Lamborghini has secured pole position for the 2024 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. On the 100th anniversary of the Belgian endurance classic, Franck Perera led the #163 GRT-Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 (Perera/Mapelli/Pepper) to first place in Superpole qualifying on Friday afternoon. Lucas Auer in the #48 Winward-Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Auer/Engel/Morad) completed the first row of the grid at the biggest GT3 race in the world.
The 76th edition of the 24h Spa starts on Saturday at 16:30 (free live stream with German commentary on Motorsport-Magazin.com). 66 GT3 racing cars from nine manufacturers will fight for the overall victory and class successes on the famous Formula 1 circuit in the Ardennes.
24h Spa: GRT-Lamborghini on pole position with a lead of 0.036 seconds
Lambo factory driver Perera needed 2:13.718 minutes for his best lap in the 30-minute Superpole qualifying session on the 7.004-kilometer-long course, two-thirds of which has been resurfaced, resulting in faster lap times than last year. This earned the driver from Gottfried Grasser’s Austrian racing team pole position with a lead of just 0.036 seconds over second-placed Winward/Mann-Filter driver Auer from Austria.
Alessio Rovera maneuvered the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 (Rovera/Pier Guidi/Rigon) into third place on the grid with a personal best time of 2:13.968 minutes. Lorenzo Patrese, who had led the classification at the beginning with his #88 Attempto Audi R8 LMS GT3, completed the second row. With Jules Gounon in the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes in fifth place, GT3 cars from five brands took the front starting positions. Vincent Abril in the second AF Corse Ferrari took P6.
Two DTM champions on the fifth row
Behind Gilles Magnus in the #25 Sainteloc Audi, Mathieu Jaminet (#92 SSR-Herberth-Porsche) finished eighth, the best starting position of any of the twelve Porsche 911 GT3 Rs in the starting field. The former DTM champion Maximilian Götz (#9 Boutsen-VDS-Mercedes) and reigning DTM champion Thomas Preining in the #23 Porsche run by Team75 Motorsport completed the top 10.
With Mattia Drudi in the #7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Comtoyou and Marvin Kirchhöfer’s Garage-59 McLaren 720 S GT3, two ‘exotics’ share the sixth starting row. Noteworthy: McLaren works driver Kirchhöfer starts with his teammates in the bronze category and was the only representative of this class to take part in the Superpole session.
Rossi-BMW misses Superpole by a blink of an eye
Some of the favourites missed out on a place in the Superpole session of the 20 fastest cars on Thursday in qualifying, which was interrupted by two red flag phases. These included the #46 WRT-BMW M4 GT3 driven by motorsport superstar Valentino Rossi: The Italian and his teammates Maxime Martin and Raffaele Marciello finished 21st. The BMW trio were only eight hundredths of a second away from P20.
The average lap time of the four qualifying sessions of 15 minutes each was decisive for the rankings of starting positions 21 to 66. Each driver had to drive two timed laps on Thursday. Only teams with four drivers in one vehicle started in Q1. Teams with three drivers only competed in the last three sections (Q2, Q3, Q4). The top 20 advanced to the Superpole to drive for the front ten rows of the grid.
In addition to the Rossi BMW, WRT’s second pro entry also missed the Superpole at the Belgian top team’s home race: Dries Vanthoor/ Sheldon van der Linde/Charles Weerts landed in 23rd place on the grid in the #32 BMW M4 GT3. The two BMW M4 GT3s used by Rowe Racing, however, made it into the top 20, finishing 17th and 19th. BMW is the record holder at the 24 Hours of Spa with 25 wins.
Three of twelve Porsches in Superpole – expectations not met
For Porsche, with its twelve 911 GT3 Rs in the starting field, qualifying did not go as hoped: only three 911s made it into the Superpole. Andlauer/Müller/Niederhauser in the #96 Rutronik Porsche finished 27th, while the #911 PureRxcing Porsche (Alex Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler) managed by Manthey had to settle for P30.
The strong #992 HubAuto 911 (Kevin Estre/Patrick Pilet/Laurens Vanthoor) even finished in 43rd place. “Overall, we achieved a good result, but missed our own goal – three Porsches in the top 20 is below our expectations,” said Porsche project manager Sebastian Golz.
Other Pro line-ups that failed in qualifying: the #99 Audi R8 LMS GT3 from Attempto Racing with Christopher Haase/Akin Aka/ Ricardo Feller on grid position 24, the only Ford Mustang GT3 (Christopher Mies/Frederic Vervisch/Dennis Olsen) in the starting field on P31 and the #130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 from GruppeM Racing (Frederik Vesti/Daniel Juncadella/Ralf Aron), which could not get beyond P52 after a deleted lap time.
24h Spa 2024: Starting grid for the 24-hour race
| Starting point | team | automobile | driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #163 GRT – Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Jordan PEPPER/Franck PERERA/Marco MAPELLI |
| 2 | #48 Mercedes AMG Team MANN-FILTER | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Lucas AUER/Maro ENGEL/Daniel MORAD |
| 3 | #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Alessandro PIER GUIDI/Davide RIGON/Alessio ROVERA |
| 4 | #88 Tresor Attempto Racing | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Lorenzo PATRESE/Lorenzo FERRARI/Leonardo MONCINI/Glenn VAN BERLO |
| 5 | #2 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Jules GOUNON/Fabian SCHILLER/Luca STOLZ |
| 6 | #71 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Thomas NEUBAUER/Vincent ABRIL/David VIDALES |
| 7 | #25 Sainteloc Racing | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Paul EVRARD/Gilles MAGNUS/Jim PLA/Ugo DE WILDE |
| 8th | #92 SSR Herberth | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Mathieu JAMINET/Matt CAMPBELL/Frédéric MAKOWIECKI |
| 9 | #9 Boutsen VDS | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Maximilian GÖTZ/Thomas DROUET/Ulysse DE PAUW |
| 10 | #23 Phantom Global Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Jaxon EVANS/Joel ERIKSSON/Thomas PREINING |
| 11 | #7 Comtoyou Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Mattia DRUDI/Nicki THIIM/Marco SÖRENSEN |
| 12 | #188 Garage59 | McLaren 720S GT3 | Miguel RAMOS/Louis PRETTE/Adam SMALLEY/Marvin KIRCHHÖFER |
| 13 | #77 Main Racing Team | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Arjun MAINI/Jusuf OWEGA/Michele BERETTA |
| 14 | #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | David PITTARD/Henrique CHAVES/Ross GUNN |
| 15 | #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Al Faisal AL ZUBAIR/Dominik BAUMANN/Mikael GRENIER/Philip ELLIS |
| 16 | #22 Schumacher CLRT | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Dorian BOCCOLACCI/Ayhancan GÜVEN/Laurin HEINRICH |
| 17 | #998 Rowe Racing | BMW M4 GT3 | Augusto FARFUS/Dan HARPER/Max HESSE |
| 18 | #98 Rowe Racing | BMW M4 GT3 | Philipp ENG/Marco WITTMANN/Nick YELLOLY |
| 19 | #28 Haas RT | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Dennis LIND/Jan HEYLEN/Simon GACHET |
| 20 | #63 Iron Lynx | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Mirko BORTOLOTTI/Matteo CAIROLI/Andrea CALDARELLI |
| 21 | #46 Team WRT | BMW M4 GT3 | Raffaele MARCIELLO/Maxime MARTIN/Valentino ROSSI |
| 22 | #159 Garage59 | McLaren 720S GT3 | Benjamin GOETHE/Tom GAMBLE/Dean MACDONALD |
| 23 | #32 Team WRT | BMW M4 GT3 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE/Dries VANTHOOR/Charles WEERTS |
| 24 | #99 Tresor Attempto Racing | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Ricardo FELLER/Christopher HAASE/Alex AKA |
| 25 | #111 CSA Racing | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Arthur ROUGIER/Romain CARTON/Adam ETEKI/Steven PALETTE |
| 26 | #60 2Seas Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Isa AL-KHALIFA/Martin KODRIC/Lewis WILLIAMSON/Frank BIRD |
| 27 | #96 Rutronik Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Patric NIEDERHAUSER/Sven MÜLLER/Julien ANDLAUER |
| 28 | #93 Sky Tempesta Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Christopher FROGGATT/Jonathan HUI/Eddie CHEEVER/Lilou WADOUX |
| 29 | #57 Winward Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Tanart SATHIENTHIRAKUL/Colin CARESANI/Daan ARROW |
| 30 | #911 Pure Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Aliaksandr MALYKHIN/Klaus BACHLER/Joel STURM |
| 31 | #64 Proton Competition | Ford Mustang GT3 | Frédéric VERVISCH/Christopher MIES/Dennis OLSEN |
| 32 | #5 Optimum Motorsport | McLaren 720S GT3 | Shaun BALFE/Ruben REAL DEL SARTE/Ben BARNICOAT/Sam NEARY |
| 33 | #66 Tresor Attempto Racing | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Andrey MUKOVOZ/Max HOFER/Dylan PEREIRA/Aleksei NESOV |
| 34 | #10 Boutsen VDS | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Aurelien PANIS/Cesar GAZEAU/Roee MEYUHAS/Sébastien BAUD |
| 35 | #78 Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Till BECHTOLSHEIMER/Antoine DOQUIN/Sandy MITCHELL/Ricky COLLARD |
| 36 | #52 AF Corse | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Louis MACHIELS/Jef MACHIELS/Andrea BERTOLINI/Tommaso MOSCA |
| 37 | #26 Sainteloc Racing | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Ivan KLYMENKO/Alban VARUTTI/Gilles STADSBADER/Marcus PAVERUD |
| 38 | #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Romain LEROUX/Lorcan HANAFIN/Maxime ROBIN |
| 39 | #21 Comtoyou Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Charles CLARK/Sam DEJONGHE/Matisse LISMONT/Xavier MAASSEN |
| 40 | #27 Optimum Motorsport | McLaren 720S GT3 | Mark RADCLIFFE/Ollie MILLROY/Rob BELL/Fran RUEDA |
| 41 | #333 Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Christian HOOK/Felipe FERNANDEZ LASER/David PEREL/Fabrizio CRESTANI |
| 42 | #54 Dynamic GT | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Philipp SAGER/Marvin DIENST/Guilherme MOURA DE OLIVEIRA/Christopher ZÖCHLING |
| 43 | #992 HubAuto Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Kevin ESTRE/Patrick PILET/Laurens VANTHOOR |
| 44 | #90 Madpanda Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Ezequiel PEREZ COMPANC/Patrick ASSENHEIMER/Karol BASZ/TBA |
| 45 | #8 Kessel Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Nicolò ROSI/Niccolò SCHIRÒ/David FUMANELLI/Daniele DI AMATO |
| 46 | #30 OQ by Oman Racing | BMW M4 GT3 | Ahmad AL HARTHY/Sam DE HAAN/Jens KLINGMANN/Calan WILLIAMS |
| 47 | #80 Lionspeed X Herberth | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Antares AU/Alessio PICARIELLO/Alexander FACH/Martin RUMP |
| 48 | #991 Century Motorsport | BMW M4 GT3 | Darren LEUNG/Pedro EBRAHIM/Toby SOWERY/Connor DE PHILLIPPI |
| 49 | #3 GetSpeed | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Anthony BARTONE/James KELL/Yannick METTLER/Aaron WALKER |
| 50 | #19 GRT – Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Mateo LLARENA/Hugo COOK/Haytham QARAJOULI/Baptiste MOULIN |
| 51 | #12 Comtoyou Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Nicolas BAERT/Esteban MUTH/Sebastian ÖGAARD/Erwan BASTARD |
| 52 | #130 Mercedes-AMG Team GroupM Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Daniel JUNCADELLA/Frederik VESTI/Ralf ARON |
| 53 | #16 Uno Racing Team with Landgraf | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | RIO/David PUN/Kevin TSE/Indy DONTJE |
| 54 | #11 Comtoyou Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | John DE WILDE/Kobe PAUWELS/Job VAN UITERT/Dante RAPPANGE |
| 55 | #888 Triple Eight JMR | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Alexander SIMS/Prince Jefri IBRAHIM/Jordan LOVE/Martin KONRAD |
| 56 | #100 Team RJN | McLaren 720S GT3 | Alex BUNCOMBE/Josh CAYGILL/Chris BUNCOMBE/Jann MARDENBOROUGH |
| 57 | #72 Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Gabriel RINDONE/Casper STEVENSON/Patrick KUJALA/Mattia MICHELOTTO |
| 58 | #36 Walkenhorst Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Tim CRESWICK/Mex JANSEN/Ben GREEN/Bijoy GARG |
| 59 | #55 Dynamic GT | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Theo NOUET/Jop RAPPANGE/Marius NAKKEN/Axel BLOM |
| 60 | #4 CrowdStrikeByRiley | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | George KURTZ/Colin BRAUN/Ian JAMES/Nicky CATSBURG |
| 61 | #74 Kessel Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3 | John HARTSHORNE/Ben TUCK/Phil KEEN/Chandler HULL |
| 62 | #91 Herberth Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Ralf BOHN/Robert RENAUER/Morris SCHURING/Alfred RENAUER |
| 63 | #158 Garage59 | McLaren 720S GT3 | Mark SANSOM/Christopher SALKELD/Nicolai KJAERGAARD/James BALDWIN |
| 64 | #38 Haas RT | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Olivier BERTELS/Brad SCHUMACHER/Armand FUMAL/TBA |
| 65 | #61 EBM | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Adrian D’SILVA/Kerong LI/Brendon LEITCH/Earl BAMBER |
| 66 | #97 Rutronik Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Dustin BLATTNER/Dennis MARSCHALL/Loek HARTOG/Zacharie ROBICHON |