Joy and Harm Close Together
30th July 2006
For the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps the Vitaphone Racing Team was extended
with two Belgium drivers Eric van de Poele and Vincent Vosse. Eric van de Poele
completed the crew in car no. 1 and Vincent Vosse shared car no. 2 with Jamie
Davies and Thomas Biagi.
The qualifying was successful for the team. Jamie did the 2nd fastest time
in qualifying behind the Aston Martin no. 5 and the sister Maserati no. 1 was
in 3rd place on the grid.
Jamie started the race very concentrated and looking forward to do a good
job in his first stint. At the end of the first lap he overtook the no. 5 Aston
Martin and lead the race till his first pit stop. In his short first stint
he drove the fastest lap which was still the fastest lap at the end of the
race.
Jamie handed the car over to his team mate Thomas Biagi after 55 minutes of
pushing very hard to give Thomas a secure lead for his stint. But then the
unbelievable happened. Car no. 2 came in the pits with the engine on fire!
The race was finished after 1 hour 42 minutes. A very small mechanical problem
killed the dream of winning the race for Jamie Davies, Thomas Biagi and Vincent
Vosse.
Like last year the disappointment in the team was huge and the mechanics of
car no. 2 couldn’t believe what happened. But the team had still one
car in the race and like last year the other car won the 24 hours of Spa! Andrea
Bertolini, Michael Bartels and Eric van de Poele won the 24 hours of Spa again
for the Vitaphone Racing Team.
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