The 2026 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa belongs to the history books. The 78th edition of the twice-around-the-clock race delivered plenty of intruige and action, culminating in Porsche taking its first win since 2020. Here are nine things you might have missed from this year's event.
_____
PREINING, FELLER AND BUUS ARE THE YOUNGEST WINNERS OF THE GT ERA
This year's winning crew – Thomas Preining, Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus – have all raced at a high level for several years. As such, it's easy to forget just how young they are. In fact, the Lionspeed GP boys make up the youngest crew to win overall since the GT era began in 2001.
Preining is the elder statesman at the grand old age of 27. Feller is 26 and Buus only turned 23 a week before the race. The record was previously set in 2018 when Phillip Eng (28), Christian Krognes (28) and Tom Blomqvist (24) triumphed in a BMW for Walkenhorst Motorsport.
While we're on the topic of youth, Buus became the fourth-youngest winner of the GT era, behind only Maxi Buhk, Jules Gounon and Martin Ragginger. By triumphing as a 23-year-old, he joins past winners Laurens Vanthoor, Marc Lieb and Sebastien Bourdais. Not bad company to keep!
WE'RE STILL ON A ROLL OF SIX WINNERS IN SIX YEARS
We went into this race with six different winners from the past six editions; afterwards, we still had six different winners from the past six editions. That's because Porsche was at the beginning of the sequence with its victory in 2020. The Weissach marque's success means that the sequences now runs from Ferrari in 2021 via Mercedes-AMG, BMW, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and most recently Porsche.
EIGHT CARS FINISHED ON THE LEAD LAP... AGAIN
Eight cars finished on the lead lap this year, matching the record previously set in 2020. And in 2022. And in 2023. And in 2024. This edition looked set to establish a new benchmark, with nine cars running on the lead lap until the closing minutes. But a late technical problem for the #32 Team WRT BMW reduced the number to the now traditional eight. We'll just have to try again next year.
MERCEDES-AMG TEAM MANN-FILTER FULLY MAXIMISED ITS POTENTIAL
While it missed out on overall victory, Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter delivered one of the great CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa performances to finish as runner-up. Part of this was down to the superb execution of the Winward-run entry, which spent more than two and a half minutes less in the pits than either of the other podium finishers. It was also thanks to the drivers – Engel, Auer and Stolz – who did not put a foot wrong and were particularly brilliant in defence.
ENGEL, AUER AND STOLZ ARE ON COURSE FOR THE ENDURANCE TITLE
It should be some consolation to Engel, Auer and Stolz that they are very well-placed to win this year's Endurance Cup title. Strong scores at 6 hours and 12 hours, coupled with a runner-up finish, put them 41 points clear of their nearest challengers with a maximum of 52 left to play for. As such they need just 12 points across the final two rounds to be absolutely certain of the title.
The only crew with a realistic shot at stopping them is the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin. Almost everyone else – including Team WRT, ROWE Racing and AF Corse – would need monumental points swings to stand a chance.
FERRARI DIDN'T WIN, BUT THIS IS THE MARANELLO ERA
Ferrari – especially the #51 AF Corse entry – was on top form this year. Quickest in FP1 and FP2, the Italian brand was unstoppable in qualifying, culminating in Alessio Rovera capturing the Superpole. He also posted the fastest lap of the race, but the #51 could only manage third at the chequered flag, pegged back by two punctures (one self-inflicted) and 40 seconds of penalties.
Nevertheless, Ferrari ended the day with the Coupe du Roi (which recognises the best performance across all classes) and bagged class honours in Silver and Bronze. This was also its third overall podium in a row and its fifth in six years. There is an argument to be made that Ferrari has been the standout manufacturer of the 2020s.
THE DEFENDING WINNER WENT OUT BEFORE HALF DISTANCE... AGAIN
If history is anything to go by, Lionspeed GP will be packing up early at next year's 24 Hours of Spa. At the previous three editions, the defending winner has been out of contention before the race reached half distance. In 2024 it was ROWE Racing; in 2025 it was Comtoyou Racing; and in 2026 it was Grasser Racing (entered as TGI Team by GRT) which hit problems before the halfway mark. It's now been 20 years since a team won this race back-to-back. That was Vitaphone Racing, which triumphed in 2005 and 2006 with the legendary Maserati MC12.
DAVID PEREL ACHIEVED SOMETHING UNIQUE
In 2017/2018 David Perel, scored back-to-back class wins, triumphing in Am and then Pro-Am. On Sunday afternoon, his long pursuit of a third victory finally concluded as the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari conquered the Silver Cup. Perel thus became the first driver during the current GT3 era to win in three different classes. This was also Rinaldi's first victory since it took Am honours in 2019.
It is interesting to note that this year's winning Silver Cup line-up consisted of two drivers in their early twenties (Dylan Medler and Rafael Duran) and two who are over 40 (Perel and Alessandro Balzan). Not for the first time, the combination of youth and experience paid dividends.
FIVE DRIVERS TOPPED 200 LAPS
Perel was one of five drivers to complete 200 or more laps during the race. While his drive time was the greatest (10 hours and five minutes), he wasn't actually top on distance: that honour went to Matt Campbell (#22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche) who notched up 229 tours of Spa-Francorchamps. Augusto Farfus drove 221 laps in the #98 ROWE BMW, while Arthur Leclerc managed 220 in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari. Then it was Perel with 211, and Nicklas Nielsen (#51 AF Corse Ferrari) with exactly 200.
