Adam Christodoulou was disappointed after the teams fight back went unrewarded by the end of the Total 24 Hours of Spa. Racing for the #57 Black Falcon team, the Staffordshire-born racer finished thirty-third overall.
Despite their promise, the crew missed the majority of Qualifying due to engine issues. German driver Hubert Haupt started the race, though had had minimal running beforehand. He suffered two punctures in the opening stint, hampering the #57 early on.
The team had been running as high as fourth, the top Mercedes AMG-GT3, until they developed a suspension problem. With seven hours remaining, the team did an excellent job to turn the car around, though the issue later returned, dropping them out of contention.
They came to a halt when co-driver Andreas Simonsen was collected by oncoming traffic in the final hour downpour, he had no major injuries.
“We went back-to-back doubles between Andreas and I for a few hours, and it was all looking great,” Christodoulou said.
“Around the half-way point we were up to fourth, our pace was good and we were thinking that a podium was in range, but unfortunately something started to rattle its way loose when Andreas was in the car and he had a bit of play in the steering, so we came in and fixed it in the pitlane.”
“Unfortunately we then had to come back in again, which dropped us out of the top 20 within a matter of a few minutes.”
“It’s a real shame how our race ended after all the hard work the Black Falcon guys put in to get everything ready, but Mercedes-AMG build a strong car and Andreas was able to get out under his own steam after such a big impact.”
The lack of points sees the Christodoulou and the #57 drop to thirty-second in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The cup itself has one round remaining at the Nurburgring in September.
