Sarah Bennett-Baggs took her Adrian Flux-sponsored pink Porsche 911 to a damp Spa Francorhamps last week for the British Sports GT and Saloons endurance race being run as part of the Classic Spa 6hr Endurance weekend.
The weekend started with a wet journey through France and Belgium to the Ardennes region, plus a wet test session on the Thursday. But it didn’t get any better as Friday’s 9am qualifying was damp and Sunday’s 9am race was also deemed a wet race. Despite the conditions, there were 77 starters to the classic British Sports car race, where Sarah qualified 29th overall and completed the one-hour, two-driver race solo to finish up 26th overall and pick up special awards for lady driver of the day!
Sarah’s pink Porsche challenges a Jag
Sarah said: “I think everyone was banking on a dry race on Sunday – moments before we gridded up it was bone dry and everyone had selected dry tyres. I had even lowered the pressures so that they didn’t overheat in the one-hour race. Then just as we sat on the grid down came the mist, due to the height here at Spa it can be raining at one end of the track and dry the other. But everyone was in the same boat, all the sessions on track were super slippery and I could see other people sliding about just as much as I was.
“I made my pit stop early as I could see it was drying up and the second half of the race was like a different track, each lap the conditions getting slightly better. I was just trying to squeeze a bit more speed out of the throttle though Eau Rouge and Blanchimont as both the tyres and track heated up. I really enjoyed the race, there were a few hairy moments but Spa really is just the best circuit in the world!”
Sarah is awarded top lady driver prize
Race organiser and famous 60s Le Mans works driver Barry Sidery-Smith was delighted to have several lady drivers in the race meeting and even arranged a separate podium presentation for the ladies, giving Sarah a chance to stand on the top step of the Spa F1 podium to pick up fastest lady of the race, and also lady driver of the day award.