The CrowdStrike Spa 24 Hours enters its tenth hour with the #64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 Evo in the lead. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo lost the leading position as the car got a puncture. Garage 59 and Boutsen VDS are on the charge while trouble hits two Mercedes-AMG teams.

The race started with complete chaos as an unlucky clash between the #66 Tresor Attempto Audi and the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin caused a multi-car crash on the exit of Pouhon. Unfortunately, the #992 Paradine Competition BMW was collateral damage, causing the car to DNF before the first laps were done.

Sister car #992 BMW had a great starting phase, as the team gained 22 places with James Kellett behind the wheel. It took quite a while for the marshals to clear up the debris – after fifty minutes the Full Course Yellow period was finally over and the top five is formed by the #51 Ferrari, the #58 McLaren, the #71 Ferrari, the #3 Mercedes and the #48 Mercedes.

Trouble hits pole sitter #51 Ferrari

Thomas Fleming showed an impressive pace behind the wheel of the #58 McLaren, and mentioned how ‘gruelling his double stint was’ in conversation with GT REPORT. The youngster was hosed down in the paddock by his physio to cool down as soon as he got out of the car.

Before he passed the car to one of his colleagues, he chased down the #51 Ferrari with Nicklas Nielsen behind the wheel, who got a puncture while he was in the lead for over twelve seconds earlier in the race. The #58 McLaren and the #71 Ferrari were just two seconds apart from each other behind the leader.

Meanwhile there were impressive fights going on in the Bronze and Pro-Am class. Mex Jansen overtook Dustin Blattner for P2 in Bronze, while Joel Sturm pushed the #8 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche to the leading position in Pro-Am class. After the pit stops, the German outfit had to regain positions to climb back to the lead.

Damage after contact causes DNFs for Mercedes-AMG

Two incidents in quick succession caused another Full Course Yellow, with the #74 Ferrari and the #11 Aston Martin spun into the gravel. Many of the top cars took the chance to make a pit stop as well. The FCY became a full safety car after twenty minutes, after which another FCY followed because of the crash into the barriers of the #50 Ferrari.

The car lost a lot of terrain, but could continue the race. After the puncture of the #51 Ferrari, the BMW’s smelled blood. In P6, Augusto Farfus was pushing hard, being about eighteen seconds off the lead. Further back were unfortunately some more DNFs: the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes and the #177 Grupo Prom Mercedes had contact, after which both cars were forced to retire.

There was also some trouble for the #86 High Class Porsche, as it got a penalty for dangerous driving and has lost two minutes while being in the lead in the Pro-Am class with the bonnet popped up. The car made it back to the box, and the team could fix the problem. After the issue with the #51 Ferrari, the #48 Mercedes took over the lead.

Shortly before the first six hours were done, the #48 Mercedes was still leading in Pro, the #58 McLaren was leading in Gold, the #30 WRT was leading in Silver, the #74 Ferrari was leading in Bronze, and the #700 Aston Martin was leading in Pro-Am class.

HRT moves to the lead, Boutsen and Garage 59 hit each other

The car that hasn’t been mentioned in this update yet is the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo. With Fabio Scherer and Arjun Maini pushing hard in their stints, the car runs in P1 as the clock hits the first hour of Sunday. The squad from Drees is on a different strategy, but so far it’s clearly working out for them.

There has been some bad luck for the #98 ROWE BMW, which has dropped out of the fight for the lead after hitting a puncture. More chaos erupted for the Porsche, in which the Ziggo Tempesta Porsche got damage at the rear. It started with Jonathan Hui being spun around by one of the Astons, and the Pure Rxcing Porsche seems to have hit them. Heartbreak for the Ziggo Tempesta Porsche, who were in contention for the lead in Bronze Cup.

Just before 1:30h at night, Morris Schuring was on the charge in the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche, but hits the #58 McLaren, causing Louis Prette to spin. The Belgian squad is currently running P3, but risks a penalty.