Luckily for them, their nearest rival for the final podium slot, the Zakspeed Saleen of Sascha Bert, Jarek Janis, Andrea Montermini and Jan Charouz hit problems soon after GLPK and slipped back to an eventual eighth place. The BMS Aston Martin and the PSI Corvette put their early problems behind them for a strong fourth and fifth place finish.
While the GT1 class went down to the wire, there were no such dramas in the GT2 class with AF Corse dominating to the finish line, the team's two Ferrari 430GTs crossing the line three laps apart in sixth and seventh overall. Rui Aguas, Timo Scheider and Mika Salo took the honours with a flawless display of reliability and pace.
Scuderia Ecosse made it a superb day for
Ferrari, with Nathan Kinch, Andrew Kirkaldy and Mario Franchitti coming home third in class and ninth overall. Spyker broke the Ferrari dominance in fourth place, with the sole C8 Spyder of Jeroen Bleekemolen, Jonny Kane and Donny Crevels coming home tenth overall. The Felbermayr-Proton 911 was the highest placed Porsche in fifth.
However, while Ferrari got the better of them in the GT2 class, Porsche showed what is in store for the Italian team with a dominant performance with their new 997 911 GT3 in the G2 class.
Set to compete in the GT2 class from next year, the Spa race heralded the debut of the long awaited new car, although regulations stipulated it must compete in G2 for this race. It was a race they duly dominated, although they still spent plenty of time in the pit lane on the way to 14th and 15th - a result that would have given them seventh and eighth in the GT2 class.
Competing under the Manthey Racing banner, the two Porsches swapped the lead several times over the course of the race, but eventually it was the Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen and Marcel Thiemann 911 that prevailed. Timo Bernhard, Pedro Lamy and Marc Lieb followed six laps back, although even they were some 14 laps up on the nearest G2 competitor.
