Loake working up to round-the-clock debut with McLaren
2023 BRDC young driver award winner Joseph Loake has had a very positive race week so far, forming with Benji Goethe and Marvin Kirchofer part of the fastest crew in Night Qualifying in the Woking brand’s sole Pro Cup entry at this race, the #59 Garage 59 effort (above). Kirchofer then went on to put the car at the top of Superpole session.
As recently as 2020, Loake was plying his trade in the BRSCC Fiesta series in the UK, so it has been a whirlwind couple of years moving from there through F4 and GB3, as well as the small matter of an Aston Martin F1 test as part of his BRDC award prize. 2025 is the Cheshire-born driver’s first in sportscars, tackling the full GT World Challenge Endurance Cup schedule for Garage 59, and the 2025 Spa event is his first 24-hour race.
“The season has been really good so far, the pace has been really good all the way through the year,” Loake told DSC. “I’m getting along well with everyone, the team are really nice, which is always a good start. The first part of the year leading up to Spa has been about finding my feet, figuring out all the little quirks of GT racing and the endurance side of things; it’s all very new to me. Luckily, I’ve got some great team-mates, not just in this car, but across the whole team, so I can learn so much.”
“For this race, we’re feeling confident, we’ve got a good car underneath us and we’re comfortable with where we’re at. We’re not focused on one-lap pace; we’d rather have a car that’s going to easier to drive over the 24 hours, so we’ve not worn ourselves out in the first three hours. If we can pace ourselves well, I think we’re on for a good result. I’ve not driven any other GT3, so it’s hard for me to say where it’s particularly good or bad around the track; all I will say is I have a very good feeling in the car, it does exactly what I want.”
“I’m not sure what the full plan is for the race in terms of eating and sleeping – I’ll just do what I’m told to do when I’m told to do it! I can’t even fall asleep on a plane though, so I don’t know how I’m going to manage it with 75 race cars circulating.
With McLaren’s recent confirmation of the timeline for its return to the top class of Le Mans, the stakes have been raised for any driver affiliated with the brand planning out their future career. Loake is remaining grounded and focused on the immediate future for now, though. “I haven’t spoken to them about that yet; obviously it’s very cool and very exciting for me and all the McLaren drivers that they’re planning it. The amount of support I get from them is great; Rob Bell is on the phone to me every other week, making sure I’m on track and focused with everything. I couldn’t be in a better place, physically and emotionally, right now, so I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
Agostini paces night practice
Riccardo Agostini was fastest in the Night Practice session in the early hours of Friday morning, driving the Pro-Am #70 AF Corse Ferrari (above). He set a benchmark of 2:17.605 just after the halfway mark of the 90-minute session, displacing Johor Racing JMR’s Alexander Sims from the top of the times. Sims’ 2:17.899 would remain quick enough to put the #2 Corvette second overall, and fastest Bronze, come the session’s end.
Dean MacDonald was third in the Gold Cup-entered #58 Garage 59 McLaren, ahead of Thomas Fleming in the sister #188 McLaren and Jim Pla aboard CSA Racing’s #111 car. Fastest of the Pro entries was the #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which Maxime Martin placed sixth overall.
The #5 Optimum McLaren, #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche, #48 MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG and #63 Grasser Lamborghini rounded out the Top 10. Fastest in Silver was Luis Perez Companc aboard the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi. No major incidents occurred in the session, which started at 23:59 local time after delays during Night Qualifying.
Grid down to 74 cars for the race
The #11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, #81 Winward Racing Mercedes and #611 Nordique Racing Mercedes all missed Thursday’s night practice session following accidents earlier that day, but all have been or are being repaired ahead of Friday night’s warm-up and Saturday afternoon’s race start. There was less good news from the Aston Martin camp, however, with the Pro-class Walkenhost entry having to be withdrawn following Henrique Chaves’ heavy Superpole crash.
Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo on display
The new Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, which was unveiled earlier today, is currently on display at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (above). The car, which is set to debut for the 2026 season, is located next to Ferrari’s hospitality unit in the paddock.
Comtoyou creativity
Aston Martin team Comtoyou Racing are contributing to sportscar racing’s fine tradition of quirky and/or custom-built paddock support vehicles with this ‘angle grinder special’ Volkswagen up!, used by the mechanics to transport fuel drums back and forth to their pit area.
