The Ferrari AF Corse staff submitted a protest in opposition to the the stewards’ choices declaring that the race could be restarted after the unique time the occasion was scheduled to complete and the provisional outcomes of the race.
It was dominated inadmissible beneath the FIA’s worldwide sporting code as a result of “a stewards resolution can’t be the topic of a protest”, in line with the bulletin confirming its rejection.
The 2 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars have been operating 1-2 when the race was red-flagged after Earl Bamber’s Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Collection.R LMDh triggered a crash that despatched the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 pushed by Sean Gelael into the boundaries on the skin of the Kemmel Straight.
The accident occurred 4 hours and 13 minutes into the race however the repairs to the boundaries weren’t completed in time to permit a restart earlier than the scheduled 19:00 end.
A choice was taken by the stewards to renew the race at 19:10 for a interval of 1 hour and 44 minutes, the remaining time left on the clock minus the three minutes it took from the purple flag being proven till the automobiles shaped up on the grid in parc ferme circumstances.
Ferrari ended up finishing third and fourth with its #50 and #51 manufacturing facility entries after the profitable #12 Jota Porsche 963 LMDh and the second-placed #6 manufacturing facility Porsche Penske Motorsport gained time on account of the purple flag as a result of they’d pitted simply earlier than the stoppage.
Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sportscar racing boss, informed Autosport after the race: “I don’t perceive what occurred – the clock was operating and the choice to restart after the tip of the six hours was very sudden for me.
“Frankly talking we have been in a situation to win the race and I’m not pleased.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“My expectation was that we might perhaps restart for some laps to complete the race, however to not restart utterly for one hour and 44 minutes.”
The choice to renew the Spa 6 Hours was uncommon if not unprecedented within the historical past of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012, however was allowed beneath the sequence sporting rules.
They state: “If the circumstances so require the stewards could take the choice to cease and/or modify the race time set. This will not exceed the time of the competitors [meaning six hours].”
An explainer despatched out by the FIA within the wake of the race acknowledged that the choice to finish the complete period of the Spa 6 Hours “ensured sporting equity for the rivals, who set their methods for a six-hour race”.
“Reducing the race session brief would imply that some rivals would acquire, and others would lose consequently.”
Bamber was penalised after the race for his half within the accident after tagging Gelael in addition to the again of the Proton Competitors Porsche 963 with Neel Jani on the wheel.
The Cadillac should take a five-place grid penalty on the New Zealander’s subsequent look within the WEC, which implies the Le Mans 24 Hours double-points spherical on 15/16 June.