period 1963-1964 the victories of the Ferrari 250 GTOs respectively with Willy Mairesse And Mike Parkes. In 1972 then comes the triumph of Ferrari 312 PBs at the 1000 Kilometers with Brian Redman and Arthur Merzario. And we come to the 6 Hours valid for the FIA WEC, one of the most satisfying for Ferrari thanks to thirteen class victories in the decade 2012-2022. The latest triumph is that of Pier Guidi and Calado in LM GTE Pro last season with the Ferrari 488 GTE, a decisive step towards the world class title which arrived in the autumn. The hope is that now Ferrari can add to its palmares an absolute success at the 6 Hours with the 499P Hypercars.
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