Comtoyou Aston Wins 24H Spa After AF Corse Pit Drama

Comtoyou Racing took a dramatic landmark victory for Aston Martin in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa after a late-race pit lane drama for the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

The No. 7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim crossed the line ahead of Ferrari trio Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and Alessio Rovera.

It marks the first 24-hour race victory for the British brand’s updated GT3 challenger, while Aston Martin won the event for the first time since 1948.

Heading into the final hour, Ferrari appeared to be on course for the second event win in four years, with Pier Guidi holding a comfortable advantage at the head of the field.

As the recently resurfaced Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps dried out over the morning hours, the No. 51 Ferrari came alive, with Pier Guidi jumping from third into the lead, getting around both Thiim and Harper on their out laps with three hours and 45 minutes to go.

However, AF Corse’s challenge unravelled when Pier Guidi bizarrely got stuck at pit entry as he was unable to move past the No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which had become stranded.

Although the Lamborghini was towed clear and Pier Guidi was able to make his final stop, he dropped to fifth as the No. 7 Aston Martin assumed the lead, ahead of the No. 998 BMW and No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The Italian driver then charged back past the No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin and the Porsche to move third place behind ROWE Racing.

Third became second when Max Hesse took a trip down pitlane in the final minutes to avoid exceeding the maximum stint time, which dropped the car to sixth.

The No. 32 Team WRT BMW of Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde and Charles Weerts took third after initially losing ground due to a 30-second time penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement in Hour 14.

While leading at halfway, both WRT BMWs were unable to challenge by the end, with the No. 46 car falling two laps behind after Valentino Rossi triggered a three-car accident with less than five hours to go, resulting in front bodywork damage to the MotoGP legends’ entry.

It was compounded by a previous drive-through penalty for contact between Rossi and the No. 51 Ferrari of Rigon early in the running, while also a stop-and-hold plus ten-second infraction for an unsafe release in the final four hours.

Walkenhorst Motorsport’s No. 34 Aston Martin was classified fourth even after a ten-second penalty for contact with the No. 51 Ferrari, ahead of the No. 163 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini.

The pole sitting car finished fifth overall after dropping outside of the top-50 overall early on due to fuel rig issues, prior to a charge back through the order until it fell off the lead lap again due to taking its mandatory five-minute technical pit stop.

The No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW of Hesse, Dan Harper and Augusto Farfus finished in sixth place as a result of the late trip down pit lane.

Seventh was the the Gold Cup-winning No. 777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Al Faisal Al Zubair, Dominik Baumann, Philip Ellis and Mikael Grenier.

Bronze class honors went to the No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Andrey Mukovoz, Aleksei Nesov, Dylan Pereira and Max Hofer following an tenth place finish overall.

GetSpeed claimed double class honors on Sunday, with the Yannick Mettler, James Kell, Anthony Bartone and Aaron Walker-driven No. 3 Mercedes-AMG picking up Silver class honors.

The Pro-Am class win, meanwhile, went to Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS champions CrowdStrike by Riley with George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Nicky Catsburg and Ian James after a race-long battle with the No. 100 Team RJN McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, which dropped out in the late stages with turbo issues.

Porsche’s leading contender, the No. 911 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R, crashed out and rolled in the hands of Joel Sturm in the 17th hour while running second at the time, while the No. 992 HubAuto entry retired early on with suspension failure when Patrick Pilet was at the wheel and the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT entry crashed out.

It was a race to forget for Mercedes-AMG’s Pro class entries, with the German manufacturer’s leading contenders having dropped out with various issues.

The No. 48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lucas Auer, who led the opening hour until a puncture, retired in the 13th hour after getting collected in a multi-car accident after a second puncture dropped Daniel Morad down the running order.

GruppeM Racing’s charge ended with terminal splitter damage after GT3 debutant Frederik Vesti ran into the runoff overnight, while the No. 2 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG lost a wheel and sustained extensive damage with eight hours to go.

Defending race winners, ROWE’s Philip Eng, Nick Yelloly and Marco Wittmann, meanwhile, retired after completing only 71 laps due to sustaining a water pressure issue with their No. 98 BMW.

RESULTS: CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa

John Dagys contributed to this report