Cairoli Leads Opening Hour After Start Under Safety Car

Pole-sitter Matteo Cairoli controlled the opening hour at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa after the first 22 minutes of the race were held behind the safety car.

The Italian then built an early 3.5-second lead in Huber Motorsport’s Bronze Cup-class Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Alessio Rovera in second for the AF Corse Ferrari squad.

Cairoli spent the opening laps second on the track behind the safety car, which was brought out to control the pace of the field based on wet, but drying, conditions.

The safety car period was extended after an accident for the GMG Racing by Car Collection Motorsport Porsche which became the first retirement after Kyle Washington lost control at Raidillon and hit the left-side barrier. Washington walked away from the accident.

When the field was released under the green flag, a dry line had emerged and Cairoli moved clear of Rovera.

The driver of the No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3 in turn put 10 seconds between himself and the Pure Rxcing Porsche of Bronze Cup competitor Joel Sturm.

Sturm came under pressure from Audi Sport Team Tresor Orange 1 driver Mattia Drudi towards the end of the hour.

Drudi overtook Franck Perera and Charlie Fagg after starting from sixth position, before Fagg then moved his Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo past Lamborghini factory driver Perera.

The K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 was then bumped down to seventh after Scherer Sport PHX Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde got past at the end of the Kemmel Straight.

There were a couple of notable early Pro-class pitters during the safety car period, including Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing, the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari and the Iron Lynx Lamborghini, which started outside the top 60.