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.

There was drama right before the start, as Johor Motorsport’s #2 Corvette suffered brake issues at the eleventh hour and the team wouldn’t take the start and begin their race in the garage. McLaren were on pole for the first time, with Marvin Kirchofer leading the field up to Eau Rouge for the first time as Joules Gounon and Maxi Goetze gave chase up the Kemmel straight, the field all getting through cleanly through the first lap as Kirchofer held the lead from Gounon and the fast starting Vincent Abril in the #51 factory Ferrari. At the final chicane Dean Macdonald spun his Garage 59 Mclaren #58, though he was the first casualty of the opening exchanges.

Macdonald was by no means the only though, as Antuares Au limped round his third lap after slamming into the #60 VSR Lamborghini of Michelle Beretta at the bus stop. As the #60 pulled straight into the pits Au would have to lap the entire circuit with heavy damage to his front left suspension in his #97 Bronze Cup Porsche of Rutronik Racing. Thus, the first full course yellow was brought out, not ten minutes into the race.

After these incidents the race did calm down over the first hour or so, the most notable moment being the first drive through penalty of the race. It was picked up by the #54 of Rutronik Racing, Jop Rappange at the wheel. Then came two hefty penalties for both the #8 of Kessel Racing – a 150 second stop and go penalty for changing their engine after Friday’s night practice session – and the QMMF Porsche #27, a standard drive through. Another penalty then followed for the #54, a 30 second time penalty to be served at their next pit stop for accumulating six track limits warnings in just 44 minutes.

Approaching the end of the first hour, the attrition didn’t stay away for long. A slow puncture hit the #88 Tresor Attempto Racing Gold Cup Audi of Riccardo Cazzaniga round Pouhon, though the car didn’t lose many places; it was running 69th overall and last by some margin in its class.

At the head of the field it was still the #59 of Marvin Kirchofer who stretched his advantage to just over a second from Joules Gounon’s #17 GetSpeed Mercedes. Vincent Abril’s #51 Ferrari was a further five seconds back while Maxime Martin was fourth for the Boutsen VDS #1 Mercedes. Fast-starting Sandy Mitchell up to fifth for the #163 VSR Lamborghini crew. After fixing their brake issues the #2 Johor Motorsports Corvette re-entered, though their only goal would be to finish, the team already 7 laps down.

With the SRO mandating a universal maximum stint length of 60 minutes it was Sandy Mitchell who boxed first, looking for an undercut with his #163 Lamborghini. But staying out were Kirchofer and Gounon who ended up dicing for the lead as they hit traffic before their first pit stop, though the mandatory stint length meant their battle would be now fought in the pits as the rest of the field came in. As they cycled through Sandy Mitchell’s undercut worked as he shot into second behind Kirchofer, who’d held his lead through the pit cycle. Also making moves in the pits was the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin of last year’s winners Nicki Thiim, Mattia Drudi and Marco Sorensen, the ‘Dane Train’ now up to third as Gounon’s Mercedes slipped back to fourth. But there was worse for the third placed #51 Ferrari of Vincent Abril who suffered a stop 16 seconds slower than the leading Mclaren’s, all the hard work evaporated as the team now ran 11th on track. And as the #97 Porsche of Rutronik Racing also returned from the garage the #51 would enter it and exit a lap down, Alessio Rovera having taken control of the car. Meanwhile, the #112 Mclaren of CSA Racing became the second car to suffer a puncture, plummeting to second last in the Silver Cup class as VSR’s #163 was still yet to resurface from the pits.

And as the CSA circulated the worst was to happen – as it rounded Blanchimont off the racing line Josh Mason could do nothing more to prevent the huge crash that followed. As Mason kept to the outside kerbing he was smashed into the back at full racing speed by Laurin Heinrich who was left with zero time to react. His #22 Schumacher CLRT was left in terrible condition as the Porsche’s door was trundling round in the rear splitter. Heinrich was thankfully ok in what was the second almighty accident in as many years at this race, his car utterly totalled, the team’s day done. He was sharing his drive with Klaus Bachler and Ayhancan Guven. Josh Mason was conscious after the huge hit and has been taken to the medical centre for further examination.

This brought a Full Course Yellow immediately as the stricken cars were recovered and removed from the track, after which Kirchofer led Mitchell, Gounon, Maro Engel in the #48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes and Alessio Picariello that was up a total of eight places since the start in the #96 Rutronik Porsche. Nicki Thiim was down to seventh and in seventh now was Thomas Drouet with the sole Pro class HRT Ford #65, going really well after a fourth place and Pro/Am win at the N24 last week. Meanwhile, Paradine Competition’s #991 Bronze Cup BMW spun at the bus stop as Maxime Martin came in very early for a scheduled stop in his #9 Boutsen VDS car.

Heading up to the two hour mark Antaures Au’s already tricky day got worse as his Rutronik Porsche found the gravel after being struck by George Kurtz’s #4 Crowdstrike Mercedes, also suffering a puncture for his troubles as well. Another FCY was called out to get the #97 back on track. But that wasn’t the only damage, as Spa debutant Custodio Toledo ran into the back of the #270 Comtoyou Aston Martin, incurring massive damage to his front bodywork and suspension. The Aston also had significant damage to its rear as the pits opened. It meant that the #65 Ford was back on sequence with the other teams after having only made one stop to this point, as the #46 WRT BMW was now struggling with throttle issues. The top four remained the same remained the same, albeit with driver changes. The #59 was now in the hands of Benji Goethe, Marco Mapelli took control of the #163 as Luca Stolz and Matteo Cairoli were now behind the wheel of the #17 and #48 respectively. With just under 20 minutes until the 3 hour mark Benji Goethe led the field away with the German storming away ahead of Mapelli and the two Mercedes. Then, the #27 QMMF by Santeloc Racing Audi slowed significantly on track with mechanical issues after running in 15th in the Bronze Cup Class. It eventually reached the pits again, thankfully avoiding an FCY or collision ala Josh Mason’s at Blanchimont earlier as the #97 received another penalty, this time a 30 second stop and go at its next stop for track limits infringements.

So through the first three hours we’ve already seen plenty of drama, and there’s still over 20 hours left. Garage #59 have been looking strongest so far and head the field ahead of an unchanged top four since we went back to green. Verstappen.com Racing’s #33 crew meanwhile have a comfortable lead and are the best placed non-pro car, running in 10th place. Silver Cup is currently led by Sainteloc Racing’s #26 Audi with the #65 HRT Ford of Romain Andriolo giving chase. Bronze Cup is currently going the way of 20th overall, Kessel Racing’s #1 of Zacharie Robichon while the Pro/Am leader is that of AV by Car Collection Motorsport’s #29 of Fabian Duffieux.

So a frentic start to the 24 Hours of Spa, but who will stay in the fight as we venture further into the evening?

Thumbnail credit – Cabose via discord