Rovera Takes Dominant 24H Spa Pole for Ferrari

Alessio Rovera dominated the Superpole shoot-out to take pole for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa for the AF Corse Ferrari squad.

The Italian topped each of the four segments that comprised the new-for-2026 Superpole qualifying format in the No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

His dominance culminated with a 0.428-second advantage over the opposition in the final single-lap session that determined the first four spots on the grid thanks to a 2:18.613.

Tom Fleming in the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was able to split the pair of AF Corse Ferraris by posting a 2:19.041 to grab the Gold Cup pole.

Arthur Leclerc had to make do with third in the No. 50 Ferrari with a 2:19.261 while Jules Gounon in the No. 3 Verstappen Racing 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was a distant fourth after posting a 2:19.735 to be 1.122 seconds adrift of Rovera.

The same driver contested each of the four sessions while they were not allowed to change tires and began the Superpole with 80 litres of fuel.

Casualties from the first ten-minute round that whittled the field down from 32 to 16 cars included all three Pro Cup BMW M4 GT3 EVOs taking part.

Jordan Pepper missed the cut by just over one tenth in 18th place aboard the No. 32 WRT entry.

The two new Lamborghini Temerario GT3s run by the Grasser Racing Team and Rutronik Racing squads also fell at the first hurdle, Mirko Bortolotti and Patric Niederhauser ending up 20th and 32nd respectively in the times.

Aston Martin also failed to progress: Mattia Drudi was 24th in the Comtoyou Vantage GT3 Evo and Christian Krognes 25th for Walkenhorst Motorsport.

Marvin Kirchhoefer just made it into the top 16 in the first segment in the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo right at the end but last year’s polesitter was eliminated from the second stage of the Superpole shoot-out.

He was bumped out by just one hundredth of a second after a late improvement from Frederik Schandorff’s Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and Kirchhoefer will therefore start ninth.

Other notable drivers failing to progress from the second session were the sole HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Arjun Maini, who was 12th and the last remaining Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, the No. 80 Lionspeed GP machine of Ricardo Feller.

Schandorff lost out on a spot in the final session courtesy of improvements from Fleming and Gounon after the chequered flag had fallen at the end of the seven minutes.

Ariel Levi was also pushed down the order at the end, but sixth place gave the No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II Silver Cup pole.

Dennis Marschall claimed seventh in the times in his Kessel Ferrari, which gave him Bronze Cup pole.

The final track action before Saturday’s race is now a 30-minute Warm-up session that is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. CEST on Friday (1:20 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Superpole

Gary Watkins contributed to this report