July 28, 2015 – A roller coaster of a Spa 24 Hours saw the Black Falcon #21 finish in 12th place overall and 6th in the PRO class, while the #18 and #29 cars retired in separate incidents.
Qualifying went smoothly for the team, with the #18 Pro-Am Mercedes clocking the seventh fastest time, while the #29 car managed the 14th fastest time. However, the two cars were later demoted to 17th and 18th on the grid due to track limit infringement. Black Falcon #21 had a more difficult qualifying session, ending up 23rd on the starting grid.
Remarkable starts by the Black Falcon cars on Saturday saw them leap forward and gain several places, most notably the #29 Mercedes of Adam Christodoulou, Andreas Simonsen and Nico Verdonck that found itself fighting for the lead just one hour into the race.
The torrential rain on the predictably unpredictable Spa-Francorchamps circuit and numerous safety car periods caused a shuffling of the pack, but the Black Falcon cars were capable of maintaining positions in the top 15 heading into the night.
However, fortune faded when the #29 Mercedes was hit by a Ferrari at the La Source corner and was therefore forced to retire as it was damaged beyond repair.
The #21 Mercedes of Abdulaziz Turki AlFaisal, Hubert Haupt and Yelmer Buurman suffered its fair share of bad luck as it got hit by a Lamborghini, but the team was able to fix the car and get it back into the race, at the cost of losing 10 laps.
The bad turned worse when the #18 Mercedes, which is shared between Oliver Morley, Sean Johnston, Maro Engel and Bernd Schneider, was pushed off the track by a Ferrari, leading to the car’s very sad retirement.
Black Falcon was left with the #21 car, which raced relentlessly and fought back audaciously to make its way up through the field, eventually finishing 12th overall and 6th in the Pro-Am class.
It wasn’t the victory the team was aiming for, but Black Falcon is proud and relieved to have one of its cars cross the finish line after such a dramatic and luckless race, and of course ever thankful to the tireless work of the its crew to produce such a standout performance. Until next year!