Most Dramatic Moments | CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa 2026 | GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS

Green to get racing underway. It is going to be Niklas Nilsson then that makes the best start as they accelerate downhill for the first time with Mauro Engel there almost being squeezed off the road as he's trying to get through. There's another car getting a little bit crossed up and that looked like Marvin Kirchhoff in the background. They climb the hill for the first time. At Bradion, so far so good. It's busy in the mid pack. The Mercedes have got themselves together with Honka there, jumping ahead of Engel. There's Ogier Maini in the Mustang also trying to gain ground in a straight line with all of that power from the Ford Mustang. But it's Niklas Nilsson leading then as the cars go up towards Les Camps for the first time. It is the first race lap. It is effectively lap two of the race itself given that extra formation lap. But it is Ferrari that leads at Spa. Great driving from all so far. I was surprised that Ogier in the Verstappen.com car was so far behind the car and that really hurt him. Engel got the best start but Shandoff cut him across. I think there was a slight bit of contact between those two. Yeah, so far so good. Keep that phrase in mind as they come downhill from Pouhon. There's a car going through the gravel at Speaker's Corner. And everybody seems to be happy with the start from Race Control's point of view as we dive now down through Pouhon. Everybody going for the same bit of track position knowing that in a race like this you just can't afford to lag back for a second. Never mind all this about looking after tyres. Mayhem has broken out. Three cars, four cars and we may get more. It was the Audi that ran wide of Pouhon and came across the road. That was 66 in the hands of Ariel Levy. The car that won that crash-screwed race at Monza has crashed on the first lap. I think it has taken 34 Jamie Day with it and there were others involved. This is going to be a safety car surely. Look in the top of the shot. The Audi running wide over the kerb. Then hits the Valkenhuis car. Niki Thiem did well to thread his through there. So did Dennis Lind. And then it was just really a concertina effect, wasn't it, on that side of the track. It's 99 again. And it's Alex Arca again. He's already had one puncture. And, oh, wheel off the rim and then gets hit by the windward Mercedes that goes into the gravel. That was started, that car, by Renat Salikov. And that's not going to do the front of 87 any good. It's got Gabriele Piana behind the wheel and a three-wheeled Audi. That's out of the race. That's both the Treasure Attempto cars done within the first hour and 20 minutes. And Nielsen tries to rebuild that lead. And the 32 machine who came out of the pits only up at the piff-paff. So about a half a lap behind this field. Yes, finally on the lead lap. But we'll still need a safety car to squeeze them back up to a position where they can fight. Well, let's not have another one for a little while, shall we not? We've had enough for now. As there, look, the Porsche of Alessio Picariello has got Marco Sorensen right up behind as the leaders dive up towards Les Combes. And actually it's Fleming on the back of Engel, rather more tow-y than Engel versus Nielsen. And there for the inside line goes Fleming and he gets his nose chopped off. That was very close indeed. Mauro Engel manages to hang on a second place. There was no contact, but that was by a Nat Semi-Crochet that they avoided it. That really was close, wasn't it? And fourth is still Hunkedea, but what a battle. And there they are with the bonnet up. Is that on the exit of piff-paff? It is. Ticked it in the gravel. I'm not surprised. Hard to see. I'm amazed at the pace this car's doing right now. But it's Leo Yee at the wheel, and I'm not being flippant when I say this, but if you're sitting low in the car, you can see under it, can't you? You have actually got visibility. Yeah, it's got a nice arc, that windscreen. I've had a few come up in my time. It's always the corner exit that seems to happen. And, yeah, I had a McLaren 571. This is not good. And it's strange that we seem to be able to see OK forwards, but it's the sideway bit that seems more of an issue. And, yeah, here we go into Blanchimont. Needs to stay left. But what happened? This is the replay of the accident. And just looking to pick him up. Oh, just kissed. Right, left-hand wheels. Just kissed the gravel. Went over the kerbing. Then the Aston Martin whipped around. And rear-end impact. I couldn't really work it. It's actually an unusual one there. People normally have an accident a bit further around the corner after a sort of rodeo ride where they bounce through the gravel. That was just both the left-hand wheels. But look at this. I'll have a look one way. I'll have a look another. Valentino is going to be absolutely exhausted after this. What's the easier role? Hunter or hunted? Very much Hunter is the easier role. And she'll be loving this. But he'll be starting to get a little bit fed up. But he knows one little slip-up. Matisse-Joubert could fall from 6th to 4th. And that's his intention actually this time around. Matisse just a little bit further back off the tail of that Mercedes. But the Verstappen racing car, well, busy, busy, busy. But this is where drivers will know they've got just under 20 minutes left in the stint. How much of a risk is worth taking? Jules is a very, very competitive individual. But he's wise too. Don't crash just now. I've said that, Jules. Keep it on the island. But, you know, he's looking for the moment. But the moment isn't going to come. You can't force it. But the concentration on the face of Valentino Rossi. Just the constant adjustments. Those tyres are starting to go away on him now. And obviously at this point, Jules is not giving him a moment's peace. And look, there's Matisse-Joubert. Right in the mix of Kessel Racing. And, no, he lets everybody flash their lights. Oh, why not? No quarter asked and absolutely none given here around Spa-Francorchamps. Jules Gounod, one of the most colourful and exciting drivers at the end of the race. But you have to get there. And part of that battle is clearing Valentino Rossi. It's all but day done for what was a very fast entry from Garage 59. And the car bearing the number 59. Its sister, the number 58, has been up near the sharp end of the field. But does have a lot of pressure in the veteran, Moritz Schurig, just behind. Sitting third in the pro class behind Mauro Engel. And Fabio Scherrer in that off-sequence helped racing team Mustang. And it's come to blows. And a little bit of a late lunge for Moritz Schurig into the bus stop chicane. And we talked about it being a clean day. I'll take the blame on that one. The old commentator's curse spinning on the wet grass and continuing. And that's going to delay him even further. Yeah, just trying to look at the mask. Is he going to hook up? Please hook up. Don't sit in the middle of the track now. Here comes the cavalry. And Jules Gounod is the next car that's in consideration. Raffaele Marcello in fifth. And Jules Gounod will pass that McLaren shortly before they get up to the next corner. So one little slip up. And the slip up was not from the driver who got spun. Let's take a look. Move coming up. The dive up the inside. Coming, coming at this point. I don't know where the McLaren is supposed to go. But Moritz Schurig up the inside. He went. The big problem is the corner bends back on the drivers by about 110 degrees. Your options are quite limited. And up ahead you've got a wall. It was a late lunge, wasn't it? But also at the same time, the 58 did close down. Looking at a replay here. Lots of headlights galore. But I think we're about to see a car rotating now. Two cars together there. And there's the rear end, the window, the engine cover. Effectively high in the sky. Time for these. Let's have a look here. It's 3.40 at the moment. Oh dear. Okay, now. Again, the heat you get in cars. This is how you stop in 56. Well, best to have the right number of wheels. And there is just the proof. Front of the car dragged along. Not very far. But that was enough to set that. Oh, hold on a second. We'd better put that out. You can see just how bothered they are about it. How quickly that they are putting this problem. It's just there. The fire. Just there. Front left. Just there. And out it goes. Drivers still sitting on board. Yeah. There's an orc and an elephant. But they might make use of the long stop as well here. Yeah. Sarah appears to have gone around going out of Blanchimont. And front end damaged the car. Let's have a look. This is Sarah Bovey. Top of your picture. Oof. Look at that. Very, very wide. Huge speed. The gravel track slows it down. Oh, the car high in the air. In fact, yeah. And that is horrible for Sarah. But the news is she very quickly got out of the car. Which we hadn't seen to start with. It looks so it's going again now. But that would have been something presumably that happened exiting Radiant. And it does look as though it's maybe not quite sitting as it should. Looks like it's got a front left puncture dragging away. So we have a slow car now approaching turn 5. The slow car is on driver's right. Words from race control just allowing the rest of the field to exercise caution. That is hit something or someone. You can look. That front suspension is not attached as it should be. That wheel bobbling on its own through one of the most difficult corners on the racetrack. And a huge tank slapper that's not where you want to go wide. And then bang into the outside barriers along the Kemmel Straight. That is a significant whack. Remarkably could have been a whole heck of a lot worse. And everyone getting out of the way. I don't know how someone didn't run into the back of that Aston Martin. And an even better job for the driver of the 007 to try to get that car home. That is a really, really difficult task for Niki Thiem right now. So as it heats up, unsure what track temp is now, but it's going to be in the mid-30s. As it gets back above 40, maybe back above 50, is it going to go away and then go back to the Ferrari? Maybe Lionspeed know that. And now they've got to pounce and get in front of the Ferrari and try and dictate this race. Nilsson looking ever more panicked with the traffic in front that was too wide. And he's almost getting crowded out. And the gap's going to open up for the Porsche on the inside. And Thomas Brining has read that beautifully because the road opened up for him. He's got the lead coming out of the chicane. And he's going to go ahead of the 2C's Mercedes as they come past the pits. So we've got a new race leader and it's been done on the track, not in the pits. Thomas Brining leads up towards La Source. Porsche leads at Spa now. Ferrari second. Yeah, and that's where the Porsche seems so strong on the brakes. BMW just able to pull away out the corner. But the Porsche is very quick in the straight line anyway. And then the slipstream effect, of course, starts to help. I think he's too far back this lap for a look into the next brake zone at the bus stop. But maybe be able to close up and then launch your attack into Turn 1. Always best to strike while the iron is hot and momentum is with you. So through the chicane, this is where Guven needs to start the move. He looks quick through the chicane. He's quick on exit. Rossi goes wide. I enter in Guven now. He's getting closer and closer and closer. We've seen him do a massive dive up the inside of the BMW. He's going to do it again. He looks, switches sides. There's a gap on the inside. Guven on the inside line. He's not cleared him under braking, but he might do the other side of the corner. They're toe-to-toe down the hill. This for fourth place. Eintracht Guven in the black Porsche. Valentino Rossi just ahead. He'll have the inside line at the bottom of the hill. But then as you turn through the corner, it should be advantage. Guven, Rossi up the kerb. Guven up to fourth. Great racing. And Eintracht Guven yet again proves he's nobody's patsy. He is an aggressive driver. So has that got a puncture maybe? This is Eduardo Cosateng. And there was contact, wasn't there, for the lead of Silva. Salman Ovega getting into him. That was a bit clumsy. He locked up. He's punted the Mustang around. Look at the rubber flying off as well. It looked like rear-left damage on the Mustang. And that's got to be a penalty for the Optimum car, unless he was forced there by the Mustang. Jamie Wall, team manager at Optimum, I think is going to be hurried up to race control to try and provide to Millicent why they should get a penalty. This was the move. What I love from Moscow now, we switch left hard. And that's to get any tow. We're going to give a side draft to the Porsche away. Up on Bastian Busen. Even thinks about a move on the inside there. The door was open. Guven right up alongside. He doesn't make it work at the first part of the chicane. But here comes another Guven dive, I reckon, down to La Source. The two Porsches all of a sudden are at play. They're going to cost themselves time. Guven on the outside line. But he's not going to go around the outside at La Source or is he? Yeah, he is. He's going to have a red-hot go. Guven all the way around the outside of Busen. This is for third place. It is just Bastian Busen ahead as they drop down the hill. But Guven is absolutely on it now. He's got his nose in front at the bottom of the hill. And Guven goes up into third place then. So the tipping point for the tyres. But he was nowhere coming out of the Coupe Paul Frères. Up by La Source. And Eau Rouge is through. And now Moscow thinks, I might have an overtake. And he's going to have a go at Stotz for the race lead. Here we go to the outside. Stotz gives him just enough room. Not quite. There's contact. There's damage to both. And Moscow's off the road there. Could that be another tyre? Moscow back onto the circuit. It looked a fraction low as it came back on. I think on reflection, it was the right-hand door mirror that was lost for the 51. So it should be OK. And you can see it's now missing a mirror. That's going to be a problem when they get in a fight. For me, Bastian Busen rolled out of the throttle, gave the position to Guven because he realizes that he's got the pace. But again, it was a real aggressive move from there. But that Ferrari going slightly slow. I'm worried about the tyre again. I think they've picked up another right rear in that bit of contact. It's going slowly. Look, it's twitching. Guven has gone through. Is it low on the right rear? We need a look at it. It is. It's another puncture for 51. It was the result. Yeah, Busen is winning on stops. And it's been a good stint, that, by Picariello. Now, Boccolacci needs to make the car as wide as possible. Does need to keep at bay. Niklas Nilsson. Yeah, without stating the obvious, it must have been a major inlap from Picariello typewise to be able to do that jump. First time we've seen the overcut work as the battle rages on. We've seen this before. It did well for the 51. It's going to work this time, though, because he's through and into the gravel goes Boccolacci. Niklas Nilsson says, I am coming through. Make your own arrangements. So that is exactly what Dorian Boccolacci has to do. So Niklas Nilsson, who, again, is massively irate after the time that car was lost with the punctures, fighting back. Oh, so aggressive. He's won the event before, remember, with Pierre Guidi, with Komladega. Niklas Nilsson drops downhill. So he's moved himself ahead of the Porsche. And 51 Ferrari is still, therefore, fighting for honours. They are not letting this get away from them. They've had the pace all race, if not the luck. Interesting one here. So the Ferrari eases us off the track here. There's contact, actually. Didn't see that from the outboard shot. It's going to go down to the racing incident. But it's not the cleanest bit of driving from Nilsson. Boccolacci gave him respect and space at that point. And then Nilsson decided not to. The contact might just take it away from being a racing incident. It will be investigated. So we're going to the outside. Boccolacci gives us space at this point around the right. This is OK. We then go left. And then we just ease him out. You actually don't really see the contact as much from the 51 there of Nilsson. But Nilsson, not as fair with Boccolacci as Boccolacci was with Nilsson. Full-course yellow. What happens here? Wow. For me, that's a failure of a rear left. Just for info. This full-course yellow will be followed by a safety car. I will now send the sweepers and the blowers out as well to remove as much gravel as possible to make sure that the track is in better conditions than before. So this silver Porsche is going to come down. As Guvin loves that dive bomb. It was so sent up. Oh, no! Contact between the two Porsches. And it's almost destroyed the front end of the Bootson VDS Porsche. So unnecessary. But, actually, Guvin fed up. Last lap of his stint. Fed up of following that car that was compromising his pace. And, I mean, you would never expect it to rip the front end off quite like that. But that's huge damage to the two. The headlight still flashes. That car's done. There's no way. I'm still learning my game in what I'm allowed to say in commentary. That was low IQ from Guvin. There was no need. The dive bomb was one thing. Then the frustration as he opened up the steering to have the front end of this car. Who's the employer of Aydin Guvin? Do you know? Well, yeah. He's a worked driver. I don't get it. The move is great. It's a dive bomb. It's not the nicest move, but he's there. And then he just runs him out there. He could have kept the steering lock on, in my opinion, and avoided contact. He already had the position. And he's just loaded up, and he's taken that car out. Unless a miracle, they can get that car stuck bound together. So let's have a look. So Guvin's on our inside now. We've kind of given up the position. We can't go any further left. And Guvin just goes into us. I don't see any twitch. I don't see a drift from Guvin allowing for that contact to be acceptable. Okay, mate. You can try Function 7, but the box is full manual. You'll need to use the clutch up and down. Okay? You can try Function 7. So he's now got a manual gearbox. Function is the left rotary on the floor of the centre console. You need to go clockwise. So you see Function 7. That's it. Keep going on that. So you see 7. Right, now the gearbox should be full manual. One more. Go one more. There we go. So use the clutch. If it was a full manual gearbox, see if that shifts for you. No power, even if I use the clutch. Copy that. Go to Ignition 2. I don't think I can make it back to a fifth speed. The power is stopping. Try Ignition 2 again. Just go back off on the switch and back on. If you think it's in Position 2, move it up to 1. So downhill goes Thomas Preining. Flips in towards Eau Rouge for the penultimate time. Past the huge grandstand built on the far side. Full of fans who've come back for the finish of this 79th Crown Strike. 24 hours of Spa as ever. It has been not only a fantastic race, but a massive production from SRO Motorsports Group for Stéphane Rattel and his team of Patricia Kiefer, Laurent Gaudin, Sophie Peyret who works on the event so hard for a whole 12 months for the entire media team. Tom Hornsby and Emma Spearing and everybody else in the media centre feeding us all the information. And Mike Scott, Ed Kingsford, Richard Hay and Wes Gillett who have done a huge amount to make sure we haven't missed a single thing on track. Whether it's been in the 24 hours or the support races. A hundred people involved in the television production side. Whether it's been cameras and riggers, whether it's been the tech team, whether it's been broadcasters because we've had not only our English stream, but we've had a French, an Italian, a German, a Flemish. I think Japan have done it off-site as well. And so a hundred people, ten different nationalities looking after the television side of all of this. Shall we give a hat tip as well to Niels Wittich who has not left the race control room for over 24 hours. He's kind of become an honorary member of the commentary team as well. But Niels Wittich and everybody in race control as well deserve a big round of applause because they've run a complicated race very well indeed. And thanks for your company. Whether you've just joined in now, whether you've been with us all the way through, it's been great to have you with us for this latest outstanding CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Through the chicane goes the silver-leading Ferrari of Alessandro Balzan. We've got just under two minutes to go. That means there's less than a lap time left in the race. Is there anything left drama-wise of this race? Is the Lionspeed car just going to cruise round, enjoy the sights, take in the scenery for what could be the biggest victory of that quite young team's history so far? Bastian Busch, 23 last week, is going to be the youngest overall winner since Jules Gounod who was 22 in 2017. For IGTC purposes, this is the first time Mauro Engel and indeed Maxime Martin won't win this year as there the leading Porsche starts its last lap. Bastian Busch was Porsche's best-placed driver prior to this. The gap between him and Engel will be 21 points. But as Engel's not racing in IGTC again this year because of DTM commitments, this car and Bastian Busch as a driver could become IGTC champion. 15 of the top 16 in the race are IGTC point scorers. Only the Aston Martin not eligible for that. So as the Porsche comes up the hill for the last time, Thomas Preining, Bastian Busch, Riccardo Fala are set to win this year's CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The cars just look so poised, doesn't it? From the first six hours onwards, it looked okay in the opening part of the race. The team looking on. It will be the longest minute and 40 seconds from this point onwards as they will that car down all the way. Race control to all teams. Just for info, we have a car stopped in the shortcut in turn 9 on driver's left. Please respect the yellow flags. Other than that, track is clear. Looks like 32 BMW. So out of 8th place, Calvin van der Linde has stopped. It's just sort of the corner before this at the top of the hill, as there, Riccardo Fala and Bastian Busch. Talk about going and sitting in a dark room when things get stressing. That's exactly what they've done. You're right. They've locked themselves away. We look for the Porsche. Where, where, where is it? Number 80 into view. So Thomas Preining is going to bring it home. And it's hard here to run out of superlatives. An astounding job from the back of the field, from the pit lane to start off with. We've never had a car from that far back, have we? I believe 29th was the lowest place we've had a winner before. So this has really upset the record books. And it's going to be a hard one to beat. 64 positions gained for this 80 Linespeed Porsche. There is a chequered flag at the line. But then there'll be a ceremonial one the other side of La Source. But it's the one coming out of the chicane that matters. It's going to be a first Endurance Cup win for Linespeed. It's going to be a first GT World Challenge Europe win for Thomas Preining. It's going to be a first CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa win for Thomas Preining. Bastian Busch and Riccardo Fella. Porsche wins the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Linespeed GP from the pit lane start. Brings it home as a race winning team. Second is going to go the way of Lucas Auer. Mauro Engel and Lucas Stoltz. And third to the number 51 Ferrari of Alessio Rovira, Tommaso Mosca and Niklas Nilsson. Fourth over the line. In the Porsche he shares with Matt Campbell and Fred Makowiecki. What a race!