Improbable, unbelievable, unimaginable… You could think of any scenario, but probably not this one, which even the best screenwriters could not have created.
It was not the rain that 100% decided the victory in the Centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Spa, but a terrible stroke of fate for Ferrari and AF Corse-Francorchamps Motors who had the situation well in hand since midday.
The Ferrari 296 GT3 n°51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi – Alessio Rovera – Davide Rigon, having returned to the pit lane before its last two rivals, the BMW M4 GT3 n°998 – ROWE Racing and the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 n°7 – Comtoyou Racing, was able to regain the privileged position on the track, after having been in an observation position for a long time.
From then on, the official Maranello drivers did not slow down, with finisher Pier Guidi building up a small lead sufficient to keep the competition at a distance.
But at 3:42 p.m., at the time of its last stop, the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 n°19 – GRT was stopped at the entrance to the pit lane… blocking the unfortunate Pier Guidi. The minute lost in this mishap ruined Italian hopes of a fifth success.
And for its first outing in the race, the Aston Martin Vantage version 2024 made a successful debut with the n°7 – Comtoyou Racing of Mattia Drudi – Marco Sørensen – Nicki Thiim, fast and reliable and benefiting from that hint of luck always necessary in this type of event. Jean-Michel Baert’s team, which had put in a solid performance, regained first place after this stroke of fate for Ferrari, with Mattia Drudi crossing the checkered flag as the winner. This was the second success for the brand after 1948, the first for Drudi, Sørensen and Thiim.
The good copy of the new Vantage is confirmed by the result of the n°34 – Walkenhorst Motorsport of Ross Gunn – David Pittard – Henrique Chaves, 4th under the checkered flag after a penalty received for contact with the Ferrari n°51. Alessandro Pier Guidi however saves second place for AF Corse-Francorchamps.
BMW misses the second pass, Porsche wiped out
After the success of 2023, everyone was indeed waiting for BMW, in a race which has always been successful for Bavarian cars. Winner twelve months ago, ROWE Racing put in a solid performance with the No. 998 of Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper and Max Hesse, who completed an almost faultless race, but was forced to stop one final time at the end of the race, due to the relay time. The No. 98, winner in 2023, was eliminated very early due to a cooling system problem.
Having been at the forefront for a long time, particularly with the M4 GT3 n°32 during the night, Team WRT continued its drought at its home event. Third, the n°32 of Sheldon van der Linde – Dries Vanthoor – Charles Weerts was penalised with a drive-through for excessive speed under Full Course Yellow, causing it to slightly drop out of the top 3, while the n°46 of Valentino Rossi – Raffaele Marciello – Maxime Martin lost big with the incident at the end of the morning, and the subsequent penalty, to finish 24th.
After a very complicated start to the race with the eliminations of the 911 GT3 R n°992 – HubAuto Racing (suspension), n°22 – Schumacher CLRT (contact with the n°96), then this morning with the loss of the n° 911 – Pure Rxcing (off the track at Blanchimont), while fighting for victory, Porsche finished 8th and 9th with the n°92 – SSR Herberth of Frédéric Makowiecki – Mathieu Jaminet – Matt Campbell, who could have claimed the top 5, but a penalty for exceeding relay time cost dearly in the last two hours, and the No. 96 – Rutronik Racing of Patric Niederhauser – Julien Andlauer – Sven Müller, first car out of the lap.
If the AMG GT3 EVOs were not successful in Pro (rocket failure for the n°2 – Mercedes-AMG Team Getspeed, contact and retirement for the n°48 – Mercedes-AMG Team Mann Filter, floor problem then retirement for the n°130 – Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM), it is in the classes that Mercedes shone, with in particular the success in Gold Cup for the n°777 – AlManar Racing by Getspeed of Al Faisal Al Zubair – Mikael Grenier – Dominik Baumann – Philip Ellis.
The quartet takes it ahead of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°25 – Saintéloc Racing of Jim Pla – Paul Evrard – Gilles Magnus – Ugo de Wilde and the Mercedes n°77 – HRT of Jusuf Owega – Michele Beretta – Arjun Maini.
In the Silver Cup, victory for the Mercedes n°3 – Getspeed of Yannick Mettler – Anthony Bartone – Aaron Walker – James Kell ahead of the Porsche n°55 – Dinamic GT of Jop Rappange – Axel Blom – Marius Nakken – Théo Nouet and the Mercedes n°57 – Winward Racing of Daan Arrow – Tanart Sathienthirakul – Colin Caresani. Disappointment for the Mercedes n°10 – Boutsen VDS of Aurélien Panis, Roee Meyhuas, César Gazeau and Sébastien Baud, in the running for victory but forced to stop at the side of the track on the descent of Eau Rouge one hour from the finish.
Crowdstrike Racing by Riley dominated the Pro-Am with the #4 Mercedes of Colin Braun, George Kurtz, Nick Catsburg and Ian James. It was Catsburg’s second consecutive class win, having won with SunEnergy1 twelve months ago. The #16 Mercedes – Uno Racing with Landgraf and the #100 McLaren 720S GT3 – Team RJN completed the podium, the latter having lost the class lead after turbo issues.
The Bronze Cup was won by Tresor Attempto Racing with an Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°66 which almost always finished in the top 10 (10th overall) with Dylan Pereira – Aleksei Nesov – Andrey Mukovoz – Max Hofer. The Ferrari n°52 – AF Corse of Tommaso Mosca – Andrea Bertolini – Jef and Louis Machiels and the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 n°72 – Barwell Motorsport of Gabriel Ridone – Mattia Michelotto – Patrick Kujala – Casper Stevenson took the podium.
Among the disappointments, the black cat pursued Lamborghini with a refuelling problem for the n°163 – GRT which started from pole position, before finishing 5th, the best result for the Italian brand. The n°63 – Iron Lynx also had problems, with contact and the loss of the front bonnet at the start of the race, before spending long hours in the pits before starting again in the last minutes. The n°72 – Barwell Motorsport was in contention for the Bronze Cup victory before a puncture 1h23′ from the finish.
The ranking is HERE
