Two down, one more to go! The third race in June’s trilogy of 24 hour battles commences, and with no less than 76 cars across five classes vying for glory, it’s sure to be an epic. But just who will come out on top in the most prestigious GT race in the world? It’s time to close the 72 Hours of June with a scorcher.

Valentino Rossi got a delayed Superpole session up and running, though he struggled to lay down a truly competitive benchmark in the #46 WRT BMW, with his 2.17.116 easily vanquished by Joel Sturm and Maxime Martin, with a 2.16.127 and a blistering 2.16.075 respectively. Certainly Martin’s performance sent a message to the other 19 competitors in his #1 Boutsen VDS Mercedes, and on his second lap the Belgian improved with a 2.15.792, as many drivers struggled in their opening laps.

Of the two Gold Cup entries Joel Sturm had the pace in his #92 Herberth Motorsport Porsche, ending up five tenths faster than Harry King’s Verstappen.com #33 Aston Martin, with the latter’s chance of improving snatched away thanks to a red flag. Incredibly it was the third red of the weekend caused by a Walkenhorst Aston Martin, Henrique Chaves crashed out at Pouhon while running fifth overall, the front end completely obliterated. Worse still it posed a doubt over whether the #34 team would be able to race after their DNF at the N24 last week.

25 minutes remained when green flag running resumed with Mathieu Jaminet the first car back out on track, having already set two of his three allotted laps, but failed to improve on the pre-red flag 2.17.068. No one seemed to be able to match the #9 thus far, as Phillip Eng in the #998 ROWE BMW, Antonio Fuoco of the #50 both failing to crack the top five. Martin’s time held strong, even as Alessio Rovera in the #51 went second overall, just 0.002 behind as the times start falling into the 2.15s.

Joules Gounon (#17), Lucas Auer (#48) and Franck Perera (#163) all went within 2 tenths within that time from the Mercedes, but it was Dries Vanthoor who finally bested it with a 2.15.713 before Joules Gounon powered through to a 2.15.57 with a purple second sector. And that wasn’t the last of them, as with a 2.15.113 Marvin Kirchofer shot his McLaren 720s of Garage 59’s #59 into a four tenth advantage that proved good enough for pole position.

So then, after 20 cars and a red flag have fought hard for the all important pole position it’s Marvin Kirchofer who gives McLaren their first ever pole at this historic event. Joining him on the front row, will be Joules Gounon, as despite a track limits infringement on the Andorran license holder’s last flying lap his 2.15.527 is still good enough for a front row seat. Dries Vanthoor continues his excellent qualifying form in 2025 with a third place on tomorrow’s grid for the #31 WRT BMW as Maxime Martin’s inital barnstorming time is still good enough for fourth. Ferrari are looking strong with a fifth place for their factory #51 entry thanks to Alessio Rovera’s efforts. The real disappointment here is Porsche, the best placed of which is the Gold Cup entry of Herberth Motorsport.

So with the grid now fully formed all that’s left is a short warmup session later this evening and to stew in our own anticipation before the race gets underway tomorrow afternoon at 3pm local time. It’s my third 24 hour live blog in as many weeks, but just who will cap off the 72 Hours of June in style?

Check back tomorrow for the 2025 24 Hours of Spa. It’s sure to be a belter of a race!

Thumbnail credit – Cabose via discord