 | |
 | |
| GT World Challenge Endurance Intercontinental GT Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps |
| Corporatesponsor | CrowdStrike |
| First race | 1924 |
| Duration | 24 Hours |
| Most wins (driver) | Eric van de Poele (5) |
| Most wins (manufacturer) | BMW (25) |
The24 Hours of Spa is anendurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps,Stavelot,Belgium. It is currently sponsored byCrowdStrike.
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the inaugural24 Hours of Le Mans was run. It debuted in 1924 over a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) circuit on public roads between the towns ofFrancorchamps,Malmedy and Stavelot, under the auspices of theRoyal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB). The present 7.004 kilometres (4.352 mi) circuit was inaugurated in 1979 with only slight variations since then.
The Spa 24 Hours was part of theEuropean Touring Car Championship from 1966 to 1973, again in 1976 and from 1982 to 1988 (with the exception of1987 when it was part of theinauguralWorld Touring Car Championship). The event also counted towards theWorld Sportscar Championship in1953 and theWorld Endurance Championship in1981. As on theNürburgring, both a 24h and a 1000 km race is held at Spa, as the1000 km Spa forsports car racing were introduced in 1966.
Cars entered have spanned from the RussianMoskvitch and models with sub-1 liter engines such as theNSU Prinz TT to the luxurious V8-poweredMercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3. Tuned byMercedes-AMG, the 6834 cc and 420 hp (313 kW) so-called"Red pig" finished as high as second in 1971.
During the 1975 race, Dutch driver Wim Boshuis and a track marshal were killed in two separate incidents. Boshuis was killed when his vehicle collided with other cars on the track, while the track marshal was killed 30 minutes later when Belgian driverAlain Peltier collided with a railing.[1]
With the participation ofSwissLilian Bryner on the victoriousFerrari 550 of theBMS Scuderia Italia team, the 2004 race marked the first time in history that a female driver was part of the winning team of a 24-hour endurance race in aGran Turismo with more than 500 hp (370 kW).
The current version of the Spa 24 Hours is an event under the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar, although it was previously run as part of theFIA GT Championship featuring GT1 and GT2 machinery, and by various touring car series. Currently, the cars run fall under the FIAGT3 and GT3 Cup classifications. It has also been a round of theSRO Group'sIntercontinental GT Challenge since its inaugural season in 2016.
2020 saw the race heldbehind closed doors for the first time due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2022, the2023 Belgian Grand PrixFormula One race was scheduled to be held on July 28–30, which clashed with the traditional date of the Spa 24 Hours, so the latter was forced to be rescheduled to early July.
The best manufacturer wins theCoupe du Roi (King's Cup), which is not necessarily the race winners. The cup is won by the manufacturer with the most points, accrued by cars that are made by the same manufacturer.[2] For example, Australian car manufacturerHolden won the Coupe du Roi in 1986 despite theircars finishing the race in 18th, 22nd and 23rd positions outright.[3]
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| Wins | Driver | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 5 |  Eric van de Poele | 1987, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2008 |
| 4 | Jean-Michel Martin | 1979, 1980, 1987, 1992 |
| Thierry Tassin | 1983, 1986, 1994, 1996 | |
| 3 |  Attilio Marinoni | 1928, 1929, 1930 |
 Hans Heyer | 1982, 1983, 1984 | |
 Dieter Quester | 1973, 1986, 1988 | |
 Roberto Ravaglia | 1985, 1988, 1994 | |
| Marc Duez | 1997, 1998, 2001 | |
| Michael Bartels | 2005, 2006, 2008 | |
| Philipp Eng | 2016, 2018, 2023 | |
| 2 | Francesco Severi | 1936, 1938 |
 Luigi Chinetti | 1933, 1949 | |
| Helmut Kelleners | 1968, 1970 | |
| Jean Xhenceval | 1974, 1975 | |
| Philippe Martin | 1979, 1980 | |
| Eddy Joosen | 1977, 1982 | |
| Armin Hahne | 1982, 1983 | |
 Tom Walkinshaw | 1981, 1984 | |
| Altfrid Heger | 1986, 1988 | |
| Win Percy | 1984, 1989 | |
| Steve Soper | 1992, 1995 | |
| Alexander Burgstaller | 1994, 1996 | |
| Frédéric Bouvy | 1999, 2000 | |
 Christophe Bouchut | 2001, 2002 | |
| Fabrizio Gollin | 2004, 2007 | |
| Andrea Bertolini | 2006, 2008 | |
| Kurt Mollekens | 2000, 2009 | |
 Mike Hezemans | 2007, 2009 | |
| Romain Dumas | 2003, 2010 | |
| Timo Scheider | 2005, 2011 | |
| Bernd Schneider | 1989, 2013 | |
| René Rast | 2012, 2014 | |
| Markus Winkelhock | 2014, 2017 | |
| Laurens Vanthoor | 2014, 2020 | |
| Jules Gounon | 2017, 2022 |
| Wins | Manufacturer | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | BMW | 1965, 1966, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2023 |
| 8 | Porsche | 1967, 1968, 1969, 1993, 2003, 2010, 2019, 2020 |
| 7 | Alfa Romeo | 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1938 |
| 6 |  Ford | 1971, 1972, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1989 |
| 4 | Audi | 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017 |
| Ferrari | 1949, 1953, 2004, 2021 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 1931, 1964, 2013, 2022 | |
| 3 | Peugeot | 1926, 1999, 2000 |
| Maserati | 2005, 2006, 2008 | |
| 2 | Chrysler | 2001, 2002 |
| Chevrolet | 2007, 2009 | |
| Aston Martin | 1948, 2024 | |
| 1 | Lamborghini | 2025 |
 Nissan | 1991 | |
| Jaguar | 1984 | |
| Mazda | 1981 | |
| Bugatti | 1934 | |
| Excelsior | 1927 | |
| Chenard-Walcker | 1925 | |
| Bignan | 1924 |
