The FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps has been red-flagged with under two hours remaining following a huge incident on the Kemmel Straight involving Cadillac’s Earl Bamber and WRT’s Sean Gelael.
The incident saw Bamber — driving the No. 2 Cadillac in a fight with the No. 99 Proton Porsche for third overall — hit the concrete wall on driver’s right hard after swiping the front of Gelael’s No. 31 WRT BMW. The contact, which launched Bamber into the air after spinning, occurred as he moved across the track to get alongside the Porsche. The BMW also ended up in the barriers on driver’s left. Fortunately, both drivers were reported to be OK by their respective teams, although they will visit the medical center for precautionary checks.
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The red flags immediately came out after the incident, as both cars and a field of debris were left scattered across the circuit.
“I’m super sad — this team deserved a good result today. We had a fast car yesterday and today. I can’t hide my disappointment but I’m thankful that Earl is OK,” Earl’s teammate Alex Lynn said to WEC TV. “That’s the main thing, and we will regroup after this.”
There was also minor contact between Bamber and the rear of Neel Jani’s Proton Porsche as Bamber moved across in front of the BMW, but the Proton Porsche continued with only minor damage to its rear end.
“I stayed straight — he went for a gap that didn’t exist. We were having a good race and I hope we don’t need to fix the rear and can keep going as we were on a podium run here,” Jani said.
As it stands, with the clock still running, the No. 51 Ferrari leads Hypercar and the No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche leads LMGT3.
At the time of writing it is unclear when or if the race will resume. The teams have been told they can change their tires on the grid in the meantime on safety grounds.