Yahoo Autos BMW Wins Supercar-Studded Spa 24 Hours
Right up there with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Daytona 24, and maybe the Nurburgring 24, one of the biggest twice-round-the-clock sports car races in the world is surely Spa.
The iconic track in the Ardenne Forest of Belgium is both beautiful and unique. The track was built in 1921 and hosted its first Grand Prix in 1924. It was one of the original circuits of the inaugural F1 championship in 1950. It first hosted a 24-hour race 99 years ago. Since then, with interruptions for wars, etc., it has featured a 24-hour race at least once a year.
While Le Mans and Daytona feature exotic prototypes along with race-prepped sports cars, the Fanatec GT World Challenge features GT3 cars only. This year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa featured every supercar you ever wanted to have in your garage, or at least on a poster. Earning a spot in the grid were an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, BMW M4 GT3, Ferrari 296 GT3, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, Mercedes-AMG GT3, and Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). This year 70 cars took the green flag under cloudy skies but dry weather. None of the rain for which Spa is so well known fell during the race. That left the racing to the teams and drivers and not Mother Nature.
There were numerous lead changes throughout the day, night, and into the next day, with Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, and BMW taking turns at the front. When the checkered flag flew after a long night and a grueling day, BMW had taken its 25th win at the Spa 24 Hours (sponsored this year by cyber security specialist CrowdStrike). Top step on the podium went to the BMW factory Rowe Racing team, which had already won at Spa twice before, in 2016 and 202, and podiumed another two times, in 2018 and 2019.
