Jos Menten endured a frustrating finish to his assault on the Spa 24 Hours after the #5 Corvette C6.R was forced to retire from the blue-riband event on the
FIA GT Championship calendar.
Running alongside Alex Margaritis, Robert Schlunssen and Uwe Alzen, Menten took the start of the race from fifth place and soon found himself battling for a podium position in the early stages before being tacked by the Maserati of Andrea Bertolini.
“I saw the Maserati coming in my rear view mirror but there wasn't enough room for both of us,” he said. “He crashed into my right rear, causing me to spin. I put the car and neutral and rolled backwards to avoid another collision. Luckily everybody was able to get around my car without damaging it.”
Menten was then left to battle his way back through the field before pitting to hand the car over to Alzen for his first stint and he continued to make progress with the car to take the quartet back into the top four.
Former DTM racer Margaritis then took over for his double stint and he carried the car into first place but he was then forced to retire when he was caught out by a rain shower and went off into the wall.
As he tried to return to the pits, the car caught fire and he was forced into retirement.
“When Alexandros came in for a tyre change, the rain came pouring down,” Menten said. “He decided to stay on slicks but in his second lap he made a mistake on the Raidillon. The car hit the wall sideways, damaging the right exhaust pipe and the clutch.
“Because of the impact the clutch started to slip, causing it to overheat. Alexandros tried to get the car to the pits but in the Pif Paf the Corvette C6.R caught fire. The backside went up in flames and the car was brought in by a tow truck.”
