Six hours into the 2026 24 Hours of Spa, and as the sun sets over the Belgian Ardennes, Eastalent Racing heads the field on its debut with Markus Winkelhock currently behind the wheel of the #84 Audi.
The #84 Audi has cycled to the front having pitted one lap before a Full Course Yellow was called in the third hour. This cost the car the lead lap, meaning it stayed out at a later Safety Car to regain it, taking the Audi off-strategy and in position to collect the 12 championship points awarded to the leader at quarter-distance.
Winkelhock has a nine-second advantage over the #32 Team WRT BMW of Jordan Pepper, which has adopted the same strategy after going one lap down in the third hour as repairs were completed on the front-left corner, following damage sustained on the opening lap of the race.
Both Winkelhock and Pepper are due to pit in the next few minutes, however, meaning the effective leader is the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry of Lucas Auer, which currently sits third.
The #48 Mercedes-AMG moved to the front in the fifth hour, when the #51 AF Corse Ferrari – which had dominated the early stages – saw a slow deflation turn into a full puncture mere moments after passing pit entry.
Nicklas Nielsen, who was behind the wheel at the time, managed to complete a full lap without sustaining further damage, but the car has fallen to the very end of the lead lap.
The pole-sitting Ferrari had led up until this point, with not even a 15-second time penalty for speeding under the FCY conditions in the third hour costing it track position, as Alessio Rovera had established a large enough advantage to absorb the penalty at its next pit stop without losing the lead.
Fourth overall is currently the Gold Cup-leading #58 Garage 59 McLaren, which has headed its class throughout, with Louis Prette only 2.4 seconds behind Engel.
The #98 ROWE Racing BMW and #64 HRT Ford Racing Mustang have climbed into fifth and sixth respectively, following consistent runs so far, with the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche, #998 ROWE Racing BMW, #46 Team WRT BMW and #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG completing the top 10.
The #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari has fallen back to 17th after running in third in the early stages, after Malthe Ebdrup picked up a drive-through penalty for contact at Turn 18 whilst attempting to lap the #555 CSA Racing McLaren.
The defending winner, the #63 TGI Team by GRT Lamborghini, has seen its dream of back-to-back triumphs disappear after Franck Perera pitted the Temerario at the start of the sixth hour, with the car currently still in the garage.
The other Temerario GT3, Rutronik Racing’s #96 version, is still running solidly in its first 24-hour race, and currently sits on the lead lap in 19th overall.
The #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche leads the Bronze Cup, although it is currently off-strategy, with the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari the effective class leader. The Swiss outfit has spent the majority of the opening six hours out front, only ceding the leader when Bronze-ranked Dustin Blattner went up against higher-graded opposition.
The #74 Ferrari has a 19-second margin over the #991 Paradine Competition BMW, which in turn is ahead of the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche by under three seconds.
In Silver, the #30 Team WRT BMW is out front with Amaury Cordeel behind the wheel, with the Belgian having cycled to the head of proceedings during a pit stop cycle at the five-hour mark.
Cordeel leads the #25 Sainteloc Racing Audi of Lucas Legeret by under one second, with the #52 AF Corse Ferrari in third. The #6 GetSpeed Team Bartone Bros Mercedes-AMG and #45 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari have both enjoyed extended spells out front, but have fallen back to seventh and 10th respectively.
And in Pro-Am, the #700 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Sarah Bovy leads the way, after the #86 High Class Racing Porsche recently had to pit to repair its bonnet, after Hongli Ye made contact with the #123 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche. The #8 Car Collection Porsche, which led earlier on, is currently in third.
Frequent incidents have kept the field bunched, with the race now having featured 6 Full Course Yellows and 5 Safety Cars, whilst the large volume of FCY speeding penalties – over 50 – has also proven to be a key feature of the opening stages.
The #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, which ran in the top 10 overall early on before Alex Aka picked up a pair of punctures, pulled off the circuit at the start of the second hour after the latter one, retiring from the race.
At the end of Hour 2, Hiroshi Hamaguchi beached the #79 Tsunami RT Porsche at Turn 13, triggering a Safety Car which featured a chaotic restart, as the pack scrambled to pass freshly-installed Bronze-rated drivers who were high up the overall leaderboard. In the melee, contact between Loris Cabirou’s #54 Dinamic GT Porsche and Rinat Salikhov’s #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG saw the former end up stuck in the gravel and triggered another FCY.
Meanwhile, the #50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc spun at Turn 9 following contact with the #88 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Carrie Schreiner, after the Monegasque driver attempted to make it three-wide. The AF Corse driver resumed, but this incident, as well as briefly running slowly in the final sector, have stunted the car’s progress from 28th on the grid, and it is currently 23rd.
Then, in the fourth hour, the #28 Haas RT Audi brought out the most recent Safety Car after stopping at La Source.
Elsewhere, #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry has retired for the third consecutive year. Having started from 52nd on the grid, the car had climbed into the top 25 before receiving a mechanical warning flag due to a transponder issue at the start of the third hour. The car then stopped at pit exit during the fourth hour, retiring due to the effects of contact with the #177 Grupo Prom Racing Team Mercedes-AMG, which was penalised for the incident, at pit entry.
The #177 Mercedes-AMG has withdrawn, whilst the #70 AF Corse Ferrari, which started from pole position in Pro-Am, has also officially retired after sustaining damage on the opening lap.
Image courtesy of Frozenspeed
