ELMS 4 hours of Spa 2023
On September 24, 2023, the 4 Hours of Spa Francorchamps was held. It was the penultimate race weekend of the European Le Mans Series, before they conclude the season with a double-header in Portugal. And this time, I was there as a photographer. From Friday onward, I was busy capturing all the action along the track. It was a pleasant introduction to such a large starting field, 41 cars. Of course, I had already seen some of the cars at Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Spa .
The Michelin Le Mans Cup was also present, with 41 cars. At Le Mans, this class often generates plenty of action in the preliminary races. This time was no different, though perhaps a bit more chaotic than intended. In a race lasting 1 hour and 50 minutes, only 32 laps were completed. A large portion of those were behind the safety car or under the full-course yellow. Repeatedly, new incidents occurred within one or two laps of a restart.
As a photographer, it was quite frustrating. During a safety car, you'd just walk to the next spot, and once you arrived, there was a brief action, followed by slow driving again. The marshals were also just entertaining themselves. Unless they had to remove a car, that is.
The LMC race was ultimately won by United Autosports with John Schauerman and Wayne Boyd, who had started from the pit lane. The drivers appeared in the media center afterward with their trophies and were themselves surprised and delighted with this result.
On Sunday, it was time for the 4 Hours of Spa. But not before the public had the chance to meet the drivers during the pit walk and get a closer look at the cars on the starting grid.
After the starting grid, I quickly sped on to La Source. This was because, of course, something could easily happen in the sharp first corner there. And sure enough, the chaos from the day before seemed to continue in this race. The Panis Racing Oreca immediately shot straight ahead, taking out a few other LMP2s. To top it all off, the Racing Spirit of Leman LMP3 knocked the United car out of the gravel trap and then got stuck itself.
The rest of the race was also quite chaotic. There was more racing than the day before, though, and here too, there were plenty of incidents to be regretted. In LMP2, it was ultimately the pole-sitter, the #25 Algarve Pro Racing car, that took the win.
This race was also the last time the GTE class was active at Spa. The #16 Proton Porsche won this class, but it received a penalty, allowing the Iron Lynx Porsche to take the prize.
It was an exciting weekend. And for me personally, after years of capturing these cars as a fan, it's also really cool to finally get to work as a photographer. See you soon!
