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Comtoyou, Aston Martin Triumphant In Dramatic Centenary Spa 24

Drudi, Thiim, and Sorenson take victory in exceptional circumstances in the final hour

The #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin scored a remarkable victory on home soil at the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Spa on home soil this afternoon.

Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim, and Marco Sorenson combined to make history for the team and Aston Martin, after extraordinary circumstances delayed the #51 AF Corse Ferrari that led into the final hour and handed their Vantage GT3 Evo top spot after the final pit stops.

Drudi completed a controlled final stint after their main competitor, the #51 Ferrari, was held at pit-in for almost a minute ahead of its final stop, handing Comtoyou a 28-second advantage at the head of the field.

Alessandro Pier Guidi eventually wrangled the #51 AF Corse Ferrari back into second after dropping to sixth. But after holding a comfortable lead before the disastrous final stop, he finished 33 seconds behind the Aston Martin.

En route to second Pier Guidi battled past the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin and the #96 Rutronik Porsche. He then passed the #998 Rowe Racing BMW when it pitted on the penultimate lap to prevent a stint-length penalty.

Third place was the #32 WRT BMW, which was promoted to the podium after a 10-second time penalty was applied to the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin that finished third on the road.

David Pittard was deemed to be responsible for contact at Les Combes with Pier Guidi when the Ferrari driver attempted to pass. It forced both cars wide through the Les Combes tarmac run-off. Luckily, both cars were able to continue.

The #163 pole-sitting GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini came home fifth, ahead of the late pitting #998 ROWE Racing BMW, which was in the mix for the podium right up until the penultimate lap.

After what was a true battle for survival for the first 18 hours, the major talking point of the race came in the final hour. It started dramatically, with a Full Course Yellow called to recover the #10 Bousten VDS car that had stopped by the entry to Eau Rouge. Some teams pit in anticipation of a Safety Car, but smart work from Aurelien Panis at the wheel, parking next to an access road, allowed the quick recovery of the car and allowed the race to go green within two minutes.

Then, a far more pivotal moment occurred 10 minutes later, as the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini came to a stop in the pit entry road, blocking the road just ahead of the race-leading #51 AF Corse Ferrari with Pier Guidi coming in for his final stop.

The centenary Le Mans-winning Italian was entirely blocked and also stalled the Ferrari 296 while trying to manoeuvre around the stationary Lamborghini. In total, he lost a total of 55 seconds.

It was a true gut punch for a team and car that had the pace to win and resulted in an almost-assured victory for the Ferrari going begging. The #51 Ferrari exited the pits in sixth place, and effectively fourth, behind the #998 Rowe Racing BMW and the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin that had made their final stops.

This left the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin with a comfortable lead, and after the pit entry was cleared, Drudi brought the Vantage into the lane for the final pit stop, where it emerged in the effective lead, with a 28-second buffer over the #998 Rowe Racing BMW.

The #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin, #51 AF Corse Ferrari, and the #998 ROWE Racing BMW emerged as the contenders in the morning after a long night of rain, resulting in hours of Full Course Yellow and Safety Car running.

When the morning finally broke through, it was the #998 RoWE Racing BMW that fired the first punch, jumping on to slick tyres early in the morning and gapping their competitors to the tune of almost a minute thanks to an electric stint by Daniel Harper.

“When you get the chance that I got you have to obviously exploit it. So we took a risk,” Harper told DSC after his stint.

“We were talking on my in lap and personally I said no, it’s too early because I didn’t know first of all how quickly the track would dry. But thankfully, the team knows this place and made the decision and they did a great job. So that one’s down to them.

“It was challenging, especially the first few laps on slicks, some areas were quite dry so you could push and get some temperature, and then for example Eau Rouge, the whole way and then the middle sector was quite damp until you got to the old tarmac again.

“I did the three hours under the safety car which wasn’t so much fun, but it was great to get back out there after a couple of hours of rest and make a difference!”

By the time the rest of the field moved onto slicks, the #998 held a minute lead, but that evaporated due to a full course yellow to recover the #30 OQ by Oman Racing BMW that ground to a halt on the exit of Pouhon.

Calan Williams at the wheel reported a complete loss of power and zero throttle response in the BMW, with the recovery of the car forcing the use of a Full Course Yellow and subsequent safety car.

Alessandro Pier Guidi had been the best of the wet-clad runners in the morning, passing both WRT BMWs – one on either side of the safety car – before setting off to hunt down the leading pair.

The race was put under FCY again shortly after due to a massive shunt for the second-placed #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche, which speared off the track at Blanchimont in tricky conditions.

The Porsche skated across the gravel and hit the tyre barrier hard, rolling the car, but driver Joel Sturm was able to be extracted from the car by the medical team and was confirmed ‘okay’ after the incident.

From the restart, it was all AF Corse, with Pier Guidi and Rovera making great pace on the #998 Rowe Racing BMW and the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin.

AF Corse chose to take their pit stop at around four hours remaining, two laps earlier than their competitors, undercutting both on the new slick tyres while Harper and Thiim struggled out of the pit lane.

The leading trio separated themselves from the rest of the field, with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari having more pace in the morning conditions than the Comtoyou Aston Martin and the ROWE BMW.

The run into the finish was mostly clean, but punctuated by two incidents in short succession in the 19th hour, both involving Kessel Racing cars.

Firstly, John Hartshorne spun on the exit of Bruxelles, hitting the wall hard on the driver’s right, destroying the front of the #74 Kessel Racing car.

On the restart, it was a more significant incident, eliminating two cars and removing another from contention. Valentino Rossi in the #46 WRT BMW ran wide at Les Combes, and re-entered the circuit sharply just after the left-hander at an awkward angle. The following pack moved to avoid the BMW, but unfortunately, Rossi tagged the left rear of the #8 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Nicolo Rosi, who spun ahead of the pack.

The #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin – with Romain Leroux at the wheel – had nowhere to go, and collected the spinning Ferrari’s broadside, sending both into the gravel.

The #35 was retired on the spot, needing to be lifted on a flatbed, while the #8 managed to be pulled out of the gravel and continue back to the pits, but then had to retire due to numerous issues caused by the crash.

Rossi brought the #46 into the lane for repairs, which dropped it off the lead lap, but the car was then given a 10-second Stop and Go penalty for instigating the incident, which, combined with further repairs to the bonnet, dropped the #46 three laps down.

In the build-up to the final stint, ROWE Racing played their hand first, bringing Max Hesse into the pits right on the stroke of the 65-minute remaining point, hoping for an FCY or Safety Car to play in their favour. They almost got their wish, with the #10 Mercedes coming to a halt, but the quick turnaround from the marshals kept the FCY short.

Despite losing five seconds in the deceleration and acceleration to and from FCY speed, the AF Corse Ferrari held a comfortable 10-second advantage over the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin. However, that immediately evaporated when the pit lane entry was blocked, leaving the #7 Comtoyou team a comfortable cruise to the finish line, to win by 33.604 seconds.

“I came close in 2020 with Audi when I finished second, and in my first year with Aston with the new Vantage, it’s really special,” summarised Drudi after the race.

“There is a lot of experience with Marco and Nicki and I couldn’t ask for better teammates. The team did a great job but I am really sorry for the Ferrari guys, as they were quick at the end and it would have been tough to catch them.”

The 2024 Spa 24 Hours was a classic race of attrition in many ways, after a remarkably clean start, with all 66 cars getting through most of the first hour without major incident. The pole-sitting #163 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini held the early lead until the #48 Mann-Filter Mercedes of Lucas Auer took the position midway through the first stint.

An incident involving the #52 AF Corse Ferrari and the #97 Rutronik Porsche at Fagnes brought out the first FCY after Blattner’s Porsche was nerfed into the gravel by the Ferrari of Louis Macheils. Unfortunately for Rutronik, the #97 became the first retirement of the race, with gearbox and exhaust damage as a result of the impact.

The FCY brought the whole lead group into the pits, but a refuelling issue for the #163 GRT Lamborghini resulted in a 15-second longer pit stop, dropping the car behind the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes, into fourth, before the Safety Car compressed the field for the restart.

The opening hours were action-packed, with long trains of GT3 cars racing very close. an incredible side-by-side moment through Eau Rouge between Matt Campbell in the #92 SSR Herberth Porsche and the #98 Rowe Racing BMW of Marco Wittman turned int 4-wide up the Kemmel Straight, with Julian Andlauer in the #96 Rutronik Porsche sweeping past both of them on the right, and Ricardo Feller in the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi doing the same on the left.

Soon after, the race-leading #48 GetSpeed Mercedes picked up a puncture after running through carbon fibre debris at the final chicane. The tyre held on until Campus on the following lap, before letting go and forcing Auer to crawl back to the pits.

This left the #51 AF Corse Ferrari in the lead from the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes, with the Bronze-Cup #25 Sainteloc Audi in third, ahead of a pair of Aston Martins – the #7 Comtoyou car from the #34 Walkenhorst example.

The next phase of the race was chaotic, and defined by multiple incidents and full-course-yellow interventions. A spin for the #38 Haas RT Audi at Bruxelles just before the three-hour mark saw that car need extraction, bringing out a Full Course Yellow into Safety Car. And when the race went green at the three-hour mark, multiple simultaneous incidents brought the field under FCY once again.

An incident between Julien Andlauer in the #92 SSR Herberth Porsche and Michele Beretta in the #77 Haupt Racing Mercedes at Les Combes saw both cars in the gravel trap, along with the bonnet of the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini who was caught up in the fray.

On the other end of the circuit, a slow-moving #158 Garage 59 McLaren caused havoc between Fagnes and Campus, as four cars were caught up in contact trying to avoid the slow McLaren.

Moments after the race was returned to green, it was once again under FCY and Safety Car to recover the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, which had been punted off at Fagnes.

A much more serious accident followed after the next restart, with a multi-car incident on the entry to Eau Rouge resulting in a scary crash at almost full racing speed.

While trying to make a pass, the #12 Comtoyou Aston Martin and #333 Rinaldi Racing made side-to-side contact on the run down the old main straight. It squeezed the Aston Martin of Nicholas Baerts into the pit wall and turned Christian Hook’s Ferrari across the front of the Aston Martin, into the pit wall, scattering the following pack of cars.

While Baerts rolled across the track and onto the grass on the driver’s left, Hook’s Ferrari came to a stop on the racing line on the approach to Eau Rouge.

Double yellow flags were displayed by the marshals, with the immediately following group slowing significantly to navigate around Hook’s stranded car. The car sat stationary for over 10 seconds with double yellow flags being displayed, as despite many cars slowing, a number of cars passed the accident at close to race speed.

Unsighted by a car ahead, Adrian D’Silva in the #61 EBM Porsche had no time to react to the stricken Ferrari and slammed into the left rear quarter of the #333 car with the right front of his Porsche at a significant speed.

The impact sent the Ferrari back into the pit wall where it burst into flames, while D’Silva’s Porsche, front right corner now missing, came to a stop beyond Eau Rouge. Luckily, the flames were extinguished quickly, and all three drivers were later confirmed to be okay and without significant injury.

Significant debris on the approach to Eau Rouge forced race control to bring the safety car train through the pit lane, with clean-up taking 20 minutes before a restart.

Another incident between the #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche and #96 Rutronik Porsche eliminated the #22, after Muller collected the #22 car hard while attempting to pass at La Source. While the Rutronik car was able to return to the pits, the #22 was retired on the spot.

As the night began to fall across the circuit, so did the rain, which increased in intensity until eventually, someone slid off the road. It was the #88 Tresor Attempto Audi that was the unlucky first victim, sliding into the gravel at Les Combes, bringing out the FCY which turned into a Safety Car, which then held control of the field deep into the night as rain lashed the circuit, accompanied by a lightning storm.

A brief restart in the dead of the night saw contact between the #71 AF Corse Ferrari and the #48 Mann Filter Mercedes, with both cars retiring due to the damage sustained by the crash.

Also retiring overnight were last year’s winners, the #98 Rowe Racing BMW, who struggled with an overheating engine after going off track to avoid an incident early in the race, and the #992 Hub Auto Racing Porsche, which suffered a spectacular suspension failure going up Eau Rouge.

Patrick Pilet managed to keep the car out of the walls despite spinning up towards Raidillon, but upon returning to the pits, it was decided to retire the car, with an unnamed source telling DSC “That’s enough” – a clear summation of a horrid weekend for the team.

Other notable retirements included the #130 GruppeM Mercedes, which suffered floor damage overnight after an off-track excursion, and the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes, which was wheeled into the garage in a good position in the morning running.

It was a rough race for Mercedes AMG, with the best-placed finisher for the brand down in seventh place – the Gold Cup-winning #777 AlManar by GetSpeed car. While the Pro-class AMGs showed pace early, all suffered problems during the race.

Also in the wars was Porsche, which went through a period where a number of cars retired in close succession. In the morning, it looked like either the #92 SSR Herberth or #96 Rutronik Porsches would be in the mix, however, neither featured in the final wrap-up, with both finishing in the tail end of the top 10, in 8th and 9th respectively.

The top McLaren was the #159 Garage 59 car, in 11th place, while it was an impressive run for the sole Ford Mustang in the field, despite a 19th-place finish.

The Proton Competition team, fresh from a strong performance with its LMGT3 cars at Le Mans, was unlucky to fall off the lead lap early in the race. For a long time the car was setting race-leading lap times in an attempt to return to the sharp end. Unfortunately, the #64 couldn’t get back on parity in the morning running, finishing at the tail end of the top 10, 3 laps down.

For Aston Martin, it is an incredible result for the new Aston Martin Vantage, with Comtoyou racing taking the new Aston’s first 24-hour win. It’s also the first win for Comtoyou Racing with Aston Martin, which is a special victory for the Belgian team in their home race, and the Centenary edition of the Spa 24 Hour.

It is Aston Martin’s first win in the 24 Hours of Spa since 1948, when a 2 Litre Sports won with St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson took victory on that occasion. And it is the first win at the Spa 24 for a British marque since 1984, when TWR won the race with a Jaguar XJS.

With inclement weather, long trains of battling, mechanical and incidental attrition, and an incredible finish in utterly remarkable circumstances, the Centenary Edition of the Spa 24 Hour will certainly be remembered for a variety of extraordinary reasons.

FINAL RESULT >>

Read our wrap-up of the other classes HERE >>>

Images courtesy of SRO and Frozenspeed

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