TF team Corvettes finish 8th and 9th in WEC in Belgium

Nicky Catsburg (substituting for Ben Keating), Charlie Edgar and Blake McDonald in the # 3 Z06 GT3.R Corvette finished 8th in the 6-hour race at SPA Francorchamps.

McDonald starting from 14th (out of 18 LMGT3 cars) made his way into ninth by the first stop and climbed as high as sixth before a drive-through penalty.

The car carried 2.2 kilo (nearly 5 lbs) of extra weight (success ballast) by virtue of finishing 2nd in the previous race at Imola.

Catsburg had to be extra careful in the closing stint as a fourth “track limit” violation would cost 5 seconds.  A track limit violation occurs when all 4 wheels fall outside the white lines as can happen to avoid getting caught up with much faster prototype cars barreling into any of the 8 corners on the lengthy 4.35-mile track.

Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey in the # 34 Z06 GT3.R Corvette started 10th and finished 5th but were penalized 10 seconds for an infringement by Eastwood during the car’s next-to-last pit stop.

The # 34 Corvette was classified 9th in the final results.

TF Sport recruited Irishman Peter Dempsey, age 40 who had not raced for a while to serve as the bronze rated driver.  Dempsey adjusted to the car’s ABS, traction control, managed the tires and stayed out of trouble as instructed during the middle stint.

Antares Au, Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhöfer in the Garage 59 Team # 10 McLaren GT3 EVO won the race.  Penalties again played a part as the # 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 EVO, fastest of all, was assessed 5 seconds post-race for interfering with the McLaren in the final stops.

The TF team is optimistic heading into the 24 hours of Le Mans starting on June 12.

Photo Credits Serge Callier (via AMP), TF Sport