Blancpain GT Series – Spa 24 Hours – main race

The epic 24 hours Spa race was the highlight of this year’s Blancpain Endurance series season. The massive 57-car event featured 24 hours of top-notch racing on one of the world’s best and the most dangerous tracks between 200 best GT3 and endurance drivers in the world.

Undoubtedly, the race is a spectacle for any motorsport fan and pinnacle of Blancpain GT series. An event of this size occupied Spa track throughout the week with the Bronze Test starting as early as Tuesday. There were some weather changes from high temperatures to heavy rains but everything went as planned. The main race started Saturday afternoon and finished 24 hours later, in what turned out to be a very interesting race with a few memorable moments.

The start of the race was under heavy rain which caused quite a problem for all drivers on the grid. Since the essence of the endurance racing is a long term strategy there were no accidents on the start, however, the slippery conditions did caused few spins.

Frank Stippler in the Audi Sport Team WRT immediately lost out to the pair of Von Ryan McLarens 650S. Soon, Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 started leading the race but when the night fell on famous Spa circuit, Mercedes went to the pits for a long time and BMW Z4 GT3 from BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS took the lead.

The two BMW’s from BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS were leaders of the race for a long time until engine problems caused one car to fall back. However, other BMW Z4 GT3 driven by Markus Paltalla and  Lucas Luhr had managed to pass Audi R8 LMS Ultra from Audi Sport Team WRT in battle for top spot.

After that it was just a matter of tempo and luck and BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS  had both. After 24 hours they had won 24 Hours of Spa event in their sixth year there in very emotional and memorable moment for both BMW and Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS. For full results, click HERE:

photo: blancpain-gt-series.com