Leclerc “Completely Ready” for 24H Spa Debut

Arthur Leclerc feels “completely ready” to tackle his first CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with Ferrari, embarking on another major endurance race after competing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona earlier this year.

The Monegasque racer, younger brother of Ferrari Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc, is set for his first outing in the Ardennes endurance classic as part of the lineup for the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 alongside Eliseo Donno and Antonio Fuoco.

Since leaving the FIA Formula 2 Championship at the end of 2023, Leclerc has almost entirely switched his focus to sports car racing aside from role as development driver for the Prancing Horse’s F1 operation.

Last year, he competed in the European Le Mans Series with Panis Racing and drove in the Italian GT Championship and is now in the midst of a full GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS campaign with AF Corse.

Earlier this year, the 24-year-old made his 24-hour race debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with Leclerc saying that the experience he has gained in the various GT3 championships thus far has put him in good shape for his first start in the 24H Spa.

“Obviously I’ve done a season of Italian GT [and] I’ve done 24 Hours of Daytona as well,” said Leclerc.

“So I think I’m ready, that’s for sure. Of course, I think there will be plenty to learn from Spa because it’s the first time I’m doing 24 Hours of Spa.

“During qualifying it was quite strange to drive by night. You lose a lot of your references. In the end we did a really good job to qualify for the Superpole.

“So it’s quite different, there are plenty of things to learn, but I feel completely ready.”

Although Leclerc gained experience of night racing at Daytona in January, he noted that racing in darkness at Spa provided new challenges as the Ardennes circuit is less well-lit in comparison.

“The thing is that when you’re braking, because you turn so late, obviously you have the headlights that are looking forward, so you can’t see the apex,” he said.

“In normal conditions you always see the apex and you aim for the apex, where in the night [Thursday] that was not the case.

“So you need to have a good vision in your head about where the track is and I think the experience is making a small difference by night. 

“But then after we had the practice by night and in the end it was all good, there was no struggle and I already adapted to this aspect.”

Another difference between the 24H Spa and the Rolex 24 is that although the car count is higher, the Spa contest only features GT3 cars and therefore prototype traffic won’t be a problem.

“It’s tough but in the end, you have only GT3, so that’s the good thing, let’s say,” he said.

“You don’t have to check in your mirrors to see if there is a prototype coming. Hopefully we will only have to look forward.

“I think it will be a race with risk management because it’s 24 hours. We don’t want to damage the car, we don’t want to make mistakes.

“I think that’s the biggest thing that can happen in a 24-hour race to just let yourself go with these small mistakes, pit stops.

“So for me, the target is really to do everything perfect on that side to not do mistakes,to not take an unconsidered risk. But at the same time to be at the limit and to extract the maximum from the car.”