Posted on September 10, 2025.
Keith Bluemel, 06/2025
Photos from the 24 Hours of Spa are available on Flickr.
The 2025 edition of the Spa 24 Hour Race was held over the weekend of 28-29 June, with a massive 75 GT3 car entry spread across five classes (including nine Ferraris). However, only 74 cars took the start, as the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport entered Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO was crashed heavily at the Fagnes corner in the Superpole session by Henrique Chaves, rendering it hors de combat for the race. Fortunately, he walked away unharmed, although very probably with a very bruised ego. Apart from the main race there was a large support race programme, comprising of two races each for both the GT2 and GT4 European Series, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series and the McLaren Trophy Europe series.
Apart from this busy race schedule, there was plenty of other entertainment for the 128,000 attendees over the weekend. This included fireworks, evening music concerts in the paddock on the Thursday and Friday, with another on the Saturday in the fan zone on the outside of Eau Rouge. There was also the immensely popular parade of competing cars driving from the circuit to Spa town on the Wednesday evening, where they park up in the central area for an autograph session. Although there were some rain showers affecting the practice, qualifying and support races on the Thursday and Friday, despite Spa’s renowned reputation for weather vagaries, the whole race was run under dry conditions.
Three years after the Ferrari 296 GT3 was presented on the occasion of the 2023 Spa 24 Hour Race, its successor for the 2026 season was unveiled on the Friday afternoon, this being the 296 GT3 Evo. The launch was hosted by Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Ferrari Endurance and Corse Clienti, along with Alessandra Todeschini and a sextet of works drivers who were competing in the race. These were Antonio Fuoco, Davide Rigon, Alessio Rovera, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Arthur Leclerc and Miguel Molina. Few details of the new model were made available, other than it has improved aerodynamics to make it more stable under all conditions, notably when slipstreaming, improved brake cooling through a revised ducting layout, together with changes to the gearing to improve both high and low speed torque. A kit will be available to update the current model to Evo specification.
Following the practice and qualifying sessions the top twenty runners went into the Superpole shootout on the Friday afternoon, in an effort to claim the overall honour of fastest lap. At the end of this session the car that topped the Superpole charts was the Garage 59 entered #59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO driven by Marvin Kirchoffer, posting a lap time of 2mins 15.113secs. This was just under half a second quicker than the #17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO driven by Jules Gounon. The pair of AF Corse – Garage Francorchamps entered Ferrari 296 GT3s qualified fifth and tenth quickest, in the order of the #50 example followed by the #51. In the Gold Cup class, the qualifying honours went to the #33 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO of Vermeulen/Lulham/King, with the Silver Cup pole going to the #42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Waberski/Moore/Jansen. In the Bronze Cup it was the #66 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Nesov/Mukovoz/Hofer/Pereira that claimed the class pole position, whilst in the Pro-AM class the quickest time was set by the #29 Porsche 911GT3 R (992) of Abramczyk/Detry/Duffieux/Yuan. So, as can be seen, each class had a different manufacturer at the head of the table.
The race starters were Princess Louise and Princes Nicolas and Aymeric of the Belgian Royal Family who flagged the field on its way at 16.30 on the Saturday afternoon. Incredibly, given the vast number of cars jostling for position, the first lap was incident free, with the pole sitting #59 McLaren leading the way, with a baying pack closely behind it. This was headed by the #17 Mercedes of Jules Gounon, who had Vincent Avril in the #51 Ferrari in his wheel tracks. These positions were maintained through to the first round of pit stops, when the Ferrari lost time due to a slower stop and driver change to Alessio Rovera. There was a problem with the car so he stopped again on the following lap to resolve what was only described as a technical problem, which dropped it to the tail of the field, albeit still on the lead lap. Fortunately, the sister #50 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors example was running trouble free and was up to third place before quarter distance. Not so lucky was the #70 AF Corse Ferrari, which slammed into the back of the #270 Aston Martin on the Kemmel Straight, just as a full course yellow had been called for another incident, putting both cars out of the race at the start of the third hour. Of the nine Ferraris that started the race, fortunately for fans of the Cavallino Rampante this was the only retirement.
With darkness having fallen, at quarter distance it was the #17 Mercedes-AMG leading the #163 Lamborghini, the #50 Ferrari and the #59 McLaren, whilst the #51 Ferrari had clawed its way from the tail of the field to run in 20th position. Through the early hours of darkness, the lead positions remained fairly constant, only cycling through the pit stops, albeit with the #78 Mercedes-AMG, the #63 Lamborghini and the #998 BMW getting in on the race lead act, with the #96 Rutronik entered Porsche also came into contention. It all came to nought for the #17 Mercedes-AMG before half distance, when first it had to serve a drive-through penalty for causing a collision, then stopped out on the circuit. The #163 Lamborghini also had problems during the night with a slow pit stop and then a power steering failure dropping it down the order.
By the time the half distance point had been reached with dawn breaking, the #51 Ferrari had climbed all the way to third overall, displacing the sister #50 car, which was following closely in fourth place. At the head of the field was the #63 Lamborghini followed closely by the #998 BMW, while the early race leading #59 McLaren was still in with a shout in fifth place. Worthy of mention, further down the order, the Bronze Cup class #74 Kessel entered Ferrari had been keeping out of trouble and by was leading its class by the end of the 15th hour, retaining this position for the remaining nine hours to take the class win.
As the race moved into the closing stages, it was the #63 Grasser Racing entered #63 Lamborghini of Bortolotti/Engstler/Pepper and the Rutronik Racing entered #96 Porsche of Muller/Niedhauser/Picarellio, that were fighting for the overall win, never more than a few seconds apart. The pair of AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferraris ran a short distance behind in third and fourth places, in the order #51 and #50. When the chequered flag fell, this was the finishing order, with the #63 Lamborghini only 8.703secs ahead of the #96 Porsche after 24 hours of racing. The #51 Ferrari driven by Rovera/Abril/Pier Guidi took the final podium spot, less than half a minute behind the winner, whilst Alessandro Pier Guidi posted the overall fastest race lap in a time of 2mins 17.066secs.
Race Results
Overall & PRO Class Podium
1st – #63, GRT – Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, M. Bortolotti/L. Engstler/J. Pepper
2nd – #96, Rutronik Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), S. Muller/P. Niederhauser/A. Picariello
3rd – #51, AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors, Ferrari 296 GT3, A. Rovera/V. Abril/A. Pier Guidi
Gold Class
1st – #33, Verstappen.com Racing, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, T. Vermeulen/C. Lulham/H. King
2nd – #58, Garage 59, McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, F. Schandorff/D. MacDonald/L. Prette
3rd – #120, Wright Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), A. Adelson/T. Sargent/E. Skeer
Silver Class
1st – #35, Walkenhorst Motorsport, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, R. Leroux/O. Soderstrom/M. Villagomez
2nd – #26, Sainteloc Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, A. Donniacuo/W. Brichaceck/J. Klymenko/L. Lecartua
3rd – #42, Century Motorsport, BMW M4 GT3 EVO, J. Waberski/W. Moore/M. Jansen
Bronze Class
1st – #74, Kessel Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3, D. Blattner/E. Robichon/C. Laursen/D. Marschall
2nd – #81, Winward Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, D. Arrow/R. Salikhov/G. Piana/M. Dienst
3rd – #25, Sainteloc Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, B. Ricci/P. Evrard/R. Gold/G. Magnus
Pro-AM Class
1st – #29, AV Racing by Car Collection Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), N. Abramczyk/M. Detry/E. Duffieux/B. Yuan
2nd – #100, Beechdean AMR, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, A. Howard/A. McIntosh/V. Hasse-Clot/R. Gunn
3rd – #4, Crowdstrike by SPS, Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, G. Kurtz/I. James/C. Braun/N. Catsburg
