Spa 24 Hours: Ferrari crushes competitors in superpole

Ferrari’s absolute dominance on the 2026 Spa 24 Hours confirmed no indicators of slowing down throughout Friday’s high-stakes shootout. 4 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evos locked down positions throughout the prime eight.

Main the cost from the very entrance of the grid would be the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, because of a stellar efficiency by Alessio Rovera. The Italian driver topped each single one of many 4 elimination segments.

When all the pieces was on the road in Superpole 4, he blasted to a pole-winning time of 2m18.330s, gapping a extremely spectacular Tom Fleming within the #58 Storage 59 McLaren by 0.428 seconds. Fleming’s good run additionally secured him the highest spot within the Gold Cup class.

Row two shall be shared by the #50 AF Corse Ferrari, certified by Arthur Leclerc, and the #3 Verstappen Mercedes, which Jules Gounon efficiently drove into the ultimate four-car shootout.

“The circumstances had been extremely difficult. We actually did not count on that little grip, and I used to be sliding round lots. However I suppose it was the identical for everybody,” Rovera mentioned after his string of quickest laptimes on Friday afternoon.

“In the long run, I attempted to do as few laps as doable within the first three segments to save lots of one of the best tyre life for the ultimate shootout.” Beneath the brand new guidelines, all 4 knockout classes needed to be accomplished on a single set of tyres.

Superpole 3: A fierce battle for the ultimate 4

Eight vehicles went head-to-head for an opportunity to make it into the ultimate pole shootout. Whereas Rovera instantly laid down a benchmark time, a chaotic battle raged behind him, with positions on the bubble altering by the second.

The most important shock of the session got here from Ariel Levi within the #66 Attempto Audi. As the only real remaining Silver Cup entry within the prime eight, Levi placed on a implausible present within the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. He managed to interrupt into the highest 4 twice on timing sheets, solely to be bumped again down into the elimination zone within the closing moments.

Gounon pulled off a blistering lap within the ultimate seconds. The Verstappen AMG had been languishing on the backside for many of Superpole 3. Nevertheless, on his ultimate flying lap, Gounon extracted all the pieces from the automotive, bumping the #71 Chosen Automotive Ferrari out of the ultimate shootout by a mere 0.039 seconds.

In the meantime, the Bronze Cup pole went comfortably to the #74 Kessel Ferrari. Though a Bronze entry making it this far up the grid appears stunning, the category permitting skilled drivers made it doable for Dennis Marschall to push the 296 GT3 all the best way into Superpole 3.

Leaving the session and not using a actual shot at advancing was Lucas Auer within the #48 GetSpeed Mercedes. The well-known “Mamba” entry struggled for tempo in Superpole 3 and can begin the 24-hour race from row 4.

Superpole 2: Final Porsche and Ford Eradicated

The second section proved expensive for the McLaren contingent, with three 720S GT3 Evos getting knocked out. Final 12 months’s polesetter Marvin Kirchhofer missed out on the highest eight by 0.099 seconds within the #59 Storage-59 McLaren after being bumped on the ultimate lap by Frederik Schandorff within the #71 Chosen Automotive Ferrari.

It was additionally the tip of the street for each Ford and Porsche. The #64 HRT Ford pushed by Arjun Maini and the #80 Lionspeed Porsche with Ricardo Feller on the wheel had been each eradicated, which means the ultimate remaining vehicles for each producers had been out of competition.

This left a subject of 4 Ferraris, two Mercedes-AMGs, one Audi, and one McLaren to struggle it out in Superpole 3.

Superpole 1: Collective exit for BMW, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini

The opening 10-minute section immediately lower the 32-car subject in half. As anticipated primarily based on apply tempo, each Professional Cup Lamborghini Temerario GT3 entries did not make the lower, regardless of a extremely respectable lap by Mirko Bortolotti within the #63 GRT Lamborghini leaving him in twentieth.

Extra surprisingly, the whole BMW contingent was worn out within the first spherical, with the highest M4 GT3 Evo managing no higher than 18th on the grid. The vehicles have noticeably lacked uncooked tempo all weekend.

Aston Martin suffered an identical destiny, as not one of the Vantage AMR GT3 Evos superior, together with the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin which had proven sturdy type with an eighth-place end in Thursday’s mixed qualifying.

The sweltering observe temperatures appeared to drawback the front-engined equipment—with Mercedes-AMG being the lone exception.

Whereas beginning positions are historically secondary in a grueling 24-hour race, launching from the midfield at all times will increase the chance of getting caught up in opening-lap drama.

The sphere will return to the observe later this night for a ultimate 30-minute warm-up session. The race itself will get underway on Saturday at 4.30pm native time.

The sphere is about to take the beginning in searing warmth earlier than an approaching chilly entrance threatens to deliver extreme thunderstorms to the Ardennes.

Superpole outcomes:

1. AF-Corse-Ferrari #51 (Rovera/Mosca/Nielsen)

2. Storage-59-McLaren #58 (Fleming/Prette/Goethe)

3. AF-Corse-Ferrari #50 (Wadoux/Leclerc/Gelael)

4. Verstappen-Mercedes #3 (Juncadella/Lulham/Gounon)

5. Chosen-Automotive-Ferrari #71 (Laursen/Ebdrup/Birch/Schandorff)

6. Attempto-Audi #66 (Kastelic/Levi/Ögaard/Mazzola)

7. Kessel-Ferrari #74 (Blattner/Tuck/Jaubert/Marschall)

8. GetSpeed-Mercedes #48 (Auer/Stolz/Engel)

9. Storage-59-McLaren #59 (Loake/MacDonald/Kirchhöfer)

10. Attempto-Audi #99 (Pereira/Frassineti/Aka)

11. GetSpeed-Mercedes #6 (Bartone/Panis/Gazeau/Basz)