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.

Eleven minutes into the hour the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin of Mattia Drudi pulled into the pits for a very much unscheduled stop with the car sounding sick from the onboard cameras alone, with a mysterious rattling in the background. Drudi had to drive the full length of the pits before finally coming to a stop in his garage before pulling into the garage for the team to try and resolve the issue which eventually turned out to be a fatal drivetrain malfunction. But realistically, with the bonnet off within a minute, any chance of back-to-back victory had been taken from them. Mercedes now led 1-2 with the #17 of Luca Stolz ahead of Matteo Cairoli’s #48 of Team Mann-Filter.

Silver Cup meanwhile had a totally different complexion with a change in strategy for the #10 Mercedes of Boutsen VDS, who breifly led the class before installing Aurelien Panis in the car, allowing Walkenhorst Motorsport’s #35 Aston Martin of Oliver Soderstrom to take the lead with just under 15 hours to go. Meanwhile BMW now seemed to be running much strong under cover of darkness with Max Hesse leading the way for the brand that won the N24 last week with ROWE Racing’s #998, sitting sixth behind Benji Goethe.

Bronze Cup meanwhile had one of its strongest contenders on paper hit trouble, as with 9 hours and 40 minutes left the Paradine Competition #991 of Sean Gelael suffering a puncture and limping round the track before halting at the bus stop to find a good enough gap to make it into the pits. The team had been struggling and running 51st overall and 12th in class, and now any chance of recovering was seemingly out of the window after losing its left front wheel and losing brake fluid.

And there was more drama to come for the front of the race, as the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes was handed a drive through penalty for causing an earlier collision with the aforementioned Paradine Competition #911 BMW, plummeting the team to 10th overall and over a lap down on the leaders, with a short few minutes to go before the pit stops.

And after the #48 pit, still running on its own maverick strategy it was amazingly the #63 Lamborghini of Luca Engstler that now led the race ahead of Garage 59’s #59 Mclaren still driven by Benji Goethe. It had been an incredible run from the team who’d started the race in 19th on the grid after a suboptimal Superpole session. Max Hesse was now fourth in his ROWE BMW #988 with Eliseo Donno holding his #50 Ferrari steady in third place. There was still a long way to go before we knew if the contrarian strategy for the #48 would work, and now there was also the prospect of a comeback drive from the #17 to contend with.

It wouldn’t have to deal with Fabian Schiller’s GetSpeed Mercedes, as without warning the former race leader that hadn’t put a wheel wrong until that drive through slowed to a halt just after La Source after contact with the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, putting its chance of clawing back the time lost into absolute jeopardy, in a horrible turn of events for the team. This was turning into a truly dramatic night stint, meaning that Matteo Cairoli inherited the lead as the sole Mercedes left in the Pro field. For the second time in the span of seven days the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes was out of a 24 hour race while contending for the lead. Thus, the FCY was brought out once more to deal with the stricken car.

And with the pit stops complete, the order was now changed significantly. BMW finally had a car in the overall lead, with Max Hesse’s #998 ROWE car leading Mirko Bortolotti’s #163 ahead of Eliseo Donno’s #50 and the #48 Mann-Filter Mercedes of Matteo Cairoli in fourth. Joseph Loake was fifth for the Garage 59 #59 McLaren with Alessio Picariello’s #96 Rutronik Porsche in sixth. And on the restart Hesse would storm away, opening up a 5.3 second gap in the opening two laps of the green flag running and firmly establishing his #998’s chances as we slowly creep towards the halfway point. Meanwhile, the #51 Ferrari was continuing its incredible recovery drive now running 7th overall with Alessio Rovera at the wheel.

In other matters, the Gold Cup Winward Racing entry, that of the #57 was announced as an official retirement after numerous incidents in the prior hours that had seen it plummet down the order. A significant development then came as for the first time, the #51 Ferrari incredibly led the race for the briefest of moments during the pit cycle, as Mirko Bortolotti set the fastest lap of the race with a 2.17.562 while running in effectively second place in his #63 GRT Lamborghini.

There was further drama in the lead battle as the VSR Lamborghini suffered firstly a slow pit stop and then sunk through the field afterwards, lapping up to 15 seconds slower and throwing its chances of victory into significant doubt, in a car that had been leading earlier on, Franck Perera hitting trouble yet staying out despite the slow lap times. Meanwhile opposite fortunes continued to strike the #51 Ferrari that now sat fifth overall on pace and strategy. The #163 came finally came into the pits flashing its headlights and smoking from the rear, and the team pushed it into the garage for its mandatory technical stop.

Corvette were making their grand return to the Spa 24, but it hadn’t been going well. And when the #24 Stellar Motorsport Corvette was found facing the wrong way on the exit of La Source it appeared things weren’t getting any easier for them, the car sitting stricken while trying to get his car turned round.

So as we hit the halfway mark its BMW who lead the 24 Hours of Spa with Phillip Eng’s #998 BMW by just under a second over Mirko Bortolotti’s #63 GRT Lamborghini, with Gold Cup now headed up by Dean MacDonald’s #58 Garage 59 McLaren. Le Mans class winner Ricardo Pera now leads in Bronze Cup with his #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche, while Silver Cup is headed by the #35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin and Pro/Am is led by the Beechdean AMR Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse-Clot.

We’ve had considerable attrition throughout the night stints, but who will be left as dawn arrives?

Thumbnail credit – Cabose via discord