Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaitar tightened their grip on the inaugural Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup drivers title with their third maximum points event as they took the chequered flag from pole position at Spa-Francorchamps. With just one race of the 2016 season remaining, and a 21 point advantage in the drivers championship, the Russian team now can see another title for the taking in Estoril next month.
At the start Basov in the no72 SMP Racing F488 lost the lead to a charging Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the no55 FFF Racing McLaren at the first corner. The Japanese driver held off the Russian for the first lap but on lap 2 the Safety Car was deployed to recover the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Flohr and the no66 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Mark Poole after a collision at La Source stranded the two badly damaged cars on the run off area.
Racing resumed on lap 6 with Basov getting a good run on Hamaguchi on the outside line through Pifpaf in a move that had everyone watching holding their breath. Once the SMP Racing Ferrari was ahead, the Russian opened up a good gap to the McLaren as the Japanese driver came under pressure from Egidio Perfetti n the no88 Mentos Racing Porsche.
Further back the no14 AF Corse Ferrari of Adrien De Leener was making progress up through the field from the back of the grid and was challenging the no34 TF Sport Aston Martin of Salih Yoluc for 5th place. The Belgian driver had to wait for several laps before he found a way past his Turkish rival. The no90 Autoclub Excelsior Aston Martin, which was running in 4th place and challenging for a podium finish, became the third retirement when a drive problem forced Michael Schmetz into the pits.
After the compulsory pitstops at the half way point it was the no72 SMP Racing Ferrari of Victor Shaitar, from the no88 Mentos Racing Porsche of Klaus Bachler and the no55 FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren of Adrian Quaife Hobbs.
The leading Russian was starting to be caught by the Austrian in the Porsche, who in turn was being caught by the British driver in the McLaren. The race turned into a pursuit race with the Ferrari holding the advantage as the two chasing cars took tenths of a second each lap. With 15 minutes of the race remaining the gap was 1.8 seconds between Shaitar and Bachler, with Quaife-Hobbs just 3 seconds behind the Porsche. The scene was now set for an epic three way battle for the victory in Belgium.
However fate decided to play a part as the no55 McLaren had to pit when the rear left tyre delaminated and it had to be replaced. This dropped Quaife-Hobbs back to 5th, promoting Euan Hankey in the no34 TF Sport Aston Martin into 3rd place and relieving the pressure on Klaus Bachler in the second placed Porsche.
Victor Shaitar continued to circulate in the lead and maintaining the gap to around 1.7 seconds. However the Russian was delayed by traffic on the last but one lap and this allowed Bachler to close the gap to 0.2 seconds as the two cars crossed the line to begin the final lap. The Austrian closed right up behind the leading Ferrari as they went up the Kemmel Straight and into the braking zone for Les Combes but Shaitar held his line and kept the lead. This was the final chance for Klaus Bachler to take the victory and had to be content with second place.
At the chequered flag it was the no72 Ferrari which crossed the line, just 0.7 seconds ahead of the no88 Porsche, with the no34 Aston Martin in third 72 seconds further up the road. Maximum points means that Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaitar head to the last race in Estoril with a 21 point lead over Euan Hankey and Salih Yoluc, who are now their only rivals for the 2016 title. TF Sport have a 4 point advantage over SMP Racing in the team title and 12 points ahead of Mentos Racing. Both titles will be decided in the final race of the 2016 season in Portugal on Saturday 22 October.
CLICK HERE for the result from Round 5 at Spa-Francorchamps
CLICK HERE for the championship positions after Round 5
