Spa 24 Hours

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The Spa 24 Hours is an endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Conceived by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem just one year after the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race was run under the auspices of the Royal Automobile Club Belgium (RACB).

It was held for the first time in 1924 over a 9.3 mile circuit on public roads between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot. The present 6.9760 km circuit was inaugurated in 1979.

The Spa 24 Hours were part of the European Touring Car Championship from 1966 to 1973. The event also counted towards the World Sportscar Championship in 1953 and 1981. As on the Nürburgring, both a 24h and a 1000km race is held at Spa, as the 1000km Spa for sports car racing were introduced in 1966.

Cars entered included Russian Moskvitch and engine sizes ranged from 996cc NSU Prinz TT to the luxurious V8-powered Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, tuned by Mercedes-AMG to the so-called "Red pig" . This heavy and fast vehicle with 6834 cm³ and 420 hp finished only 2nd in 1971, as frequent refuelling was necessary, and tyre wear was also high.

With the participation of Swiss Lilian Bryner on the victorious Ferrari 550 of the BMS Scuderia Italia team, the 2004 race marked the first time in history that a female driver has won a 24 hour endurance race in a Gran Turismo with more than 500hp.

At the 1996 and 1997 24 Hours Nürburgring, Sabine Reck had won in a BMW M3 touring car following Group N rules, with about 321hp.

[edit] Results on 14km track

Year	Car	Pilots	Distance	Average
1924	Bignan 2L	Henri Springuel Maurice Becquet
1925	Chenard-Walcker	André Lagache René Leonard
1926	Peugeot 174S	André Boillot Louis Rigal
1927	Excelsior	Robert Sénéchal Nicolas Caerels
1928	Alfa Romeo	Boris Ivanowski^[1] Attilio Marinoni
1929	Alfa Romeo 6C 1750SS	Robert Benoist Attilio Marinoni
1930	Alfa Romeo 6C 1750GS	Attilio Marinoni Pietro Ghersi
1931	Mercedes-Benz SSK	Dimitri Djordjadze^[2] Goffredo Zehender
1932	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300LM	Antonio Brivio Eugenio Siena
1933	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300LM	Louis Chiron Luigi Chinetti
1934	Bugatti Type 44	Jean Desvignes Norbert Mahé
1935	No race held
1936	Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A	Francesco Severi Raymond Sommer
1937	No race held
1938	Alfa Romeo	Carlo Pintacuda Francesco Severi
1939 1947	No races held
1948	Aston Martin	St John Horsfall Leslie Johnson
1949	Ferrari 166MM	Luigi Chinetti Jean Lucas
1950 1952	No races held
1953	Ferrari 375MM Pinin	Giuseppe Farina Mike Hawthorn	World Sportscar Championship
1954 1963	No races held
1964	Mercedes-Benz 300SE	Robert Crevits Gustave Gosselin	3962,100	164,825
1965	BMW 1800	Pascal Ickx Gérard Langlois van Ophem	3812,591	158,855
1966	BMW 2000ti	Hubert Hahne Jacky Ickx	4048,368	168,681
1967	Porsche 911	Jean-Pierre Gaban Norbert Van Assche	4052,883	168,867
1968	Porsche 911	Erwin Kremer Willi Kauhsen Helmut Kelleners	4004,827	166,867
1969	Porsche 911	Guy Chasseuil Claude Ballot-Lena	4272,231	187,006
1970	BMW 2800CS	Günther Huber Helmut Kelleners	4252,407	177,183
1971	Ford Capri RS	Dieter Glemser Alex Soler-Roig	4385,100	182,690
1972	Ford Capri RS 2600	Jochen Mass Hans-Joachim Stuck	4498,436	187,431
1973	BMW 3.0 CSL	Toine Hezemans Dieter Quester	4422,980	184,290
1974	BMW 3.0 CSi	Jean Xhenceval Alain Peltier Pierre Dieudonné	4147,289	172,804
1975	BMW 3.0 CSi	Pierre Dieudonné Jean Xhenceval Hughes de Fierlandt	4249,270	177,053
1976	BMW 3.0 CSL	Jean-Marie Detrin Nico Demuth Charles Van Stolle	4087,904	170,329
1977	BMW 530i	Eddy Joosen Jean-Claude Andruet	4083,835	170,159
1978	Ford Capri	Gordon Spice Teddy Pilette	4315,594	179,816

^ Ivanowski was a Russian national, but in exile since the Russian Revolution
^ Djordjadze was a Russian national, but in exile since the Russian Revolution

[edit] Results on 7km track

The current version of the Spa 24 Hours is an event under the FIA GT Championship calendar, although it was previously run as part of various touring car series. Currently, the cars run fall under the GT1 and GT2 FIA classifications as well as the G2 and G3 classifications used for non-homologated racing cars of lower classes.

Year	Car	Pilots	Distance	Average	Notes
1979	Ford Capri	Jean-Michel Martin Philippe Martin	3083,632	128,485
1980	Ford Capri	Jean-Michel Martin Philippe Martin	2952,318	123,013
1981	Mazda RX-7	Tom Walkinshaw Pierre Dieudonné	3183,952	132,737	World Sportscar Championship
1982	BMW 528i	Hans Heyer Armin Hahne Eddy Joosen	3132,224	130,808	European Touring Car Championship
1983	BMW 635 CSi	Thierry Tassin Hans Heyer Armin Hahne	3333,726	130,808	European Touring Car Championship
1984	Jaguar XJS	Tom Walkinshaw Hans Heyer Win Percy	3055,485	131,091	European Touring Car Championship
1985	BMW 635 CSI	Roberto Ravaglia Gerhard Berger Marc Surer	3470,000	144,344	European Touring Car Championship
1986	BMW 635 CSI	Dieter Quester Thierry Tassin Altfrid Heger	3463,060	144,232	European Touring Car Championship
1987	BMW M3	Jean-Michel Martin Didier Theys Eric van de Poele	3338,140	139,908	World Touring Car Championship
1988	BMW M3	Altfrid Heger Dieter Quester Roberto Ravaglia	3532,460	146,929	European Touring Car Championship
1989	Ford Sierra Cosworth	Gianfranco Brancatelli Win Percy Bernd Schneider	3338,140	139,130
1990	BMW M3	Fabien Giroix Johnny Cecotto Markus Oestreich	3247,920	135,330
1991	Nissan Skyline GT-R	Anders Olofsson David Brabham Naoki Hattori	3587,980	149,456
1992	BMW M3	Steve Soper Jean-Michel Martin Christian Danner	3560,220	148,947
1993	Porsche 911 RSR	Christian Fittipaldi Uwe Alzen Jean-Pierre Jarier	2154,904	144,667
1994	BMW 318is	Roberto Ravaglia Thierry Tassin Alexander Burgstaller	3625,960	151,047
1995	BMW 320i	Joachim Winkelhock Steve Soper Peter Kox	3612,532	150,531
1996	BMW 320i	Jörg Müller Thierry Tassin Alexander Burgstaller	3507,821	145,956
1997	BMW 320i	Didier de Radigues Marc Duez Eric Hélary	3372,680	140,252
1998	BMW 318i	Marc Duez Eric van de Poele Alain Cudini	3344,807	139,344
1999	Peugeot 306 GTI	Frédéric Bouvy Emmanuel Collard Anthony Beltoise	3428,427	142,588
2000	Peugeot 306 GTI	Frédéric Bouvy Kurt Mollekens Didier Defourny	3330,870	138,686	Last race for touring cars
2001	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Christophe Bouchut Jean-Philippe Belloc Marc Duez	3679,104	152,999	FIA GT Championship
2002	Chrysler Viper	Christophe Bouchut David Terrien Vincent Vosse	3654,059	152,019	FIA GT Championship
2003	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	Stéphane Ortelli Marc Lieb Romain Dumas	3327,613	138,557	FIA GT Championship
2004	Ferrari 550 Maranello	Luca Cappellari Fabrizio Gollin Lilian Bryner Enzo Calderari	3888,144	161,974	FIA GT Championship
2005	Maserati MC12	Michael Bartels Timo Scheider Eric van de Poele	4000,896	166,638	FIA GT Championship
2006	Maserati MC12	Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini Eric van de Poele	4092,961	171,034	FIA GT Championship