The Spa 24 Hours celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2024, with a whopping 67 cars set to tackle the world-famous event renowned as one of the toughest in motorsport.
BMW squad Rowe Racing arrive as the defending event winners, after its M4 GT3 of Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly claimed victory by 11.1 seconds in 2023 ahead of the ASP team's Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Rowe also took victory in the first GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup event of the year at Paul Ricard courtesy of Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper and Max Hesse in April.
But given the size of the grid and how long the race is, a back-to-back win at the event which forms part of both the Intercontinental GT Challenge and GTWCE Endurance is especially rare. The last time it occurred was in 2006, five years before the current GT3 era began.
It really is too close to call and the scene is set to be another thriller at Spa-Francorchamps. Here is how and when to watch the action.
Can Eng, Wittmann and Yelloly repeat their 2023 success for ROWE?
Photo by: BMW AG
The 2024 Spa 24 Hours starts on Saturday 29 June at 3:30pm in the United Kingdom and 4:30pm local time. It is then scheduled to finish at 3:30pm BST and 4:30pm local on Sunday 30 June to cap off four consecutive days of track action in Belgium.
It begins with free practice on Thursday 27 June, where drivers will start a 90-minute session at 10:20am BST (11:20am local time) before pre-qualifying that afternoon. Pre-qualifying is effectively another free practice, this time lasting for 60 minutes, however the results from this session will determine Saturday’s grid if qualifying for any reason cannot happen.
Thursday is set to be very busy, as pre-qualifying is just the second of four sessions happening that day. What follows is qualifying, due to start at 7:35pm BST (8:35pm local time) which will consist of four 15-minute sessions where one driver from each car will contest a different part. Three-driver crews skip Q1.
The average lap time across the sessions establishes the order, with qualifying determining who starts from 21st downwards as the top 20 fastest cars progress to Friday's Super Pole Shootout.
Before then, however, is a 90-minute practice session at 9:25pm BST (10:25pm local) on Thursday which gives teams the chance to test their cars at night, often the most challenging part of the race given the reduced visibility and drop in temperature.
Friday is all about Super Pole. A 30-minute session beginning at 2:45pm BST (3:45pm) entails each team nominating a driver to set two flying laps, with the best time being recorded. This will determine the top 20 grid spots, while there is also a 30-minute warm-up session at 7:10pm BST (8:10pm local) on Friday evening before the race starts the following day.
#51 AF Corse - Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3: Alessio Rovera, Robert Shwartzman, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
Here are the full timings for this week’s Spa 24 Hours:
The Spa 24 Hours is available to watch via Motorsport.tv, which will live stream qualifying, Super Pole, the race warm-up and the main event which means the practice sessions are not being broadcast. On Saturday, there will also be a one-hour build-up to the race while shortly after the 24-hour contest has finished, Motorsport.tv will upload highlights of the action.
Motorsport.tv's coverage is available worldwide - except for in Japan - and this year’s Spa 24 Hours can be watched via the platform for free.
Race action
Photo by: AG Photo
Here are the different links for each session that is available via Motorsport.tv:
Qualifying: https://motorsport.tv/gt-world/video/round-4-24-hours-of-spa-qualifying/192376
Super Pole Shootout: https://motorsport.tv/gt-world/video/round-4-24-hours-of-spa-super-pole-shootout/192377
Warm-up: https://motorsport.tv/gt-world/video/round-4-24-hours-of-spa-warmup/192375
Spa 24 Hours: https://motorsport.tv/gt-world/video/round-4-24-hours-of-spa-race/192378
The Spa 24 Hours is split across five categories: Pro, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Pro-Am. Eligibility is determined by the FIA grading system.
The Pro category, the highest-ranked class, has no restrictions on driver grading. But in the Gold class, a maximum of three gold-rated drivers must pair up with one silver; while the Silver class may comprise entirely of drivers with that grading.
A maximum line-up of platinum-silver-silver-bronze is permitted in the Bronze Cup, while in the Pro-Am category, teams must field a driver line-up that consists of no more than two platinum and two bronze drivers.
#17 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Luca Engstler, Kelvin Van Der Linde, Nicki Thiim
Photo by: SRO
For this year’s Spa 24 Hours, nine manufacturers will be represented. Mercedes has the most cars entered with 14, ahead of Porsche on 12, Audi with eight and seven for Ferrari. Aston Martin, BMW, Lamborghini and McLaren all have six cars competing, while there is just one Ford Mustang GT3.
Source: Autosport