- Ickx among the honoured guests for upcoming centenary edition
- Belgium’s greatest racing champion won the event in 1966
- Ickx to officially start centenary race at 16:30 on Saturday 29 June
Jacky Ickx has been named as the official starter for the 2024 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which will mark the centenary running of the Belgian endurance classic.
A true legend of international motorsport, Ickx requires little introduction. The Brussels native was twice runner-up in the Formula 1 World Championship, winning eight grands prix and securing a total of 25 podium finishes from 116 starts. He is also remembered as a two-time World Endurance Champion, a six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and for conquering the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1983.
A driver of unmatched versatility, Ickx triumphed in what was then called the 24 Hours of Francorchamps in 1966. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more totemic figure to signal the start of the centenary CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
Appropriately, the Belgian driver’s ascent to the top of world motorsport coincided with the renaissance of the Ardennes classic. The son of automobile journalist Jacques Ickx, Jacky was on the grid for the first edition reserved for touring cars in 1964. The following year he set the second fastest time in qualifying, but a technical problem ended his challenge; instead, it was his elder brother Pascal – sharing with Gérard Langlois van Ophem – who gave BMW the first of its record 25 victories.
.jpg)
©Gérard T'Serstevens
The following year Jacky took pole aboard a BMW 2000 Ti and won the 24 Hours alongside Hubert Hahne. He was just 21 and, at the time, the youngest driver ever to stand on the top step at the event. Though he took pole again in 1967, driving a Ford Mustang, the 1966 win would prove to be Jacky’s only triumph from seven participations at the 24 Hours.
Just as charismatic 58 years later, he will wave the national flag of Belgium at 16:30 on Saturday 29 June, when 67 GT3 cars exit the La Source hairpin and charge towards the legendary Raidillon. This will be the moment every fan has waited for: the start of the centenary CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
_____
GET YOUR TICKETS HERE