Legendary Spa-Francorchamps F1 track upcoming this week
19/04/2025
Misano 12-hour endurance race upcoming
23/05/2025Only one step away from podium
23 April 2025
Last Easter weekend, the second round of the “24H Series” endurance championship took place at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium, where Valters Zviedris also took part with the “Mühlner Motorsport” team. In the “12H Spa-Francorchamps” race, the Latvian racing driver and his teammates once again demonstrated speed worthy of the leaders, however, the crash on the first lap this time forced them to settle for 4th place in class and 9th place overall.
A total of 36 teams took the start line in the second round of the “24H Series” in Belgium, of which exactly 10 started in the “992” class represented by Valters. Also, in this competition, alongside the Latvian pilot, Estonian Martin Rump and German Julian Hanses sat at the wheel of the “Porsche 911 GT3 CUP” car serviced by “Mühlner Motorsport”. It should be noted that the line-up of participants was also strong this time, as the participants included both Valter’s competitors from last year’s “Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux” and former DTM driver Laurin Heinrichs.
The race weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps track began on Friday with practice and qualifying, in which the team showed a good performance. “It was still raining in the first practice, but the second practice was already on a dry track. We were the fastest in the dry conditions and all three drivers were satisfied with the car settings. The good feelings continued in qualifying, as we won first place in class and ninth overall. Unfortunately, after qualifying, we received a two-place grid penalty because we had forgotten to turn on the fire extinguishing system, which is mandatory before every race. However, in a 12-hour race, the starting position is not that critical, so we didn’t worry too much about it,” is how Valters Zviedris describes the practice and qualifying day.
The first part of the “12H Spa-Francorchamps” race started at noon on Saturday, in which the first five hours had to be completed. Julian started the race at the wheel and he had a great start, as after the first turn the “Mühlner Motorsport” team was back in first place in the class. Everything was still going according to plan at the legendary “Eau Rouge” corner, but after the long straight in the series of corners, a collision occurred between the GT3 cars in front. The German driver tried to avoid it, which he succeeded in doing, but during this maneuver he collided with another car, which resulted in damage to the front radiator.
“The coolant started to leak, and accordingly there was nothing left but to go to the pits to change it. During the repair, we lost six laps to the class leaders, but the team did a phenomenal job, because they replaced the radiator in less than 20 minutes. Hats off to them for such prompt work! Although we had lost quite a lot, we were happy to still be in the competition, because this first-lap incident ended with the withdrawal of the second car of the “Mühlner Motorsport” team. We did not hang our heads, we talked with the team that we would continue to work and try to regain as many places as possible in the remaining 11.5 hours in order to receive the important points for the overall standings,” said Valters about the unfortunate first-lap accident.
In the remaining hours of the first day, each of the pilots had to complete around 100-minute “stints” or runs to minimize the number of pit stops, but this came with new challenges. “We hadn’t managed to do any longer runs in training, so we didn’t know how much the tires would wear out. It turned out that we had more than we had planned, so after the first 40 minutes they started to wear out and we had to balance a lot to make them last the 100 minutes of the race. However, we managed it, showing a good pace overall, and by the end of the day we had already regained one lap against the class leaders,” Valters describes the end of the first day of the competition.
Although after the first day the team had managed to rise from last place to 19th position in the absolute standings, the team was still in ninth place in the class. However, there were still 7 hours ahead, during which the plan was to regain several positions. The starting order of the pilots for the second day was the same as the first – Julian took to the track first, then Martin and Valters as third.
“We all managed to keep a very good pace, and I was personally very satisfied and happy with my ride, because I managed to overtake a lot, made only a few mistakes and, accordingly, the overall pace of the “stint” on my part was very good. I also didn’t miss any “Code 60” during which I could have taken a breath, so I drove these 100 minutes from a standstill at full speed, just like in a sprint race. Our team work should also be praised, because we had very quick driver changes on Sunday. If changing tires takes about 15-16 seconds for the mechanics, then changing drivers in this case is the critical part that takes the most time. The changes took us only about 21 seconds, which was a very good indicator,” said Valters about his successful Sunday.
Taking into account both the good pace and strategy, as well as the quick pit stops, the “Mühlner Motorsport” team managed to regain one more lap against the class leaders and finally finish in 4th place in the class and 9th place overall. Considering that after the first half hour the team was in last place by a long way, this fight back to such a high position can be considered a good result. It should be noted that the podium was not far away either, as the team finished on the same lap as the 3rd place winners. It should also be highlighted that “Mühlner Motorsport” set the fastest lap of the competition in the “992” class.
“Incidents tend to happen, it’s not pleasant, but overall, for the second stage in a row, we are happy with the speed and fantastic teamwork. We continue to fight, our time will come,” the Latvian pilot is optimistic. Valters also wants to thank the supporters, without whom the start of the “24H Series” championship would not be possible: “Many thanks to my reliable partners “Baltijas Sporta Auto – Porsche Latvija”, “Optibet Latvija”, “iPS Media”, “Industry Service Partner”, Jūrmala, “Blue Shock Race”, ”Joker klubs”, “Energolukss”, “I-Con” and SIA “Dārta”.”
The next round of the “24H Series” endurance championship will take place in less than a month, on May 23-24, when the pilots and teams will travel to Italy to compete in the “12H Misano” competition. It should be noted that unlike the first two rounds, when the 12-hour race was divided into two parts, in this Misano round all 12 hours will be held in one go.
More information about the “24H Series” championship is available on their website www.24hseries.com, while you can follow Valters Zviedris’ racing progress on his social media profiles on Facebook and Instagram.
Photos by: 24H Series
Information prepared by: Arturs Virbulis
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