Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa within 16 days!

Three 24-hour races within just 16 days: June 2025 will be a completely crazy month in the motorsport calendar. The 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 14-15), the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (June 21-22) and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (June 28-29) will take place every week next year.

Such a constellation has never existed in the history of racing. Numerous manufacturers and teams are already worried about the brutal 24-hour marathon. The German brands BMW and Porsche are represented at all three major events and have to look at how they want to properly support their customer teams with personnel, which drivers will be assigned and how the logistics for hospitality and co. will work.

24h madness: Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa within 16 days

The dates for the 24h Nürburgring have been set for several years up to and including 2028 in order to offer long-term planning security to all those involved. The Le Mans and WEC organizer ACO fundamentally does not want to deviate from its mid-June date for the 24-hour race and has recently shown little willingness to compromise: This year, the ADAC Nordrhein gave in and postponed the Nürburgring race by three weeks in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with the WEC race in Spa and Formula E in Berlin.

As if two 24-hour races within nine days were not enough, the SRO went one step further last weekend and announced that the 24 Hours of Spa would be scheduled just one week after the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

If this continues, the numerous teams involved in GT3 sport, their staff and drivers will face extremely challenging days: after the race ends on Sunday afternoon at the Nürburgring, the first practice session will take place just four days later on Thursday in the nearby Spa. An ordeal for the employees, who get little sleep anyway. It is also unclear how many spectators in the border region would be willing to attend both races within a few days.

Formula 1 puts 24h Spa in trouble

SRO boss Stephane Ratel is well aware of the problem, not least because the 24h Nürburgring, like Spa, has been part of the International GT Challenge (IGTC) since this year. There have reportedly been discussions, but a solution does not appear to be in sight. Ratel’s problem is also Formula 1: The Belgian Grand Prix has been scheduled for July 25-27, 2025, 26 days after the 24-hour race at the same venue. Formula 1 has an exclusive right of use of three weeks before the respective Grand Prix to set everything up and prepare the track.

“My hands are tied because Formula 1 starts four weeks later in Spa,” GT3 pope Ratel told Motorsport aktuell. “We therefore have to clear the paddock by Monday this year, there is no room for leeway. I would also like to hold the race on the same weekend in June, like Le Mans.”

Ratel proposal: postpone the Nürburgring 24-hour race

Ratel saw a possible solution in rescheduling the Nürburgring 24-hour race – although the dates have long been known and always fall on long holiday weekends (2025 on Corpus Christi) in order to do justice to the popular camping character of the race. “This race takes place on a different date every year, it is the only free race that has the flexibility to postpone,” said the SRO founder, whose organization has long had a close relationship with the ADAC.

That’s easier said than done: A subsequent postponement of the 24h Nürburgring would affect the planning of other events and racing series. And if it is brought forward – for example to the Ascension weekend at the end of May – we can already hear the weather critics complaining…

“No organizer has an interest in such a concentration”

“We are in regular contact with our colleagues at SRO and in Le Mans,” said a 24h Nürburgring spokesman when asked by Motorsport-Magazin.com“None of the organizers have an interest in such a concentration of 24-hour races. Nevertheless, everyone has their own external constraints, which can only be partially influenced. For example, we have to coordinate with the track operator at the Nürburgring, especially because of possible clashes with the major event Rock am Ring.”

And he continued: “At the same time, for our fans who camp around the Nordschleife for days, taking advantage of public holidays is an important part of their planning. We know this from surveys that we conduct every year. That’s why we announced our dates up to 2028 years ago to give others the opportunity to prepare for them.”

24h June this year: Many races, but enough distance

This year, June was also dominated by the 24-hour races, but there were breaks between the events for manufacturers, teams and drivers. The first event was the Nürburgring on June 1st and 2nd, followed two weekends later by Le Mans (June 16th and 17th) and then another weekend later by Spa (June 29th and 30th). It is important to note that free practice and qualifying sessions are scheduled in the days before a race, which means that there is even less time for preparation and set-up work.

In the sprawling GT3 landscape, the effort is becoming ever more enormous: Some teams like Manthey-Porsche and drivers such as Marco Wittmann, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Klaus Bachler, Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus, Christopher Mies, Maxime Martin, Daniel Juncadella, Dennis Olsen, Julien Andlauer and Sheldon van der Linde actually competed at the Nürburgring, Le Mans and Spa-Francorchamps.