GT3 Legends Spa: Classic & Speed gift fans Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 victory

Spa-Francorchamps isn’t the birthplace of GT3, but it has become its home. So there was a fitting symmetry to the GT3 Legends marking 20 years of GT3 at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa – and to a former Marc VDS Racing BMW Z4 GT3 taking the win in front of Saturday’s packed grandstands, eleven years on from the team’s win in the Spa 24 Hours. Two 50-minute races ran in support of the endurance classic across the weekend.

Race 1: Davidson and Winstanley lead, Nearys win a penalty-scrambled opener

Graham Davidson led away from pole in Friday’s scorching heat, his ex-Oman Racing, DTB Motorsport-operated #47 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 shadowed by Danny Winstanley’s first-generation #78 DW Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3, a car originally run in the American Pirelli World Challenge.

The pair ran nose to tail through the opening stint, Winstanley leaning on Davidson for the lead just as he had at Donington Park last time out. As the tyres went off the pressure built, and the fight turned fierce.

It carried on after the stops, Winstanley finally getting the Audi past the Vantage in a drag race out of Bruxelles. A shorter pit time had put Christoph von Oeynhausen’s Classic & Speed-run #45 Marc VDS Racing BMW Z4 GT3 back in front after a late stop, and the BMW had nothing to fear from the Audi: Winstanley had picked up a 65-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The Audi took the flag first, and then dropped to seventh.

Sam Neary stole the closing minutes. Aboard the old RAM Racing #30 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, now run by Team Abba Racing, the pro driver hunted Davidson down and piled on the pressure as the pair closed in on Von Oeynhausen. With Davidson defending hard and the tyres spent, though, the gullwing couldn’t find a way through.

He didn’t need to. Post-race penalties reshuffled the order once more: Von Oeynhausen was docked for leaving the pits too early, and Davidson too, for one track-limits breach too many. That handed the Race 1 win to father and son Richard and Sam Neary, with Davidson second and the other father-and-son pairing, Marcus and Christoph von Oeynhausen, third.

Race 2: Von Oeynhausens repeat history eleven years on from Marc VDS victory

With Friday’s winners Team Abba Racing sidelined by a technical problem before the start, Race 2 was guaranteed a fresh name on top – and it delivered.

Davidson led away from pole once more, Winstanley alongside, but the early running belonged to Charlie Kennedy. He hauled his #23 Team Kennedy Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 – an ex-factory car still wearing its 24 Hours of the Nürburgring livery – from fourth to second, then straight-lined past Davidson down Kemmel for the lead. Behind, a brief safety car did nothing to check Christoph von Oeynhausen, who picked off Scott Malvern’s #5 Team Parker Racing Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 and Nick Sampson’s #68 Team Parker Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 to climb into fourth.

Up front, Kennedy was in trouble. The front-heavy Nissan chewed its tyres in the heat, and Davidson and Winstanley closed in, the pair pitting early to break the deadlock. The move that settled it came with 18 minutes left, when a second safety car fell just as Kennedy and Christoph von Oeynhausen reached pit entry – perfect timing for their mandatory stop.

The restart set up a frantic finish. Marcus von Oeynhausen led, with Dr Afschin Fatemi’s #16 Spider-Man-liveried Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 buffering him from the charging Kennedy. As the lead group threw everything at the final minutes, Kennedy forced his way to second – only for Davidson to come harder still, barging Jack Tetley’s ex-Reiter Engineering #24 ROFGO Racing Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 aside at the Bus Stop and passing Kennedy on the last lap. It wasn’t enough. Von Oeynhausen held on, Davidson crossing just behind as the flag fell.

The penalties then reshaped the podium: Davidson took a 65-second hit for the contact with Tetley, and Fatemi lost fourth for a short pit stop. That lifted Kennedy to second, with Shaun Lynn third in his ex-Vilois Racing and TF Sport #13 Team Parker Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

Von Oeynhausens’ win carried more than weekend significance. Eleven years earlier, Marc VDS Racing had won this same 24 Hours of Spa – a different car, though this Z4 GT3 was among the team’s entries that year. Marc van der Straten, whose initials the team bears, spent the weekend at the circuit as a guest and signed the Classic & Speed car wearing his old livery. He passed away a week later. That he was there to see it race again, and to put his name to it one last time, gave the result a fitting note to close on.