With just three hours left of what has been a fierce contest, the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche has emerged as the front-runner at the 2026 Spa 24 Hours, pulling some brilliant moves and setting a blistering pace to lead by ten seconds.
The race for second through to fifth has been a tense affair with the longtime frontrunners #48 Winward Mercedes-AMG and #51 AF Corse Ferrari, and the #2 Boutsen Porsche and #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche right behind.
15 minutes after the 18-hour mark, Schumacher CLRT’s Ayhancan Güven pulled off an impressive pass into Eau Rouge on the #80 Lionspeed Porsche of Bastian Buus to take third.
More drama followed corners later as the #51 Ferrari, driven by Tommaso Mosca, made an ambitious attempt round the outside of the leading #48 Mercedes-AMG, driven by Luca Stolz, at Les Combes but found himself rebuffed, causing damage and a right rear puncture to the 296. It limped back to the pit with smoke pouring from the wheel rim.
Alessio Rovera took over, the car remerging ninth and a lap down – soon setting the fastest lap in a bid to fight back.
This left Stolz with just over a second on Güven, but the Schumacher CLRT car was hunting him down.
With five hours and 15 minutes left, Buus then pitted from third, giving his seat to Thomas Preining. In response on the next lap, the two lead cars of Stolz (handing over to Lucas Auer) and Güven (handing over to Matt Campbell) pitted in what turned out to be a crucial moment.
Pulling off a sensational move, Preining’s #80 Porsche followed the pair into Eau Rouge, threading himself between the two as they hit the straight to claim the overall race lead.
Following this sequence, the #32 WRT BMW of Charles Weerts was left out in front, with Preining’s Porsche and Auer’s 12 seconds behind, but with the gap reducing.
Weerts pitted and his car over to Jordan Pepper with just over five hours to go, giving the lead back to Preining, who had now pulled out 8sec on the Winward’s Auer.
Rovera had valiantly fought back up to fifth when he pitted with four hours and thirty minutes to go, giving the car to Nicklas Nielsen and coming back out in ninth and a lap down.
Meanwhile, Preining’s #80 Lionspeed Porsche was imperious at the front, pulling out his margin on Auer’s #48 Winward Mercedes-AMG to 14 seconds, with Campbell and Boutsen VDS’s #2 Porsche of Alessio Piciarello in close company behind.
The #80 soon headed into the pits, switching seats with Ricardo Feller. Auer and Campbell dived to pitlane in response, Feller reclaiming the lead for Lionspeed.
In the aftermath of the pit sequence, the charging Nielsen managed to pressure Campbell’s #Schumacher CLRT Porsche into a mistake, reclaiming sixth overall.
The Dane then pushed his way through on Dorian Boccolacci at Les Combes, who had taken over from Piciarello in the Boutsen VDS #2.
With four and 13 minutes left, the #8 span at Les Combes after being hit from behind.
Jordan Pepper got himself up to second by the time four hours were left on the clock, but then pitted, emerging on track in ninth.
A Full Course Yellow was then called a few minutes later after the #123 Mühlner Porsche of Tobias Müller hit the wall hard at the exit of Eau Rouge, having lost the car on entry into the corner. His race was immediately over.
A flurry of pitstiops ensued: Boccolacci and Campbell both pitted from fourth and fifth, with Morris Schuring and Ayhancan Güven taking over respectively.
Feller also headed in, handing his #80 Lionspeed Porsche to Preining, while Engel and Nielson followed suit, Tommaso Mosca jumping into the #51 Ferrari.
The FCY became a Safety Car period, bunching the pack up before ending with 3 hours 27 minutes to go.
On the restart, Preining led from the front, while the #48 AMG of Engel and #51 Ferrari of Mosca had to negotiate traffic.
The #999 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG found itself shovelled into the gravel trap, but the rest made it through without incident.
The upshot was Preining built a three-second lead, while the #51 of Mosca rubbed doors with Schuring at the first chicane, but the Ferrari managed to quickly pull away and then put pressure on Engel.
The Ferrari massively harried the Mercedes-AMG for several laps, coming close at Les Combes several times, but to no avail.
The #998 Rowe Racing BMW of Tim Tramnitz leads the way in the Gold Cup, one lap ahead of CSA Racing’s Arthur Rougier.
In the Silver Cup Amaury Cordeel’s #30 WRT BMW has first place, with #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Mikey Porter just behind.
The Bronze fight sees Dennis Marschall’s #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari with almost ten-second lead on David Pittard’s #991 Paradine BMW.
And after 21 hours, Pro-AM’s tussle has Jordan Love in front at the wheel of the #0 JMR Chevrolet, leading High Class Racing’s Yuan Bo in the #86 Porsche.
Image courtesy of Frozenspeed
