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Successful debut campaign at the 24 Hours of Spa for EMA Motorsport

Australian GT3 team EMA Motorsport successfully completed a debut European race weekend, taking on the demanding and highly competitive TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. Challenging for overall in honours in the Pro category, EMA Motorsport lined up with Porsche factory drivers Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and Felipe Nasr, and the trio were locked in the battle at the front of the field until the closing stages when contact ended a challenge for the top-10. The debut overseas event for the newly branded EMA Motorsport concluded with the #74 entry successfully completing 24 hours of racing to cross the line 16th in class, 22nd overall.

The early sessions of the weekend were spent working through set up on the team’s new Porsche 911 GT3 R, with pace and handling improving across each session despite heavy interruptions with red flags. Qualifying would also be affected by stoppages, along with track limit penalties seeing several laptimes being deleted. Felipe’s opening efforts were among those compromised as a result of this, but the three drivers were extremely unlucky to narrowly miss out on the top-20 shootout by just 0.2 seconds. The end result saw the trio line-up 21st on a grid of 66 cars for the start of the twice-around-the-clock event.

Taking place at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, the 24-hour event started under blue skies and, unusually, no rain was forecast for the duration. The action got underway with relatively little drama, with Australian Matt Campbell making some initial progress up the field and into the top-20. Following a period of calm over the opening laps, track limit penalties and a series of punctures in quick succession would shake up the order and led to a chaotic hour of activity on track and in the pitlane.

Further interruptions followed with Full Course Yellow periods and Safety Car interventions. Pit strategy and consistently quick laps by the drivers enabled further gains to be made but, as the pitstops played out, positions ebbed and flowed. It took a bold move immediately from a Safety Car restart heading down to the famous Eau Rouge corner to promote the blue and green GT3 R move into the top-10 for the first time. As the positions got higher, so did the level of battling for position, and the EMA Motorsport trio were engaged in close action over several hours, looking to make further progress up the order.

A high speed incident in the early hours of the morning brought proceedings to a temporary halt as the race was red flagged. EMA Motorsport held 6th place as the race resumed after a prolonged break, and progress continued to be made following the restart moving as high as the podium positions, before yet another incident brought out a further caution period. As further strategy calls played out throughout the hours of darkness, EMA Motorsport climbed back up the order, running firmly in the lead pack and challenging for an impressive podium finish on debut.

The fairytale ending was ruined when a further caution period came to an end and an enthusiastic restart from a trailing Mercedes caused damage to the rear diffuser and exhaust system of the EMA Motorsport Porsche. This collision required immediate remedial repair work and, with the field now bunched up following the Safety Car period, the prolonged period in the pits dropped the team down the order and outside the top-20.

With the car losing several laps to the leaders, any hope of a podium was now no longer feasible. However, with the repairs now made, pace was once again extremely competitive, and efforts were focused on closing the gap to the group of cars ahead. The final hours saw the deficit reduced over each stint, and progress was made up the order. At the conclusion of the 24 hours of racing, EMA Motorsport had successfully achieved the main target of the weekend; delivering a competitive car which would successfully make it to the conclusion of the event on Sunday afternoon.

At the line, and signing off an impressive debut weekend which saw the team leading several laps as the strategies played out, the #74 entry finished 16th in class, 22nd overall. The team is now reviewing further opportunities for endurance racing, and events confirmed for later in 2022 will be announced shortly.