No. 84 BMW takes P26 after adversity at Spa

Pascal Theis was the starting driver in the No. 84 BMW M4 GT3 and made a pass on a Mercedes AMG GT3 into Pouhon on lap one, when the other car got loose on under braking on the curbs and turned into Theis’ machine, sending the two cars into a wild spin.

The Fischer Motorsport car suffered an impact into the tire barriers, with the rear of the car suffering some damage. But it was not serious enough to warrant a pit stop and thus Theis continued the race from last place.

The No. 85 BMW team got off to a much better start. Niclas Pedersen made good progress through the field and allowed the competition to see the team’s potential, as the Dane picked up position after position.

As the race entered the evening hours, Benjamin Fischer in the No. 84 BMW lost control on the exit of the Bruxelles corner, crashing the car into the barriers. The incident not only left its visible marks on the right front of the car, but broke the car’s suspension.

© 2021 Fischer Motorsport Pascal Theis in the No. 84 BMW was taken out by a competitor on lap one. The car suffered some damage that cost the team top speed for the rest of the race

“We had to bring it in, there was no way we could continue with a broken suspension. The crew did a great job repairing the car as quickly as they did. But unfortunately, together with that lap one crash, we knew a decent finish was out of the question from that point on.”, Pascal Theis said.

The repairs took several minutes and the No. 84 BMW team continued the race six laps down afterwards. As the race had no full course cautions, there was no opportunity for the team to recover from the massive loss of time, despite a great team effort.

Nathan Manning put together qualifying-pace stints during the night, trying to get the team closer to the competition, but the car was still off pace on the top speed, making it difficult to gain ground.

The No. 85 BMW team saw California brothers Kyle Birnie and Jason Birnie exchange quick lap stints during the night, as the team held the lead. It seemed as if the team would have a serious chance to play a role in the fight for the victory.

“We had a fantastic car. Our pace was good for the win, definitely. We had things under control, until we didn’t, unfortunately.”, Kyle Birnie said.

Things turned bleak later in the night when Niclas Pedersen clipped the curb at Malmedy, sending the No. 85 BMW M4 GT3 into a spin. An oncoming Lamborghini was unable to avoid the scene, t-boned Pedersen and heavily damaged both cars.

Despite repairs and continuing for a while longer after the incident, the No. 85 BMW team eventually was forced to retire from the race as a consequence.

“It’s brutal. We had everything going our way. I owe the team an apology. I just made a mistake and clipped the curb. It was a split-second thing. I feel terrible about it.”, explained Niclas Pedersen.

“It is what it is. We win as a team, we lose as a team. If you think about it, we have a lot of positives to take away from this race. We competed for the win, in a super competitive race. We held our own and kept the car clean for the first twelve hours. We’ll come back next year and do even better!”, Manuel Mayer said, who tried to console team-mates Tobias Abel, Kyle Birnie, Jason Birnie and especially Niclas Pedersen.

Meanwhile, the focus of Fischer Motorsport shifted to its sole remaining entry in the race: The No. 84 BMW M4 GT3 with Pascal Theis, Benjamin Fischer, Nathan Manning, Evan Wood and Marton Tihanyi.

After Theis and Fischer brought the car out of the night into the Sunday morning hours, the team had picked up a few positions as other teams found troubles or retired. They were now scored P27.

Marton Tihanyi put together strong back-to-back 27-lap fuel-saving stints during the hottest hours of the race on Sunday noon and early afternoon, to give the No. 84 BMW a chance to battle for P25.

© 2021 Fischer Motorsport The No. 85 BMW team had a strong race and even lead many laps, before crashing out after a driver error during the night

“I learned so much in this race. It’s incredible. Obviously, being a race car driver, I wanted to push and attack. But we needed to get two extra laps to eliminate that final pit stop. So the pit box kept telling me to save fuel.”, explained Tihanyi.

“It was tough, especially when the No. 59 BMW showed up right behind us, when I was on old tires and we tried to make something happen by taking no tires on our previous pit stop, since we figured we would be running slow to save fuel anyhow.”

In the end the two extra laps helped the team bring home the P26 finish. Closing driver Evan Wood faced incredibly high pressure for the final two hours of the race, as the team had racked up 99 incident points during the race and faced a drive-through penalty with just one more incident for violating track limits or cutting the course.

But Wood, who like Tahinyi made only his second start for Fischer Motorsport this weekend, kept a cool head and carried out a job well done for the team to take the checkered flag without picking up a single incident in the final two stints.

“I’m proud. What a team, man. What a team. I know the result doesn’t have the flash like a top ten or even top-five. But this team really came together in the face of adversity.”, said team manager Benjamin Fischer.

“We supported each other and made the best out of a tough race. I’m proud that we finished this race. And I think we will see in the future, that this experience will serve us well, one way or another.”

After competing in the endurance classic for the first time ever, Fischer Motorsport looks back on 1,002 laps completed at Spa-Francorchamps, which translates to a total of 7,014 km (4,383 miles) race distance for both cars combined.

© 2021 Fischer Motorsport Official Race Results - 2021 iRacing 24 Hours of Spa, Split 1

© 2021 Fischer Motorsport Official Race Results - 2021 iRacing 24 Hours of Spa, Split 2