Eng Leads Bortolotti at Halfway Mark in 24H Spa

Photo: BMW

Philipp Eng led Mirko Bortolotti at the halfway mark in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, following a well-timed Full Course Yellow that put the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO out front of the race.

Eng held a narrow two-second lead over Bortolotti’s No. 63 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, with the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Arthur Leclerc third with 12 hours completed in the Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup enduro.

The pole-sitting No. 59 Garage 59 Mclaren 720S GT3 Evo of Joseph Loake ran fourth, with Alessio Rovera completing the overall top-five in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari.

After previously leading the race, the No. 17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG of Fabian Schiller retired after contact with the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Alberto Di Folco on-track in the 11th hour.

It resulted in the race’s eighth FCY, which benefitted the No. 998 ROWE BMW of Max Hesse, who was in the pits when the neutralization came out, and took over the lead as a result.

The field took the green with 13 hours and 34 minutes remaining, following the sixth safety car period, and has remained green since.

The No. 163 VSR Lamborghini, which previously lost time after a fuel rig issue, came in for what was initially its mechanical pit stop in the 12th hour, but had a delayed stop due to a power steering issue after contact with another car, dropping it a further three laps behind.

Up front in the Gold Cup class at the race’s midpoint was the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren of Frederik Schandorff, while the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R of Riccardo Pera was leading Bronze Cup.

The No. 35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Romain Leroux paced Silver Cup, with Pro-Am led by the No. 100 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse-Clot.

Of note, the Gold Cup No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG has been retired to due accident damage, leaving 58 runners still in the race.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John