No. 7 Aston Martin Retires in Tenth Hour

The No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, the defending winner in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, retired from the 78th running of the race after encountering drivetrain issues in the tenth hour.

Mattia Drudi was at the wheel of the car and running inside the top ten when significant vibrations occurred, with the Italian subsequently bringing the car into the garage.

Team boss Francois Verbist told the official 24H Spa broadcast that a suspected drivetrain problem was the root cause of the issue, with the team making the decision to retire the car.

Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim won the Ardennes endurance classic last year and were in the running to become the first crew since Jean-Philippe and Michel Martin in 1979 and 1980 to take victory in back-to-back editions with an identical driver lineup.

Out front, the No. 17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Luca Stolz returned to the lead of the race after a fuel rig issue led to a slow stop for the No. 163 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, dropping it to seventh overall.

However, Stolz is set to serve a drive-through penalty for a collision with the No. 991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

This is set to promote the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini to the effective lead of the race, as the No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG is still running off-sequence after it short-fueled during an earlier stop.