The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike.
 | |
 | |
| GT World Challenge Endurance Intercontinental GT Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps |
| Corporate sponsor | CrowdStrike |
| First race | 1924 |
| Duration | 24 Hours |
| Most wins (driver) | Eric van de Poele (5) |
| Most wins (manufacturer) | BMW (25) |
History
edit
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans was run. It debuted in 1924 over a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) circuit on public roads between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot, under the auspices of the Royal 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 the European Touring Car Championship from 1966 to 1973, again in 1976 and from 1982 to 1988 (with the exception of 1987 when it was part of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship). The event also counted towards the World Sportscar Championship in 1953 and the World Endurance Championship in 1981. As on the Nürburgring, both a 24h and a 1000 km race is held at Spa, as the 1000 km Spa for sports car racing were introduced in 1966.
Cars entered have spanned from the Russian Moskvitch and models with sub-1 liter engines such as the NSU Prinz TT to the luxurious V8-powered Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3. Tuned by Mercedes-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 driver Alain Peltier collided with a railing.[1]
With the participation of Swiss Lilian Bryner on the victorious Ferrari 550 of the BMS 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 a Gran 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 the FIA GT Championship featuring GT1 and GT2 machinery, and by various touring car series. Currently, the cars run fall under the FIA GT3 and GT3 Cup classifications. It has also been a round of the SRO Group's Intercontinental GT Challenge since its inaugural season in 2016.
2020 saw the race held behind closed doors for the first time.
The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, which is part of the 2023 F1 calendar released by the FIA on 21 September 2022, was scheduled on the race weekend of 28 July to 30 July and clashed with the Spa 24 Hours. This forced the Spa 24 Hours in 2023 to reschedule from its traditional late July race weekend to the race weekend between 29 June to 2 July.
Coupe du Roi
editThe best manufacturer wins the Coupe 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 manufacturer Holden won the Coupe du Roi in 1986 despite their cars finishing the race in 18th, 22nd and 23rd positions outright.[3]
List of winners
edit
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Statistics
editBy driver
edit| 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 |
By manufacturer
edit| 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 |  Nissan
|
1991 |
| Jaguar
|
1984 | |
| Mazda
|
1981 | |
| Bugatti
|
1934 | |
| Excelsior
|
1927 | |
| Chenard-Walcker
|
1925 | |
| Bignan
|
1924 |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Ivanowski was a Russian national, but in exile since the Russian Revolution
- ^ Djordjadze was a Russian national, but in exile since the Russian Revolution
References
edit- ^ UPI (28 July 1975), "2 Killed at Spa", The New York Times
- ^ Vincent Wouters (27 July 2015), Spa Post-Race Notebook, SportsCar360
- ^ Gricey's King's Cup Story (Spa 1986)
- ^ "SPORTS CAR RACING". kolumbus.fi. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
- ^ a b Greenhalgh, David (28 June 2024). "Breaking Down The History Of Belgium's Greatest Endurance Race". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ "1993 Spa 24 Hours". touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ "28 Jul 2014 – Belgian Audi Club Team WRT takes home win after nail-biting finish". total24hours.com. 28 July 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
External links
edit
- TotalEnergies Spa 24 Hours website: Available in English, French and Dutch
- 1971 results
- 1972 results
- 1981 results
- FIA GT Website