Spark 1:43 Porsche GT3R Spa 2019 Gulf

Details

Porsche 911 type 991 GT3 R n 20

Gulf / GPX Racing Team

Winner 24H Spa 2019

Drivers Kevin Estre / Michael Christensen / Richard Lietz

Scale 1/43

Manufacturer Spark

Article ID SB251

Limited edition – 1.000 pieces individually numbered

Resin model

Just one step behind the Le Mans 24 Hours, which to this day remains the most prestigious endurance race in the world, the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours is still the most difficult classic race to win. It was launched in 1924, just one year after its predecessor, with just one single class on the track: the GT category, the one with the greatest number of competitors and the toughest!
The 2019 race, the 71st to date, was exceptionally close. At the end of the race, five cars were still in a position to win, and 4 would finish in the same lap. In the end, it was Porsche that clinched victory, its 7th in this event, by pulling off a magnificent double win. Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz’s 911 GT3 R held off Nick Tandy, Frdric Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet’s over 500 HP GT3 R challenge at the end of the race and won by a mere three seconds!
It wasn’t a foregone conclusion however, as the Belgian classic was marred by bad weather, at one point forcing the organisers to suspend the race for almost 6 hours, something never witnessed previously in the Ardennes. Porche’s double victory, an event they hadn’t won since 2010, is thus all the more remarkable. GTX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R number 20, which was far behind due to a penalty picked up during the evening, had started an impressive chase to catch up during the night. When the race was interrupted in the early morning hours, the trio of drivers were already in eighth place after an immaculate and high-speed run in the rain at Spa.
Two hours before the end, Kvin Estre took the wheel of the car which was now leading the race, and with bald tyres on a wet track, the French driver defended his position right until the finish line, in front of a merciless Nick Tandy, who himself made a dazzling comeback punctuated by impressive overtaking manoeuvres.
This was a remarkable achievement, which was duly praised by Sebastian Golz, manager of the Porsche 911 GT3 R project. “Congratulations to the GPX Racing team and the three drivers who made this success possible thanks to their exceptional performance in the rain. The whole team was extremely focused and the Porsche 911 GT3 R ran like clockwork.”
With this double victory, plus three other Porsche cars finishing in the top ten, Porsche’s private teams have asserted their firm presence at the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours and in the championship. The 2019 race was contested by 248 drivers in 72 cars of 11 different makes. This is more than enough to justify the reputation of this marathon event, considered to be the most important GT3 event in the world.