Spa Friday Notebook

***Marvin Kirchhoefer’s pole position in Friday’s Superpole shootout was McLaren’s first in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup since the 2014 round at Paul Ricard, which came courtesy of Alvaro Parente in an ART Grand Prix McLaren MP4-12C GT3 when the series was known as the Blancpain Endurance Series.

***Kirchhoefer’s time of 2:15.113 was notably slower than the record-setting 2:13.718 that Franck Perera posted to take pole last year, with a less grippy track surface compared to last year as well as a green track after earlier rainfall understood to have been factors.

***Two cars, the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO and No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, received penalties post-Superpole for crossing the pit exit loop earlier than each of their allocated time, dropping them to 14th and 19th overall.

***Both the No. 81 Winward Racing and No. 611 Nordique Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos have been given permission to start Saturday’s race from the back of the grid despite missing night practice as a result of crashes in Pre-Qualifying and qualifying, respectively. The cars were rebuilt in time for warmup, while stewards determined in both cars that the drivers have enough experience and showed consistent enough times during Free Practice to be allowed to start the race.

***Ferrari’s global head of endurance Antonello Coletta revealed the Italian manufacturer is in support of torque sensors in GT3, amid the recent development they will become mandatory for the FIA GT World Cup in Macau. Coletta said he ‘hopes’ they will also be rolled out to SRO championships, something SRO Motorsports Group President and CEO Stephane Ratel has been adamantly against.

***Coletta told Sportscar365: “For us this is the only way that the promoter, the federation, etc have the way to measure the real power at the wheels. Now there are lot of brands and a lot of cars and it’s impossible to have a perfect BoP. By definition it’s impossible but in any case it’s really difficult and this is the only chance that we have.”

***Coletta added that there’s “clear ambitions” to win this weekend, after its No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessandro Pier Guidi was denied victory in the closing stages of last year’s race when he was blocked at the pit entry by a stranded Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

***He said: “Of course. It’s already present in our head the illusion of last year. I’ve been working in racing for 40 years and this was the first time I had a situation in those terms. It’s clear we have ambitions to win. Unfortunately we lost the centenary of Spa. For Ferrari, which won the centenary of Le Mans, it would have been good history.”

***Forty-three cars, representing Intercontinental GT Challenge’s four registered manufacturers (BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche), are eligible to score points towards the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings this weekend. Click Here to view the full list.

***The No. 18 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R was reported to stewards on Thursday for non-compliance with Article 503.12d of the sporting regulations, which states that each car “must contain at least 2 kg of fuel should the car return to parc ferme under its own power, and 2.5 kg should it be brought back by circuit equipment or marshal’s intervention.”

***The stewards’ document outlined that the car was checked after it stopped on track during the fourth and final segment of qualifying. However, a team representative argued that the fuel sample was taken via the use of a fuel hose of the front of the car and not via the established procedure using an FIA-approved self-sealing connector, fitted immediately before the injectors. Stewards agreed with Dinamic’s arguments upon further inspection and concluded that there was “no guarantee that the regulations were breached.” The team was therefore not penalized.

***As part of Friday’s activities, Ratel hosted the annual press conference at Spa, which featured 2026 calendar reveals for Intercontinental GT Challenge, GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, GT World Challenge America, GT World Challenge Asia and GT World Challenge Australia as well as a number of other announcements.

***Ratel said SRO has yet to finalize the agreement with Supercars for the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour to be an IGTC round next year due to a change in top management at event promoter Supercars.

***He said: “The reality is that James Warburton is coming back as the CEO of Supercars and I think [he will] start soon (July 23). We have to have the new CEO to finalize the IGTC agreement.”

***Ratel downplayed media reports in Australia that SRO was looking to take over as promoter of the race, which was confirmed this week to again to be Supercars as part of a new long-term deal.

***He instead suggested that SRO could have a “more direct role” with the event. Ratel said: “The difficulty we have is that the rules are very different. We get all the teams [asking] why it’s different. We would like to have a bit of the same [rules] that people are used to do what they do in Spa and we’d like to do the same thing.”

***Jeddah, which hosted the 2024 GTWC Europe Endurance Cup season finale, was not on any SRO calendar for next year. Ratel said: “We wait and see if they contact us again if they want a race.”

***Ratel revealed he’s “very confident” of achieving a grid of between 25-30 GT3 cars for the revived Suzuka 1000km in September, an event that will be promoted by SRO for the first time and serve as the fourth leg of the IGTC season.

***SRO, which co-promotes the Asian Le Mans Series, has projected a more optimistic grid count for the new Hypercar class that will launch beginning with the 2026/27 season. Ratel said it would be his “dream” to see between 6-8 Hypercars on the grid. ACO President Pierre Fillon previously told Sportscar365 that he would expect only 2-3 cars for the first season.

***While not announced at the press conference, Ratel said he hopes to finalize the host country of the 2026 FIA Motorsport Games by September, after ‘much interest’ from nations that has been narrowed down to one “real” candidate. Sportscar365 understands that Brazil had been in the running at some point, although it’s unclear if it’s the earmarked nation.

***Ratel also revealed a number of changes to the format for the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli for next year, most notably introducing a class exclusively for Silver-rated drivers. The existing Pro-Am and Am categories will remain in place but be open to Platinum and Gold-rated drivers for the first time.

***Part of the push to boost grid numbers for the championship is the introduction of an SRO GT Academy initiative, as part of which the fastest Silver driver racing in either a Maserati MC20 GT2 or Mercedes-AMG GT2 will be offered a fully funded season with a Mercedes-AMG customer team in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup.

***It was announced that SRO’s end-of-year prize-giving ceremony will take place in Venice on Nov. 22.

***Two of Porsche Motorsport North America’s Selected Drivers, Loek Hartog and Tom Sargent, are competing in this weekend’s race. Hartog is on his third 24-hour race in as many weeks, driving for Rutronik Racing, while Sargent is teamed up with IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship squad Wright Motorsports, which is making its overseas debut.

***Porsche Motorsport North America President and CEO Volker Holzmeyer said: “Loek and Tom, like Riley [Dickinson], are showing their tremendous talents not just here in America but around the world. We’re proud of the success that they’ve seen and wish them the best of luck this weekend representing Porsche at the largest GT3-only race in the world.”

***The lineup for the No. 93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 features a family reunion of sorts as Eddie Cheever III and Lorenzo Patrese follow in the footsteps of their respective fathers by teaming up. The elder Cheever and Patrese were teammates in Formula 1 with Alfa Romeo in 1984 and 1985, but also drove together for Lancia in the World Sportscar Championship on a number of occasions. Most notably, the pairing drove a Lancia Beta Montecarlo to victory in the 1980 Mugello 6 Hours, leading a 1-2 for the Italian brand.

***The Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational-winning Ford Mustang Dark Horse R, driven by Cameron McLeod, has been on display in the paddock this weekend. It was announced on Friday that Ford Performance will expand its single-make series with the launch of Mustang Cup Australia beginning next year.

***CrowdStrike, which is in its third year as the title sponsor of the 24H Spa, has brought more than 200 guests out to Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

***The 78th running of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. CEST (10:30 a.m. EST) with live coverage on the GT World YouTube channel. The English language commentary team consists of David Addison, Joe Osbourne, Ryan Myrehn, Bruce Jones and Ben Constanduros, with Alexandra Legouix, Gemma Scott and Guenaelle Longy serving as pit reporters.

***In addition to English, further YouTube broadcasts will also be available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch.

John Dagys contributed to this report