Spa 24 Hours: McLaren Faces Setbacks, Ferrari Returns to Lead Lap

The night at the 2026 Spa 24 Hours saw the #51 Ferrari return to the lead lap as the feared thunderstorms were nothing more than a brief shower at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Numerous safety cars, a bit of rain, and several top cars dropping out of contention marked the night. By 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, the big news was the return of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari to the lead lap following its tire failure on Saturday evening.

This achievement was notable since it is extremely difficult to regain a lost lap at the 24 Hours of Spa due to the lack of wave-bys for the Pro Cup and the full-course yellows preceding safety cars. Fortunately, no major storms hit the area, although a cluster of thunderstorms provided a spectacular lightning show in the night sky. An offshoot of the storm did hit the track right at the halfway point but remained a brief rain shower.

Both Garage 59 McLarens encountered difficulties and were unable to remain in contention. Before it became completely dark, the #63 Grasser Lamborghini had to pit due to engine problems, and shortly after, disaster struck for one of the favorites: the #59 Garage 59 McLaren pulled into the pits suffering from a front-right suspension problem. After removing the brake, the 720S GT3 was declared a retirement. However, Garage 59 still had the #58 car from the Gold Cup in contention for overall victory, which initially made good progress through the night. Unfortunately, in the early morning hours, Garage 59 lost its second car when Oliver Goethe brought the #58 into the pits with front-end damage and coolant leakage, with repairs ongoing.

There were a total of five FCY-to-SCs during the night. The first safety car was deployed shortly before the end of the seventh hour after Sebastien Baud in the #21 Comtoyou Aston Martin crashed violently at Courbe Paul Frère. This was followed by a period of green-flag racing before the safety car had to be deployed again when Jonathan Hui's #93 Tempesta Porsche spun out in the Fagnes curve and was struck by Alexey Nesov’s #9 Pure-Rxcing Porsche, ending the race for both cars.

A subsequent fire caused by a technical problem with the #60 JMW Ferrari necessitated another safety car intervention, allowing the #51 AF Corse Ferrari to execute a brilliant strategic move: instead of pitting under FCY, it stayed out, passing the leader and regaining the lead lap. It caught up to the Safety Car queue and completed its pit stop just before the restart, returning to the track half a lap behind the leader.

The #98 Rowe-BMW faced a tire failure after climbing to third place and driving ‘off sequence’ at the back of the leading group until it managed to return after the sixth safety car. The #64 HRT-Ford received a tough 60-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding under the FCY, and would need another safety car period to regain distance from the leaders.