With six hours – one-quarter distance – done, the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes (above) with Fabian Schiller at the wheel led the 2025 Spa 24H as the race entered the hours of darkness at 10:30pm local time.
Following the latest of five FCY-safety car sequences, gaps in the top 10 were tight, with Franck Perera second in the #163 VSR Lamborghini, Arthur Leclerc holding third in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari and Joseph Loake fourth in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren that had led most of the early stages of the race in the hands of Marvin Kirchhofer and Benji Goethe.
Lucas Auer rounded out the top five in the Mann-Filter-sponsored #48 Mercedes (above), ahead of last year’s winning #7 Aston Martin in the hands of Marco Sorensen and the #63 Grasser Lamborghini, steered by Mirko Bortolotti. Eighth and ninth overall were held by a Porsche and BMW; respectively the #96 Rutronik (Sven Muller) and #32 WRT (Kelvin van der Linde) entries.
Tenth overall and leading the Gold Cup was the Verstappen.com Aston Martin, with Chris Lulham living up to pre-race predictions that the car would threaten for overall honours. The Bronze Cup was headed by Dennis Marschall, 16th overall in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, while the #26 Sainteloc Audi was the highest placed Silver Cup car in 17th overall. Gregory Servais topped Pro-Am in another Audi, the #28 Haas RT car, running 37th overall.
Into the second hour of the race, there was a huge accident on the way out of Blanchimont as an unsighted Laurin Heinrich in the #22 CLRT Porsche slammed into the back of a limping #112 CSA Racing McLaren being driven by Josh Mason.
The latter was on the racing line on the outside of the corner exit, travelling well below racing speed at the time of impact, and while the Mercedes ahead of Heinrich had more warning and could jink to avoid, Heinrich would only have seen the McLaren at the very last second. Both cars were instant retirements; Heinrich walked to the medical car under his own steam, while a conscious Mason was transferred to the medical centre for further observation.
Around the same time, chances of a strong result for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari took a hit when Alessio Rovera returned to the pit having just started his stint to remedy a brake issue. The car went down a lap but later recovered to the lead lap, now with Ale Pier Guidi at the wheel, who carved his way to the lower reaches of the top 30 before handing over to third driver Vincent Abril. Additionally, the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim was pinged for speeding in the pitlane, but was able to serve the resulting five-second penalty when it returned to the pits under the FCY brought out by the Heinrich/Mason crash.
Shortly after the restart from that FCY, contact between Antares Au in the #97 Rutronik Porsche and George Kurtz aboard the #4 CrowdStrike by SPS Mercedes resulted in the Porsche getting stranded in the gravel at Turn 12 and brought out another FCY. While slowing for the FCY, the #70 AF Corse Ferrari of Custodio Toledo rear-ended Alexandre Leroy’s #270 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin. Toledo retired on the spot, with the Aston Martin retiring with chassis damage once it reached the garage.
A second Pro-class Porsche dropped out in the third hour, as Bastian Buus brought the #18 Dinamic GT entry to the pits with a right-front wheel bearing issue, while shortly before 9pm, the #911 Pro Cup Pure Rxcing entry was running slowly on track, eventually shedding its front-right tyre on the way through the Bus Stop chicane.
Approaching the five-hour mark, the yellows came out for a fifth time in the race as Tim Sandtler in the #611 Nordique Racing Mercedes pushed the #11 Comtoyou Aston Martin of Frederic Jousset from behind as they passed through Raidillon, sending the latter car spearing into the tyre barrier at almost the exact same spot Sandtler himself had crashed in qualifying earlier in the week. The #11 returned to the pits and retirement on a flatbed, while the Sandtler car was assessed a 30-second stop/go penalty for the blunder.
Just before 10pm, the #4 CrowdStrike by SPS Mercedes (Pro-Am) came to grief on the way into the Bus Stop chicane, emitting a large cloud of white smoke from one bank of cylinders. With Ian James at the wheel, the car eventually came to a stop at pit entry – in an eerie repeat of 2024’s Lamborghini-blocking-Ferrari incident – and race direction was quick to close pit entry to avoid a similar situation occurring.
Finally, Corvette’s return to the Spa 24 Hours achieved a significant milestone this evening, as the #24 Steller entry enjoyed some time in the lead of the Silver Cup and entered the top six overall at one point by going off-strategy.
Images: SRO/JEP, Marcel Wulf & Frozenspeed
