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DKR Engineering Win in Belgium to Take Title Race to Portimão

The LMP3 victory went to the no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine of Laurents Hörr and Mathieu de Barbuat, finishing ahead of the no19 Cool Racing Ligier of Nicolas Maulini, Niklas Kruetten and Matt Bell, to set up a mouth-watering championship deciding clash between the two cars at Portimão next month.

19/09/2021

At the start of the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the spinning no26 G-Drive Racing Aurus, which had been hotfrom behind by the no34 Racing Team Turkey, caused several LMP3 cars to take avoidance at the first corner. This dropped the pole position holding no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine of Mathieu de Barbuat to drop back to third behind the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Martin Hippe and the no2 United Autosports Ligier of Rob Wheldon.
The first safety car was deployed on Lap 2 to recover the no6 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Nick Adcock got beached in the gravel at T14 after a clash with the no66 Ferrari.
The restart saw the no13 Ligier pull away slightly but then Hippe came into the first of many trips to the pits when he got stuck in 6^th gear due to a steering wheel issue. This dropped the German down the order and out of the running.
After the first Full Course Yellow period on lap 15 when the no34 Oreca got stuck in the gravel at T5 all bar the no18 1 Aim Villorba Corse Ligier of Alessandro Bressan stopped.This put the Italian at the head of the LMP3 field until he did stop after nearly 80 minutes on track.
Mathieu de Barbuat moved up to second place in the no4 Duqueine, with Rob Wheldon in the no2 Ligier in third.
The no3 United Autosports Ligier of Andrew Bentley and the no14 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Mattia Pasini clashed at T1 while fighting for 4^th place, the no14 Ligier spinning and catching the back of the no3 car. Both cars were able to continue with Bentley ahead of Pasini. Pasini had another spin at the final corner a couple of laps later, which dropped him further down the order and then was given a drive through penalty for causing the collision with the no3 Ligier.
After the no18 Ligier pitted, De Barbuat took the lead and was just ahead of Wheldon’s United Autosports Ligier as the two battled for the class lead with the no19 Cool Racing Ligier of Nicolas Maulini just two seconds behind in third.

4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps LMP3