Mika Hakkinen’s traffic-inspired overtake on Michael Schumacher in the 2000 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps has gone down in motorsport folklore. Seven months ago, Loïc Duval pulled off a similarly incredible pass on two of his Hypercar rivals at almost exactly the same place – deservedly earning the Frenchman the coveted FIA ‘Action of the Year’ accolade.
Presented as part of the annual FIA Awards Ceremony – held this time in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent – the fan-voted ‘Action of the Year’ trophy was contested between three memorable moments from an FIA World Endurance Championship campaign not short on dramatic duels and extraordinary achievements.
The other finalists were Laurens Vanthoor – for his defensive masterclass against the marauding Ferraris of Robert Kubica and Antonio Giovinazzi into the ultra-fast Indianapolis corner during June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans – and Marco Sørensen, who exploited all the potential of the ever-improving Aston Martin Valkyrie to squeeze the striking British Racing Green Hypercar between Frédéric Makowiecki’s Alpine A424 and the pit wall at Interlagos three weeks later.
Ultimately, however, it was Team Peugeot TotalEnergies star Duval who stole the spotlight, as the seasoned endurance racing veteran and former world champion drew upon all of his experience to bravely and skilfully thread the needle between Giovinazzi’s Ferrari and Robin Frijns’ BMW while travelling at over 300km/h along Spa’s flat-out Kemmel Straight...
“In a way, the move was calculated, but you can never be 100 per cent sure,” reflected the 43-year-old Chartres native. “Heading out of La Source towards La Raidillon, there was an LMGT3 car ahead of us, but I tried to maintain the distance to the other Hypercars in front of me as well as I could and optimise my corner exit as much as possible.
“I could see I had been able to keep a little bit more momentum than them – not huge, but a little bit – and going uphill, I tucked into the slipstream of the Ferrari, because I knew it was slightly faster than the BMW. Initially, I wanted to go to the inside [of them both], but then I saw that the BMW was closing the door so I switched to the middle and thankfully managed to fit in-between.
“I remember Hakkinen and Schumacher, and to be able to pull off a pass like that was a great feeling. You also need super-fair driving from the others, and it ended up being a really nice move. I really enjoyed it – hopefully we can do some more next year!”
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