Unlike the previous few rounds at Circuit Paul Ricard in France and Motorland Aragon in Spain, Jones and Malvern have a lot of history and knowledge of Spa, having raced there on multiple occasions in both GT3 and GT4 machinery as part of the British GT Championship. The pair finished a strong sixth in class during last year’s round in the Ardennes.
In fact, when the duo first took delivery of the new 992-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R this year, the entire Team Parker Racing crew conducted the car’s first shakedown at Spa, getting some valuable miles under their belt early.
Another factor with racing at Spa in late September is that the event shouldn’t feature anywhere near the levels of extreme heat that made the trips to Southern France and Northern Spain such a challenge.
Heading into the weekend, Jones and Malvern have managed to score points in every Le Mans Cup event so far this year, even if luck hasn’t gone their way in recent rounds – best illustrated by a questionable penalty at the start of the last race in Aragon, which effectively wrecked the pair’s race before turn one. The new Porsche has also been subject to additional weight under the championship’s Balance of Performance rules, which has greatly held the machine back. However, the car is due to have a 20kg weight break for this round.
Regardless, the pair still run fifth in the Le Mans Cup standings, and are still in with a shout of fighting their way up the table before the end of the season.
Nick Jones says: “Spa’s such an amazing place, and a real privilege to get to race there. As a driver you never forget how it feels to take corners like Eau Rouge and Blanchimont. They’ve made some changes to the track so it’s not quite as ‘thread-the-needle’ as it used to be, but they’re still incredible challenges – it’s like being strapped into a rollercoaster, flying by the seat of your pants each time! I’m hoping for a good performance for this one. It’s a track I’m much more familiar with and I’ve been training hard for it to get the weight down, and having that bit of lead out of the car as well should be a real boost for us. We’re going in with eyes on getting back on the podium.”
Scott Malvern says: “I’m really excited for Spa, it’s one of those few tracks that it always feels so special to go to. You just sense the history of the place and it’s a hugely challenging circuit, especially in a modern GT3 car. Now, corners like Eau Rouge are easy flat for the Pro drivers in GT3, which makes it incredibly fast and shows how far GT3 cars have come, even in a few years. So many of the corners offer a big challenge, and places like Blanchimont [the fast left-hand kink near the end of the lap] require nerves of steel. But it’s a track Nick and I know well, and the game plan will be to maximise what we can do in our stints and pit stop and be sure to take any chances that come our way. On outright pace it’s no secret that we’ve struggled with the BoP recently, so hopefully the weight changes will bring us closer, and rain would be a great leveller. It’s been known to do that at Spa every now and then…”
Action for the Michelin Le Mans Cup gets underway with free practice on Friday, September 22, before qualifying takes place on Saturday morning at 11:55 CEST. The 110-minute race is scheduled for 16:05 CEST on Saturday. All sessions will feature live timing, and both qualifying and the race will be streamed live via the Le Mans Cup YouTube channel.
