The 2026 24 Hours of Spa have taken a dramatic flip. The AF Corse #51 Ferrari, shared by Alessio Rovera, Tommaso Mosca and Nicklas Nielsen, has surrendered the race lead after dominating the opening levels. A tyre failure roughly 4 and a half hours into the race abruptly ended its stint on the entrance.
From the very begin, the Ferrari appeared untouchable. Even minor time penalties didn’t threaten its benefit, whereas successive safety-car interventions repeatedly erased the gaps it had constructed. Round half-hour after the newest restart, catastrophe struck when the left-rear tyre abruptly deflated exiting the Bus Cease chicane. In line with the official stay stream, a tyre stress warning was issued earlier than.
It marks the second main setback for an AF Corse Ferrari within the Professional Cup. Earlier within the race, the sister #50 Ferrari narrowly averted shedding the lead lap after Arthur Leclerc spun into the tyre boundaries, damaging the rear of the automobile.
The Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo was later pressured to proceed again to the pits at diminished velocity, however a safety-car interval after three and a half hours prevented it from being lapped.
#17’s Depressing Weekend Involves Early Finish
#17 Mercedes-AMG Group GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO: Luca Stolz, Jules Gounon, Fabian Schiller
Photograph by: Eric Le Galliot
The primary retirement within the Professional Cup has additionally been confirmed. The #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Maxime Martin, Maximilian Götz and Luca Stolz noticed its race come to an finish, capping off a disastrous weekend that had already begun with all of its qualifying lap occasions being deleted.
Ranging from 52nd on the grid, the Mercedes survived the opening-lap accident however was later concerned in touch with the #177 Grupo Promenade Mercedes. The collision earned the GetSpeed entry a drive-through penalty that dropped it off the lead lap.
Its issues continued when a transponder malfunction required an unscheduled cease for repairs. Throughout that go to to the pits, the automobile was concerned in one other incident, and after three and a half hours the workforce was pressured to retire it with suspension harm on the entrance left.
“As a result of a drive-through penalty, we had been already a lap down after we needed to pit once more. On the pit entrance, Maxi (Götz) made contact with one other automobile. This resulted in a puncture to the entrance left tyre, which triggered additional harm”, Maxime Martin stated. “So, sadly, we needed to retire the automobile. It’s clearly fairly disappointing. This isn’t how I imagined my twentieth 24 Hours of Spa would go, however that’s motorsport generally. We’ll come again.”
The Grupo Promenade Mercedes concerned within the earlier collision has since retired as nicely. The identical applies to the #99 Attempto Audi of Alex Aka, which was finally parked after struggling delayed harm from contact in an incident earlier within the race.
AF Corse’s #70 Ferrari, which was not directly caught up within the opening lap crash, has additionally formally joined the retirement record.
The GetSpeed Mercedes #48 of Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Fabian Schiller now leads the race after steadily working its option to the entrance. It’s adopted by the #58 Storage 59 McLaren and the #98 Rowe BMW. All 16 remaining Professional Cup entries are nonetheless on the lead lap.
Simply earlier than the beginning of the race, organisers additionally introduced a big Steadiness of Efficiency revision. Solely the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and Corvette Z06 GT3.R remained unchanged, whereas the next weight changes had been made:
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo: -5 kg
BMW M4 GT3 Evo: -10 kg
Ford Mustang GT3: -5 kg
Lamborghini Temerario GT3: -5 kg
McLaren 720S GT3 Evo: -10 kg
Mercedes-AMG GT3: -10 kg
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): -15 kg
Temperatures are slowly starting to ease. The chance of storms stays as Sunday’s forecast requires a excessive of round 28°C, providing some welcome aid after the acute warmth of the earlier days.
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