The 24 Hours of Spa is an
endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps,
Stavelot
Stavelot (; german: Stablo ; wa, Ståvleu) is a town and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Francorchamps and Stavelot.
It is best known as the home of Sp ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. It is currently sponsored by
TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies SE is a French Multinational corporation, multinational integrated energy and List of oil exploration and production companies, petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven Big Oil, supermajor oil companies. Its businesses ...
.
History
![Alfa Romeos at the 1930 24 Hours of Spa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Alfa_Romeos_at_the_1930_24_Hours_of_Spa.jpg)
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the inaugural
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
was run. It debuted in 1924 over a circuit on public roads between the towns of
Francorchamps
Francorchamps (, wa, Francortchamp) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Stavelot, located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
It is home to the motor-racing Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
The Circuit de Spa-Franco ...
,
Malmedy
Malmedy (; german: Malmünd, ; wa, Måmdiy) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On January 1, 2018, Malmedy had a total population of 12,654. The total area is 99.96 km2 which gives a populati ...
and Stavelot, under the auspices of the
Royal Automobile Club of Belgium
The Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) is an association of Belgian motorists founded in January 1896. Their missions are focused on assistance, advice and sport.
Championships
* Belcar
* Belgian Rally Championship
* Belgian Rallycross Cha ...
(RACB). The present circuit was inaugurated in 1979 with only slight variations since then.
The Spa 24 Hours was part of the
European Touring Car Championship
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...
from 1966 to 1973, again in 1976 and from 1982 to 1988 (with the exception of
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
when it was part of the
inaugural
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...
World Touring Car Championship
The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...
). The event also counted towards the
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...
in
1953 and the
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
. As on the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
, both a 24h and a 1000 km race is held at Spa, as the
1000 km Spa for
sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
were introduced in 1966.
Cars entered have spanned from the Russian
Moskvitch
Moskvitch (russian: Москвич) (also written as ''Moskvich'', ''Moskvič'', or ''Moskwitsch'') is a Soviet/Russian automobile brand produced by AZLK from 1946 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2001 and later returned to production i ...
and models with sub-1 liter engines such as the
NSU Prinz The NSU Prinz (Prince) is an automobile which was produced in West Germany by the NSU Motorenwerke AG from 1958 to 1973.
NSU Prinz I, II & III
The first post-war NSU car, the Prinz I, was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1957 a ...
TT to the luxurious V8-powered
Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 was a full-sized luxury performance car built by Mercedes Benz from 1968 to 1972. It featured the company's powerful 6.3-litre M100 V8 from the flagship 600 (W100) limousine installed in the normally six-cylinder p ...
. Tuned by
Mercedes-AMG
Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its headquarters in A ...
, the 6834 cc and so-calle
"Red pig" finished as high as second in 1971.
During the 1975 race, Dutch driver Wim Boshuis and a track marshal were killed in two separate incidents. Boshuis was killed when his vehicle collided with other cars on the track, while the track marshal was killed 30 minutes later when Belgian driver
Alain Peltier collided with a railing.
With the participation of
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
Lilian Bryner
Lilian Bryner (born 21 April 1959) is a racing driver from Switzerland.
Career
She has mainly raced in the FIA GT Championship from 1997 until 2005 and has raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Her first race at Le Mans was in 1993, but her most ...
on the victorious
Ferrari 550
The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 y ...
of the ''
BMS Scuderia Italia
BMS Scuderia Italia SpA (sometimes referred to as simply Scuderia Italia) is an Italian auto racing team founded by Italian steel magnate and motorsports enthusiast Giuseppe Lucchini in 1983. Initially named Brixia Motor Sport (BMS) the team bri ...
'' team, the 2004 race marked the first time in history that a female driver was part of the winning team of a 24-hour endurance race in a
Gran Turismo with more than .
The current version of the Spa 24 Hours is an event under the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar, although it was previously run as part of the
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
featuring GT1 and GT2 machinery, and by various touring car series. Currently, the cars run fall under the FIA
GT3 and GT3 Cup classifications. It has also been a round of the
SRO Group's
Intercontinental GT Challenge
The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations.
Format
The series is aimed ...
since its inaugural season in 2016.
2020 saw the race held
behind closed doors for the first time.
2023 Belgian Grand Prix, which is part of the 2023 F1 calendar released by FIA on 21 September 2022, is schedule on the race weekend of 28 July to 30 July and clashed with the Spa 24 Hours. This forced the Spa 24 Hours in 2023 to reschedule from its traditional late July race weekend to the race weekend between 29 June to 2 July.
Coupe du Roi
The best manufacturer wins the Coupe du Roi (King's Cup), which is not necessarily the race winners. The cup is won by the manufacturer with the most points, accrued by cars that are made by the same manufacturer. For example, Australian car manufacturer
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
won the Coupe du Roi in 1986 despite their
cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
finishing the race in 18th, 22nd and 23rd positions outright.
Gricey's King's Cup Story (Spa 1986)
/ref>
List of winners
Multiple winners
By driver
By manufacturer
See also
* Motorcycle endurance racing series.
Notes
References
External links
TotalEnergies Spa 24 Hours website
Available in English, French and Dutch
FIA GT Website
{{24-hour races
Sports car races
Touring car races
Auto races in Belgium
World Sportscar Championship races
Endurance motor racing
Recurring sporting events established in 1924
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
1924 establishments in Belgium