The night time on the 2026 Spa 24 Hours noticed the #51 Ferrari return to the lead lap as the dreaded thunderstorms had been nothing extra however a short bathe at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Quite a few security automobiles, a little bit of rain, and several other prime automobiles dropping out of competition: The night time on the 2026 24 Hours of Spa is now historical past. At 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, the massive information of the night time was the return of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari to the lead lap following its tire failure on Saturday night.
That is a unprecedented achievement, as this can be very troublesome to regain a misplaced lap on the 24 Hours of Spa because of the lack of wave-bys for the Professional Cup and the full-course yellows that precede security automobiles.
There have been additionally no main storms. A cluster of thunderstorms handed to the northwest of the observe, offering a spectacular lightning present on the night time horizon. An offshoot of the storm did ultimately hit the observe proper on the midway level, however it remained a short rain bathe.
Each Storage 59 McLarens Out of Rivalry
Even earlier than it was utterly darkish, the #63 Grasser Lamborghini needed to pit because of engine issues. It was despatched again out briefly a number of hours later earlier than GRT Grasser lastly referred to as it a day.
Only a few minutes later, catastrophe struck one of many favorites: The #59 Storage 59 McLaren pulled into the pits with a front-right suspension drawback. The mechanics eliminated the brake, after which the 720S GT3 was declared a retirement.
Storage 59 nonetheless had the automotive from the Gold Cup in competition for general victory, the #58. It initially made good progress by the night time, though Louis Prette was spun round by Morris Schuring’s #2 Boutsen-VDS Porsche within the Bus Cease chicane, which earned the Dutchman a drive by penalty.
However within the early morning hours, Storage 59 additionally misplaced its second asset when Oliver Goethe introduced the automotive into the pits with front-end injury. Coolant was leaking, with repairs nonetheless underway (above).
Many Security Vehicles In the course of the Evening
There have been a complete of 5 FCY-to-SCs since dusk. The primary of those, the fourth general, was referred to as shortly earlier than the top of the seventh hour when Sebastien Baud within the #21 Comtoyou Aston Martin had a violent crash at Courbe Paul Frère.
This was adopted by simply ten minutes of green-flag racing earlier than the protection automotive needed to be deployed once more. Jonathan Hui’s #93 Tempesta Porsche was spun out within the Fagnes curve (also referred to as Pif-Paf).
Because it spun, it was struck by Alexey Nesov’s #9 Pure-Rxcing Porsche, which ended up caught within the gravel entice. That marked the top of the race for each Porsche 911 GT3 Rs.
After that, there have been 80 minutes of green-flag racing earlier than the #60 JMW Ferrari got here to a cease because of a technical drawback, catching hearth within the course of.
Throughout this intervention, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari pulled off a strategic masterstroke that introduced it again into the lead lap: As a substitute of pitting below FCY, it stayed out, passing the chief and regaining the lead lap.
It then caught as much as the again of the Security Automotive queue and made its pit cease below the Security Automotive shortly earlier than the restart. This allowed it to return to the observe half a lap behind the chief, regaining the all-important lead lap.
The #98 Rowe-BMW was set again by a tire failure simply because it had labored its means as much as third place. For a number of hours, it drove “off sequence” in the back of the main group till the sixth security automotive introduced it again into line, albeit outdoors the highest 10.
Sole Professional-Audi Out After Crash
One other security automotive was triggered on the finish of the eleventh hour when Markus Winkelhock crashed the #84 Eastalent Audi, into the barrier at Blanchimont; the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II had already misplaced a number of laps to the leaders earlier than.
Lower than half an hour after the restart, the following automotive crashed at Blanchimont. This time it was Sarah Bovy within the #700 Comtoyou Aston Martin, who slammed into the tire barrier after contact with one other automotive.
This triggered an extended FCY-to-SC —the fifth of the night time and the eighth general. In the course of the FCY, rain started to fall, however it was so transient that by the point of the following restart, nearly all automobiles had already switched again to slicks.
All automobiles in competition for the general victory accomplished their necessary 5-minute service at the moment, which have to be carried out between the twelfth and twenty second hour.
Only a few minutes later, the #64 HRT-Ford additionally needed to swallow a bitter tablet: Arjun Maini was handed a 60-second stop-and-go penalty for rushing below the FCY. The Ford Mustang GT3 Evo will now want one other Security Automotive to get again inside hanging distance of the leaders.
Only a few minutes later, the HRT-Ford #64 (Maini/Scherer/Drouet) additionally had a bitter tablet to swallow: for driving too quick below FCY, Arjun Maini needed to serve a 60-second stop-and-go penalty. The Ford Mustang GT3 Evo subsequently wants one other SC interval to get again inside hanging distance of the leaders.
GTWC factors after 6 and 12 hours
After 6 hours:
Eastalent-Audi #84 (Reicher/Winkelhock/Haase) – 12 factors
WRT-BMW #32 (van der Linde/Pepper/Weerts) – 9 factors
GetSpeed-Mercedes #48 (Auer/Stolz/Engel) – 7 factors
Storage-59-McLaren #58 (Fleming/Prette/Goethe) – 6 factors
Rowe-BMW #98 (Farfus/Dennis/Marciello) – 5 factors
HRT-Ford #64 (Maini/Scherer/Drouet) – 4 factors
Boutsen-VDS-Porsche #2 (Schuring/Boccolacci/Picariello) – 3 factors
Rowe-BMW #998 (de Wilde/Tramnitz/Klingmann) – 2 factors
WRT-BMW #46 (Rossi/Harper/Hesse) – 1 level
After 12 hours:
Kessel-Ferrari #74 (Blattner/Tuck/Jaubert/Marschall) – 12 factors
Paradine-BMW #991 (Fourie/Leung/Pittard/Kellett) – 9 factors
Storage-59-McLaren #58 (Fleming/Prette/Goethe) – 7 factors
GetSpeed-Mercedes #48 (Auer/Stolz/Engel) – 6 factors
Lionspeed-Porsche #80 (Feller/Preining/Buus) – 5 factors
Verstappen-Mercedes #3 (Juncadella/Lulham/Gounon) – 4 factors
HRT-Ford #64 (Maini/Scherer/Drouet) – 3 factors
WRT-BMW #46 (Rossi/Harper/Hesse) – 2 factors
Walkenhorst-Aston-Martin #34 (Day/Krognes/Chaves) – 1 level
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