The race started in heavy rain, conditions that appeared to favour the two Aston Martin DBR9 entries, which soon took an early lead. However many runners had opted for intermediate tyres, expecting the rain to ease; when it did, the Astons were quickly reeled in as their full wet tyres overheated.

Another shower just over an hour into the race kept conditions difficult, but the rain then went away - and stayed away for over eighteen hours. As the track dried the two Vitaphone MC12s of Scheider/Bartels/Van de Poele and Davies/Biagi/Babini traded the lead as each came in for routine pit-stops.

Their main pursuer was the Aston driven by Brabham, Turner and Sarrazin. Shortly before midnight they took the lead, but then lost it when it pitted. This pattern repeated for the next couple of hours, with the Aston closing the gap - until Turner collided with another car, and repairs cost them 20 minutes. That resulted in a Maserati 1-2-3, with the JMB Racing crew of Bertolini/Wendlinger/Peter joining the Vitaphone duo in the podium places.

But with over half the race still to go nothing was settled. First, an off-track excursion cost the Vitaphone Maserati of Babini/Biagi/Davies ten laps in resetting the suspension, dropping them to fifth; that allowed the Brabham/Turner/Sarrazin Aston to go back up to third. Four hours later, with seven hours remaining, they needed a lengthy pit-stop, allowing the Maser back into the top three - but only minutes later their race was over, the MC12 coming to a halt out on the circuit due to a gearbox problem. This handed third to the 550M of Gardel/Bouchut/ Mollekens & Vosse behind Scheider/Bartels/Van de Poele in the lead and Bertolini/Wendlinger/Peter in second.

From there to the finish, there were no changes in the podium positions; however, the rain returned with five hours remaining, just to give the teams a final test. For a while it was showery, which made the decision on whether to fit slicks, inters or wets almost a lottery, but in the final hour the rain set in with a vengeance. Conditions were so bad in the last twenty minutes that the Aston Martin team opted to hold both cars in the pits until the final lap, so as not to risk a last-minute accident.

The GLPK Racing Corvette finished fourth, but was excluded from the race due to the data recording device not being connected. Last year's winners Bryner and Calderari, originally fifth in the Larbre Ferrari, inherited fourth, ahead of the two Aston Martin DBR9 cars.

The GPC Sport 575GTC of Lemeret/Deman/Belloc/Livio came home 15th, but their team mates Deletraz/Piccini/Melo/Morbidelli only completed 29 laps.

The Russian Age Racing 550M of Campbell-Walter/Minassian/ Vasiliev & Fomenko fared a little better, retiring after 96 laps.

This result meant that Ferrari driver Gabriele Gardel has now lost the lead in the GT1 Drivers' championship, with his team, Larbre Compétition, in third place in the Teams' title chase.

There were no Ferrari entries in GT2, which was won by the Porkie 996 GT3 RSR of Lieb/Rockenfeller/Luhr.

Next Round: 28th August, Oschersleben (Germany).

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Gives "just nipping out to Spa" a whole new meaning

As so often, the weather played a big part

This is a Gillet Vertigo - "the sports car you dreamed of"....

GPC Sport 575GTC came home 15th

Bryner/Calderari/Zacchia/Bouvy 550M with second place MC12

When they do this, they're pure-bred Maseratis...

...and this, they're souped-up Enzos

pics by FIA GT