Drudi Leads 24H Spa After Four Hours

Mattia Drudi led the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa after four hours of racing were complete, with the race under safety car for a multi-car incident at Eau Rouge amidst an increasing threat of rain.

The No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo led the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Raffaele Marciello and the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Thomas Drouet.

The Italian vaulted to the front when he performed a short stop during the race’s fifth Full Course Yellow, which was triggered when the No. 78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 became stranded in the gravel at Fagnes.

That intervention followed not long after a previous FCY, caused for multiple simultaneous incidents, one of which notably involved the No. 22 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Mathieu Jaminet became stranded in the gravel after likely contact with the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Meanwhile, the No. 158 Garage McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, No. 26 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, No. 16 Uno Racing Team with Landgraf and No. 38 HAAS RT Audi tangled exiting Fagnes.

Towards the end of the fourth hour, a big three-car incident approaching Eau Rouge resulted in the No. 333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 catching fire.

Bronze-rated driver Christian Hook made contact with the No. 12 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Nicolas Baert, which resulted in the Ferrari becoming stranded across the track.

Hook was then rear-ended at high speed by the No. 61 Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche of Adrian D’Silva, which resulted in the Ferrari bursting into flames.

Series officials have since confirmed that all three drivers were unharmed in the incident.

Behind the top three, Charles Weerts ran fourth aboard the No. 32 Team WRT BMW, with Daan Arrow fifth and leading Silver Cup for Winward Racing.

Alessio Rovera, who was leading, dropped to sixth in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari, abead of Jules Gounon, Al Faisal Al Zubair, Frederik Vesti and Ross Gunn.