Ratel: 24H Spa Interest Exceeded Record-Equaling 72 Cars

Interest in this year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa exceeded the 72 cars that made it onto the entry list, according to SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel.

As announced last month, the 75th edition of the Belgian endurance classic in July will have a record-equaling number of entries and the event’s largest GT3 field to date.

Ratel explained that SRO advised some teams not to enter the race knowing that it would achieve a capacity grid.

“We discouraged people,” he told Sportscar365. “We knew where we were. We made a pre-selection of the teams. Initially, we thought, we wanted to limit it at 70.

“We did a bit of over-booking, thinking that usually out of this big number if you look at previous years [some entries drop out].

“As Patricia [Kiefer, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS chief operating officer] and Laurent [Gaudin, 24H Spa general manager] told me, we have to be careful because we have less races before Spa. It’s earlier in the year.”

The Spa entry includes almost 60 cars that are racing in the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup, as well as several Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli teams.

Ratel suggested that paddock space is the main limiting factor at Spa, where four other series and the non-competitive GT1 Sports Club are on this year’s support bill.

“On track, we could put 100 cars,” he said. “But the problem is that we have so many cars in GT4, Lambo Super Trofeo, everywhere. Every square meter has value there.

“Normally we said 70. And we told teams that were contacting us with an interest to come to Spa. We said, really sincerely, we are going to be full. So it won’t work.”

Despite the demand outweighing available grid spaces, SRO did not want to create a reserve list of cars that would join the 24H Spa field if an entry withdrew.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has used a reserve list for several years, while the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship implemented one for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“No, we didn’t want to do that,” said Ratel.

“It’s easier to tell a team that has interest to put an extra car, there is no chance. There is no point wasting your time because we won’t have space.

“We did this little over-booking, thinking that we would have one or two cars dropping and we would be able to manage.

“At Spa, it’s really a question of garages and the number of three-car teams you have. You can’t put four cars in two garages. You can easily put three cars in two garages.”

Due to its large field, the 24 Hours of Spa utilizes the circuit’s Formula 1 and endurance pit lanes, which are located along the straights on either side of La Source corner.

“What we want is that the customers are happy,” Ratel said. “The ones you put in the endurance garages, they want space.

“Once upon a time, we were running GT1 Maseratis, and I remember only Vitaphone had three garages for two cars. We forget that.

“But we were there with GT1 before they built the F1 paddock, or we didn’t use it. I don’t remember. But each of these little [endurance pit] garages had one car.

“Nobody was complaining, apart from Michael Bartels who had an extra one… but that’s the way it was for many years.

“Now it’s more difficult. They need more space. When the F1 garages are full, we can only do it in the endurance [pit lane] and [try] not to upset our clients.”

John Dagys contributed to this report