Steven Palette led the second and final day of testing at Spa-Francorchamps for Haas RT, while Saintéloc Racing has ended this year's CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa Prologue on top thanks to the standout time set by Gilles Magnus on Tuesday.
2 Seas Motorsport led Wednesday morning's session with its #222 Mercedes-AMG, which posted a 2m16.350 to beat the #26 Saintéloc Audi by 0.095s. The French squad's #25 machine – driven again by Magnus – was third at the conclusion of the morning run.
Verstappen.com Racing also maintained its place among the front-runners, taking fourth spot with its #33 Aston Martin, followed by the the #4 CrowdStrike by SPS Mercedes-AMG.
Haas RT paced the concluding session on Wednesday afternoon. Palette was at the wheel of the #28 Audi for a 2m16.291s tour of Spa-Francorchamps, which was 0.064s better than Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed ace Fabian Schiller could manage.
Winward Racing was third quickest with its #81 Mercedes-AMG, followed by the consistently fast CrowdStrike by SPS machine, which is gunning for a second successive Pro-Am win this year. The #98 Rowe Racing BMW completed the top five.
Palette's afternoon time was 0.059s better than the morning benchmark, but it fell 0.068s shy of Gilles Magnus' best lap on Tuesday. As such, the Belgian driver has the honour of pacing this year's Prologue. It proved to be a remarkably competitive affair, with less than one second separating the top 29 cars on Tuesday.
Wednesday's running was punctuated by a handful of red flag stoppages. Of note, the #66 Audi returned to the pits on a recovery vehicle with a damaged rear wing, while the #80 Porsche went off at Fagnes. The #96 Porsche stopped at Raidillon, though this is believed to have been a technical issue rather than an accident.
With the Prologue complete, attention now turns to the main event: the 77th CrowdStrike 24 Hours. Cars will be on-track for the first time on Tuesday 24 June, followed by the traditional parade to Spa city centre on Wednesday 25 June. Thereafter the competition will escalate, building up to the start at 16:30 on Saturday 28 June. The event will also feature high-level support series and, as ever, a raft of fan activities. Tickets are on sale now, with a variety of options available.