Lamborghini finally lands Spa 24 Hours victory

Lamborghini scored its maiden victory at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, where Porsche’s second place overall ended BMW’s recent Intercontinental GT Challenge winning streak.

The Huracan’s last factory appearance in the Ardennes finally delivered a coveted win at the world’s biggest GT3 race where GRT – Grasser Racing Team’s Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Luca Engstler beat Sven Müller, Patric Niederhauser and Alessio Picariello (Rutronik Racing) by 8.7s.

No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Sven Mueller, Patric Niederhauser and Alessio Picariello finished second overall and topped the IGTC classification.

A second 24-hour race victory in as many weekends proved a step too far for BMW and ROWE Racing, whose podium chances were spoiled by a track limits violation and 30-second time penalty in the final hour. The entry shared by Raffaele Marciello, Jesse Krohn and Augusto Farfus – who won the Nürburgring 24 Hours seven days ago – crossed the line third but was classified fifth behind AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors’ Ferraris.

The No. 51 Ferrari beat the No. 50 to the final podium place. Maranello’s factory cars ran together over the second half of the race without ever threatening the very top of the order. Alessandro Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera, who missed out in heartbreaking fashion 12 months ago, as well as Vincent Abril finished 20 seconds ahead of the sister 296 driven by Eliseo Donno, Antonio Fuoco and Arthur Leclerc.

Farfus, meanwhile, now tops IGTC’s drivers’ standings on his own after former co-leader Kelvin van der Linde finished one place further back in WRT’s best placed M4. BMW’s position atop the manufacturers’ championship also remains comfortable despite only finishing four-five in IGTC’s classification. It won the opening two rounds of the season at Bathurst and the Nürburgring after also scoring maximum points in 2024’s penultimate and final events.

Intercontinental’s other entrant, Mercedes-AMG, had the pace but not the luck to win. Its best placed finisher, Mann-Filter, was restricted to 10th overall after serving a drive-through, while GetSpeed’s No. 17 car retired from the top three overnight.

IGTC’s Independent Cup win went the way of Herberth’s Ralf Bohn who was contesting the class for the first time. Neither of his rivals, Antares Au (Rutronik Racing) and Jonathan Hui (Ziggo Sport Tempesta), saw the checkered flag.

The Intercontinental GT season continues at the revived Suzuka 1000km on Sept. 12-14.