RNW Staff

Alex MacDowall delivered his best performance of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup season so far during the biggest race of the year over the weekend, taking a well-deserved third place finish in the Silver Cup during the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.

Aston Martin’s customer-focussed Vantage GT3 achieved its best overall result in the Total Energie Spa 24 Hours this weekend, with the #95 Garage 59-run entry finishing third in the hands of IMSA GTD championship leader Ross Gunn (GBR) and reigning FIA GT world champions Marco Sørensen (DEN) and Nicki Thiim (DEN).

Racing legend Damon Hill was the big star on the final day of this year’s blockbuster Classic as the world’s biggest retro racing festival roared to a thrilling conclusion. 

An unforgettable 2021 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa has been won by Ferrari after a faultless showing from Iron Lynx gave the Italian marque its first triumph in the Ardennes since 2004, ending more than a decade of German dominance. 

The Porsche customer team KCMG has concluded the Spa 24 Hours in positions five and twelve. The 911 GT3 R driven by the two Belgians Maxime Martin and Laurens Vanthoor as well as last year’s winner from Britain Nick Tandy crossed the finish line after 554 laps in front of the sister car shared by Josh Burdon (Australia), Alexandre Imperatori (Switzerland) and Edoardo Liberati (Italy). The endurance classic in the Ardennes is regarded as one of the largest GT3 races in the world. This year, 58 vehicles from nine different manufacturers tackled the 7.004-kilometre rollercoaster circuit in four classes.

The wait for the much-wanted renewed overall win by Mercedes-AMG in the 24-hour race at Spa continues.  With the third consecutive pole position, the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach got the event underway with a good start. However, like in the two previous years, the efforts were to remain unrewarded. First of all, the pole sitters with the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP had to retire from the race with a broken shock absorber, having spent more than 13 hours in the front-running group. On Sunday morning, the race also came to an end for the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT car while on course for the top ten: several minor damaged had added up and impeded the balance of the race car to such an extent that it could no longer continue the race in a competitive way. The best-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the field of 58 cars was the #89 car in tenth overall. As a result, the AKKA ASP trio of Lucas Auer (AUT), Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS) and Felipe Fraga (BRA) also scored valuable points for the 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge for which the race at Spa served as the season opener. In the Silver Cup, meanwhile, the race was successful: with the #90 Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by Madpanda Motorsport, Rik Breukers (NED), Ezequiel Perez Companc (ARG), Patrick Kujala (FIN) and Ricardo Sanchez (MEX) were leading the class for large parts of the 24-hour duration. After 551 laps, final driver Breukers brought the class victory home (P11 overall). The #7 Toksport WRT crew also managed to finish on the class podium: in the rainy and turbulent final stage, Marvin Dienst (GER), Axcil Jefferies (ZIM), Paul Petit (FRA) and Oscar Tunjo (COL) secured second place in the Silver Cup (P13 overall). This year’s 24-hour race at Spa marked the 50th anniversary of AMG’s first major motorsport success as the legendary Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG secured the class win at Spa and finished second overall.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB – the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK – traveled to Oulton Park for its third weekend of the 2021 season. The Cheshire circuit’s 2.2 mile Island configuration is a favourite with drivers in all three categories thanks to its undulating nature and mix of challenging corners with little room for error. Following an ongoing investigation and judicial hearing by the Clark of the Course, Colin Oakley, into two remaining incidents from the Brands Hatch weekend, Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) was docked a total of four championship points and four category points for his incidents with Porsche GB Junior Harry King (Team Parker Racing) and Jamie Orton (JTR) in Round 4. This promoted Rookie Kiern Jewiss (Team Parker Racing) to the Pro category championship lead. 

Oregon Team pairing Leonardo Pulcini and Kevin Gilardoni extended their Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe points

Saturdays at The Classic are always very special and this year’s  was one of the best in the festival’s history with 12 fiercely-fought retro races, record numbers of classic cars on display… plus a new outright lap record. It all added up to more than 15 hours of epic entertainment with reggae chart-toppers Aswad and acid jazz legends The Brand New Heavies sending everyone home happy.

Allied Racing’s Nicolaj Møller-Madsen and Joel Sturm bounced back from retirement in yesterday’s race with a win in race 2 at Spa. The #22 Porsche took control during the pit window and finished well ahead of the other Silver Cup runners.

The fight for Super Pole, which involved the twenty fastest cars in yesterday’s qualifying, saw the two Iron Lynx Ferraris take thirteenth and eighteenth place on the grid.

The first of two GT4 European Series races at Spa-Francorchamps ended with wins for United Autosports (McLaren), Centri Porsche Ticino and Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport (BMW). Charlie Fagg and Bailey Voisin led away the field at the start and were the first to cross the line after 21 laps of racing around the 7 km track in the Belgian Ardennes.

The two best-placed Porsche customer teams take up the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow from positions nine and 20. In the Super Pole session on Friday evening, Porsche works driver Mathieu Jaminet turned the ninth fastest lap with GPX Racing’s 911 GT3 R. In the 20-minute shootout, the top 20 vehicles from Thursday’s qualifying competed against each other in individual time trials. The fastest time of two laps was counted. The 26-year-old Frenchman achieved a lap time of 2:18.729 minutes. For the race, Jaminet shares the cockpit with Earl Bamber from New Zealand and the Australian Matt Campbell.

Everything is ready for the classic endurance race in the Ardennes: Walkenhorst Motorsport secured a promising starting position for the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) in Super Pole qualification on Friday evening. Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) claimed fifth place in the #34 BMW M6 GT3, Thomas Neubauer (FRA) finished the final qualifying session in the #35 BMW M6 GT3 in 14th place.

Daan Pijl and Danny Kroes recorded the first Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe victory for Bonaldi Motorsport in the 2021 season after a superb drive from third on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps. Kroes made a strong start in the #33 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo to move into second place, while quick pit work allowed Pijl to leapfrog the polesitting #7 Novamarine – GSM Racing car of Kevin Rossel and Jonathan Cecotto for the win.

Gary Paffett will not be able to start at the third DTM weekend in Zolder as planned. The two-time DTM champion lives in Great Britain and thus in a “red” classified Corona risk country and cannot enter Belgium without a ten-day quarantine. For various reasons, however, this is not possible for Gary Paffett. The Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport has asked the Belgian embassy for a special permit. However, there was no positive decision within the time limit necessary for the operational planning.

In a session twice interrupted by the red flag and heavily affected by traffic, the two Ferraris of Iron Lynx qualified for Friday evening’s Super Pole, which will decide the starting grid for the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

In qualifying for the Spa 24 Hours, two 911 GT3 R racers fielded by Porsche’s customer teams have made it into the Super Pole. The final hunt for the 20 best grid spots will be held on Friday between 7.50 am and 8.20 am (CEST). After multiple qualifying sessions, GPX Racing’s 500+PS entry emerged as the fastest nine-eleven. Earl Bamber (New Zealand) as well as works drivers Matt Campbell (Australia) and Mathieu Jaminet (France) set an average time of 2:19.259 minutes in their individual 15-minute segments, which put them in eighth place. Bamber turned the fastest lap of all 911 GT3 R in 2:18.878 minutes. The 24-hour classic on the 7.004-kilometre Grand Prix circuit in Belgium’s Ardennes region takes off on Saturday at 4.30 pm.

Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP will chase its second successive Super Pole at the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa tomorrow evening after it’s #88 crew topped qualifying, while all nine brands contesting this year’s race will be represented in the deciding shootout. 

The first free practice session kicked off the long week of the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the most eagerly awaited and important race of the Endurance Cup season of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. Historically, this event is decisive for the title due to the double points awarded. Fifty-eight crews will start the race, divided into four classes – Pro, Silver Cup, Pro-Am and Am Cup – with seven of them driving the 488 GT3 Evo 2020.