Lionspeed GP wins Spa 24 Hours for Porsche

Porsche claimed its first 24 Hours of Spa triumph since 2020 thanks to an incredible charge from the back of the 69-car field.

Lionspeed GP conquered the the blue-riband GT race with its 911 GT3 R, which was shared by Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus. They were among the early favorites, but an engine change on Thursday forced the No. 80 Porsche to start from the pit lane, seemingly ending any hope of victory.

But a faultless performance brought the car to the front of the pack and it was the clear pick for the win by Sunday morning. It faced a stern challenge from some of the best teams and drivers in the sport – particularly Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter and AF Corse Ferrari – but had the pace to defeat both over the closing stages.

The No. 48 Mercedes-AMG drove an equally perfect race to finish as this year's runner-up, never putting a foot wrong across the 24 Hours. In contrast the No. 51 Ferrari was incredibly fast but suffered a number of setbacks, ultimately securing a third successive Spa podium having started from pole.

As ever, the battle for overall glory was complemented by four enthralling class battles. The Gold Cup went to the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW of Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde and 24 Hours rookie Tim Tramnitz, who fought the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren until the British squad retired on Sunday morning.

The Silver Cup produced a thrilling conclusion as the No. 45 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari beat the No. 30 Team WRT BMW to victory with its crew of David Perel, Dylan Medler, Rafael Duran and Alessandro Balzan, while the Italian marque also won in the Bronze Cup where Dustin Blattner, Dennis Marschall, Ben Tuck and Mathys Jaubert shared the Kessel Racing entry.

Finally, the Pro-Am class went to JMR, which secured the first victory for Corvette since the American heavyweight triumphed overall in 2009. The Ibrahim brothers, Jeffri and Abu Bakar, were joined by their regular teammates Ben Green and Jordan Love in the winning machine.