24 hours of Spa – Mercedes and Schneider triumph!

She had been completely untouchable for a few hours. There Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 n°84 from HTP Motosport has just won the 24 Hours of Spa! The German manufacturer made a big splash with Bernd Schneider who had already won at the wheel of the SLS AMG this year at the 24 Hours of Dubai, the 12 Hours of Bathurst and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring! Valiant before receiving a stop & go for overtaking under yellow flag regime, the Porsche 997 GT3 R n°150 retained its second place until the end. The crew made up of 100% official Porsche drivers, Richard Lietz, Marc Lieb and Patrick Pilet, offered Manthey Racing a new podium after struggling for hours with power steering problems and a faulty cylinder. The Audi R8 LMS n°2 saves the furniture for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and the Ingolstadt firm by finally signing a third place in the final thanks to the talents of André Lotterer, Christopher Mies and Franck Stippler, the latter signing here his second podium in a row after his victory last year.

In the Pro-Am, the Ferrari 458 Italia n°59 Af Corse took the category victory thanks to Toni Vilander, Alex Mortimer, Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin. After having greatly animated the debates, SMP Racing finally achieved a second place thanks to the No. 71 Ferrari of Mika Salo, Kirill Ladygin, Victor Shaitar and Maurizio Mediani. Great result for the #35 GT Academy Nissan which, after the very premature retirement of its sister car, ended its weekend with a category podium.

Despite an end to the race complicated by starter problems in the pits, the No. 458 Sofrev-ASP ​​Ferrari 20 Italia held on and won the Gentlemen Drivers' trophy. This is the third podium in a row in three years, all categories combined, for Jérôme Policand's team. And by pocketing all of the points distributed during these 24 Hours of Spa, the French team is already assured of winning the title in its category.

Discover the report of the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps produced by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.