With the 2018 racing season over, it’s time to look back at our best photos of the year. Starting off with your editor-in-chief, Miguel Bosch, who once again followed the VLN and Blancpain GT championships.
MORE BEST OF 2018: JOÃO FILIPE | MARCEL WULF | JUREK BIEGUS
Featured photo:
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/100 sec. | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | 24mm
Blancpain GT at Monza | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/800 sec. | f/5 | ISO 250 | 24mm
VLN1 | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/800 sec. | f/5 | ISO 250 | 24mm
VLN8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 50mm f/1.4 | 1/2500 sec. | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | 50mm
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/8 sec. | f/16 | ISO 100 | 24mm
Blancpain GT at the Nürburgring | GALLERY | SHOT ON FILM
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/4.5 | ISO 200 | 137mm
Nürburgring 24 Hours
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 2 sec. | f/5 | ISO 400 | 24mm | flash, on
Using a flash during a 24-hour race is inevitable, and it isn’t always a lot of fun when you can’t play around with it. When you can, however, it suddenly becomes the coolest thing you’ll be doing all night. This 2-second shot of Otto Klohs’ Manthey Racing Porsche 991 GT3R is one such example. It’s not as hard to achieve as it might look, once you’ve figured out the correct flash settings and exposure. For this image I set the remote-controlled flash to front curtain sync and panned with the car as I pressed the shutter and the flash went off. The stripes are nothing more than me moving the camera around in the direction of the lights in the background and the tail lights of the Porsche leaving the frame. Klohs’ iconic livery is the finishing touch.
Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualification Race | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/160 sec. | f/9 | ISO 100 | 76mm
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/8000 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | 200mm
The punishment the cars going through Eau Rouge have to endure is immense. Standing just meters away, you can feel the ground shaking as the compression pushes the cars into the ground. This photo captures that moment. It was taken during the first laps of the race when full tanks of fuel put even more pressure onto the springs and dampers. It’s a feat of engineering that these cars are able to withstand this kind of violence over and over for 24 hours straight.
Blancpain GT at Monza | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/25 sec. | f/9 | ISO 100 | 24mm
VLN1 | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/640 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 125 | 200mm
What struck me the most about this photo is how it would come to perfectly illustrate Michael Schrey’s season. The VLN champion of the previous two seasons had been leading the season opener when 50 meters before the finish his BMW ran out of fuel. Up to that point he had been leading the race in the BMW M235i Racing Cup and in a desperate attempt to salvage whatever he could, he pushed his 1440 kg heavy BMW over the finish line and fell to the ground from exhaustion. The two-time VLN champion Schrey and team-mate Marc Ehret would go on to score points in only four of the nine races, taking the win in two of those and finish on the podium in the remainder. Needless to say, Schrey did not make it three out of three.
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 50mm f/1.4 | 1/400 sec. | f/1.4 | ISO 500 | 50mm
VLN8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/250 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 1000 | 70mm
Nürburgring 24 Hours
Canon EOS 1D Mk.IV + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/250 sec. | f/2 | ISO 100 | 24mm
Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualification Race | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/30 sec. | f/16 | ISO 100 | 24mm
Blancpain GT at Zolder | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/5000 sec. | f/1.6 | ISO 160 | 24mm
VLN6 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/3.2 | ISO 200 | 86mm
Blancpain GT at Monza | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/500 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | 24mm
Nürburgring 24 Hours
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/2000 sec. | f/1.4 | ISO 250 | 24mm
Maro Engel comforts a heartbroken Adam Christodoulou after the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Black Falcon was on its way to win the race until a dense fog descended upon the Nürburgring and the red flag was forced. When the race re-started, the huge gap to Manthey Racing was wiped out and Christodoulou, despite his best efforts, was unable to keep the unleashed Fred Makowiecki behind. This photo captures a beautiful moment where for Engel pride of the team took precedence over the lost victory.
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/15 sec. | f/4 | ISO 400 | 119mm
VLN6 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/800 sec. | f/3.5 | ISO 200 | 97mm
VLN8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/2000 sec. | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | 24mm
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1600 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 200 | 200mm
VLN6 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 70D + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/20 sec. | f/22 | ISO 100 | 200mm
Spa 24 Hours | GALLERY PT.I | PT.II
Canon EOS 70D + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/1000 sec. | f/1.4 | ISO 1250 | 24mm
The parade to and from Spa on Wednesday before the Spa 24 Hours is a perfect event to capture some unusual photos. After all, how often do you see GT3s out on public roads? This year, the parade was moved back by a couple of hours, meaning the sun had just set when the cars went on their way back to Francorchamps. Luckily, you can always count on Manthey’s neon yellow race cars to set themselves apart from the background during twilight.
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