Spa 24 Hours: Disaster for McLaren, Ferrari back on the lead lap

· Yahoo Sports

Motorsport photo

The night at the 2026 Spa 24 Hours saw the #51 Ferrari return to the lead lap as the feared thunderstorms were nothing more but a brief shower at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Numerous safety cars, a bit of rain, and several top cars dropping out of contention: The night at the 2026 24 Hours of Spa is now history. At 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, the big news of the night was the return of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari to the lead lap following its tire failure on Saturday evening.

Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.

This is an extraordinary achievement, as it is extremely difficult to regain a lost lap at the 24 Hours of Spa due to the lack of wave-bys for the Pro Cup and the full-course yellows that precede safety cars.

There were also no major storms. A cluster of thunderstorms passed to the northwest of the track, providing a spectacular lightning show at the night horizon. An offshoot of the storm did eventually hit the track right at the halfway point, but it remained a brief rain shower.

Both Garage 59 McLarens Out of Contention

Even before it was completely dark, the #63 Grasser Lamborghini had to pit due to engine problems. It was sent back out briefly several hours later before GRT Grasser finally called it a day.

Just a few minutes later, disaster struck one of the favorites: The #59 Garage 59 McLaren pulled into the pits with a front-right suspension problem. The mechanics removed the brake, after which the 720S GT3 was declared a retirement.

Garage 59 still had the car from the Gold Cup in contention for overall victory, the #58. It initially made good progress through the night, although Louis Prette was spun around by Morris Schuring’s #2 Boutsen-VDS Porsche in the Bus Stop chicane, which earned the Dutchman a drive through penalty.

But in the early morning hours, Garage 59 also lost its second asset when Oliver Goethe brought the car into the pits with front-end damage. Coolant was leaking, with repairs still underway (above).

Many Safety Cars During the Night

There were a total of five FCY-to-SCs since nightfall. The first of these, the fourth overall, was called shortly before the end of the seventh hour when Sebastien Baud in the #21 Comtoyou Aston Martin had a violent crash at Courbe Paul Frère.

This was followed by just ten minutes of green-flag racing before the safety car had to be deployed again. Jonathan Hui's #93 Tempesta Porsche was spun out in the Fagnes curve (also known as Pif-Paf).

As it spun, it was struck by Alexey Nesov’s #9 Pure-Rxcing Porsche, which ended up stuck in the gravel trap. That marked the end of the race for both Porsche 911 GT3 Rs.

After that, there were 80 minutes of green-flag racing before the #60 JMW Ferrari came to a stop due to a technical problem, catching fire in the process.

During this intervention, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari pulled off a strategic masterstroke that brought it back into the lead lap: Instead of pitting under FCY, it stayed out, passing the leader and regaining the lead lap.

It then caught up to the back of the Safety Car queue and made its pit stop under the Safety Car shortly before the restart. This allowed it to return to the track half a lap behind the leader, regaining the all-important lead lap.

The #98 Rowe-BMW was set back by a tire failure just as it had worked its way up to third place. For several hours, it drove “off sequence” at the back of the leading group until the sixth safety car brought it back into line, albeit outside the top 10.

Sole Pro-Audi Out After Crash

Another safety car was triggered at the end 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 lost several laps to the leaders before.

Less than half an hour after the restart, the next car crashed at Blanchimont. This time it was Sarah Bovy in the #700 Comtoyou Aston Martin, who slammed into the tire barrier after contact with another car.

This triggered a long FCY-to-SC —the fifth of the night and the eighth overall. During the FCY, rain began to fall, but it was so brief that by the time of the subsequent restart, almost all cars had already switched back to slicks.

All cars in contention for the overall victory completed their mandatory 5-minute service at that time, which must be carried out between the 12th and 22nd hour.

Just a few minutes later, the #64 HRT-Ford also had to swallow a bitter pill: Arjun Maini was handed a 60-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding under the FCY. The Ford Mustang GT3 Evo will now need another Safety Car to get back within striking distance of the leaders.

Just a few minutes later, the HRT-Ford #64 (Maini/Scherer/Drouet) also had a bitter pill to swallow: for driving too fast under FCY, Arjun Maini had to serve a 60-second stop-and-go penalty. The Ford Mustang GT3 Evo therefore needs another SC period to get back within striking distance of the leaders.

GTWC points after 6 and 12 hours

After 6 hours:

Eastalent-Audi #84 (Reicher/Winkelhock/Haase) - 12 points WRT-BMW #32 (van der Linde/Pepper/Weerts) - 9 points GetSpeed-Mercedes #48 (Auer/Stolz/Engel) - 7 points Garage-59-McLaren #58 (Fleming/Prette/Goethe) - 6 points Rowe-BMW #98 (Farfus/Dennis/Marciello) - 5 points HRT-Ford #64 (Maini/Scherer/Drouet) - 4 points Boutsen-VDS-Porsche #2 (Schuring/Boccolacci/Picariello) - 3 points Rowe-BMW #998 (de Wilde/Tramnitz/Klingmann) - 2 points WRT-BMW #46 (Rossi/Harper/Hesse) - 1 point

After 12 hours:

Kessel-Ferrari #74 (Blattner/Tuck/Jaubert/Marschall) - 12 points Paradine-BMW #991 (Fourie/Leung/Pittard/Kellett) - 9 points Garage-59-McLaren #58 (Fleming/Prette/Goethe) - 7 points GetSpeed-Mercedes #48 (Auer/Stolz/Engel) - 6 points Lionspeed-Porsche #80 (Feller/Preining/Buus) - 5 points Verstappen-Mercedes #3 (Juncadella/Lulham/Gounon) - 4 points HRT-Ford #64 (Maini/Scherer/Drouet) - 3 points WRT-BMW #46 (Rossi/Harper/Hesse) - 2 points Walkenhorst-Aston-Martin #34 (Day/Krognes/Chaves) - 1 point

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

Read full story at source