Lionspeed Porsche Wins 24H Spa After Pit Lane Start

Lionspeed GP drivers Thomas Preining, Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus gave Porsche its first CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa victory since 2020 after triumphing despite starting from the pit lane.

The No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo faced the compromised start because of an engine change and yet it avoided trouble to progressively rise up the order to achieve the team’s second GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS victory after winning in the Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch last month.

The success marked Porsche’s ninth win in the Belgian endurance classic, pulling it further clear of Alfa Romeo in second in the all-time list of manufacturer victories.

The Lionspeed crew ultimately finished 12.288 seconds ahead of the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Luca Stolz, Lucas Auer and Maro Engel to end the latter’s unbeaten streak in this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge.

The Mercedes-AMG narrowly held off the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Alessio Rovera, Nicklas Nielsen and Tommaso Mosca that endured a race full of ups and downs.

The chaotic first four hours of the contest were dominated by the Ferrari that had started from pole, until it then suffered a puncture with Nicklas Nielsen at the wheel.

This became apparent just as he exited the Bus Stop chicane and Nielsen therefore had to complete an entire lap before getting back to the pits and the car consequently fell to 45th having lost over a lap.

The Ferrari’s strife presented the Winward Mercedes-AMG crew with the chance to take the lead and they continued to hold the advantage amid multiple cautions during the night, despite the car never appearing to hold the pace advantage in either the searing heat or cooler night-time conditions.

These repeated stoppages provided the remarkable chance for the No. 51 Ferrari to gradually work its way back into contention.

After a lengthy caution around the mid-point of the race, it had risen to sixth and Rovera continued to charge in the 14th hour, rising to third spot.

He returned the car to the lead in the following hour when he jumped both the Winward machine and the No. 46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which had been another to profit from the cautions, during the stops.

But the next car on a charge was the Lionspeed Porsche when Preining climbed aboard in the 15th hour as he set a series of rapid laps to begin rising up the order from fourth.

Preining’s progress was completed shortly after two-third’s distance when he grabbed the lead from the Ferrari at the Bus Stop.

However, an unfortunately-timed full-course yellow that arrived shortly after Preining had handed over to Buus enabled the Mercedes-AMG to regain the advantage, while the Ferrari had to return to the pits with a slow puncture.

With six hours to go, the top-four ran line astern with the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo joining the fray and it appeared a matter of time until they would come to blows.

Sure enough Mosca aboard the Ferrari clashed with the Mercedes-AMG when attempting a bold move at Les Combes in the 19th hour and this resulted in yet another puncture, although the No. 51 machine still did not drop out of contention.

With Preining back aboard the Lionspeed Porsche he was able to get the undercut in the next round of stops to reclaim a lead the car was able to maintain to the flag as he and Feller pulled clear.

Instead the Mercedes-AMG was acting as a cork in the bottle as various cars attempted to dislodge it from second, albeit to no avail.

The latest Ferrari fightback earned Nielsen a five-second penalty for a robust move at Les Combes on Dorian Boccolacci at the wheel of the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche, but still it was on a charge in the closing stages.

Rovera made another bold Les Combes overtake as the final hour was about to begin but he was then unable to do anything about Stolz up ahead, finishing third and just 0.650 seconds adrift.

The No. 22 Porsche of Ayhancan Guven, Matt Campbell and late call-up Fred Makowiecki ended up fourth despite Guven being penalized for a clumsy move on the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche of Morris Schuring at La Source.

The latter car picked up front damage from the contact and lost 40 seconds in the pits with repairs that confined it to eighth.

Instead the top-five was rounded out by the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc, Sean Gelael and Lilou Wadoux that was no match to the sister car and was tipped into the barriers at No Name corner in the third hour.

Sixth went to the best of the BMWs, the No. 46 WRT machine that had been unable to maintain its strong position from the early stages of the race, while the sister No. 32 machine was on course for eighth having picked up damage from a collision on the opening racing lap until it stopped in final minute.

Another car involved in that early pileup was the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin GT3 Evo, which had been speared into the air at Pouhon by the Monza-winning No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Ariel Levi, and picked up a puncture.

Despite vibrations being reported, it remarkably recovered and consistently ran towards the front to finish seventh, while the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW was ninth after myriad misfortunes.

Key Contenders Suffer Various Woes

A whole host of lead contenders fell by the wayside during an attritional race, including both Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evos that had run within the top-four at various points.

First to falter was the No. 59 Pro Cup machine with suspension woes, while the No. 58 car that was looking good for Gold honors — and had the lead at the mid-point — struck the No. 22 Porsche shortly after mid-distance and lost 28 laps in the pits for repairs.

The No. 64 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3 EVO was another car to work its way into podium contention during the middle phases of the race before stopping with gearbox woes.

The No. 7  Comtoyou Aston Martin was also beginning to figure towards the front when Nicki Thiim lost control at Raidillon, striking the barriers and having to retire with suspension damage.

It was also a disappointing event for the No. 17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG that had topped first qualifying but started from the back after losing its times for changing its brakes during that session.

Come the race, it struck the similar No. 177 Grupo Prom machine at the Bus Stop chicane in the fourth hour, the damage from which forced both cars onto the sidelines.

While Ferrari missed out on the overall prize, it did enjoy class success in two of the divisions.

The No. 74 Kessel Prancing Horse of Mathys Jaubert, Ben Tuck, Dennis Marschall and Dustin Blattner was tenth in the outright classification and led the Bronze Cup pack for much of the race.

Its win was assured when the No. 991 Paradine Competition BMW suffered a puncture with just over an hour to go.

The No. 45 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Alessandro Balzan, David Perel, Rafael Duran and Dylan Medler triumphed in the Silver Cup by just 11.5 seconds after the No. 5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren tangled with the No. 65 HRT Mustang at the Bus Stop and then picked up a penalty for its technical pit stop being fractionally too short.

There was a far larger winning margin among the Gold ranks as the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW of Ugo De Wilde, Tim Tramnitz and Jens Klingmann finished six laps ahead of its rivals in 11th overall.

The Pro-Am Cup class featured a similarly dominant victor as the No. 0 JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R ended up three tours ahead of the rest.

RESULTS: CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa