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 |
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| 1925 | Chenard-Walcker | André Lagache René Leonard |
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| 1926 | Peugeot 174S | André Boillot Louis Rigal |
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| 1927 | Excelsior | Robert Sénéchal Nicolas Caerels |
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| 1928 | Alfa Romeo |  Boris Ivanowski[1] Attilio Marinoni |
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| 1929 | Alfa Romeo 6C 1750SS | Robert Benoist Attilio Marinoni |
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| 1930 | Alfa Romeo 6C 1750GS | Attilio Marinoni Pietro Ghersi |
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| 1931 | Mercedes-Benz SSK | Dimitri Djordjadze[2] Goffredo Zehender |
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| 1932 | Alfa Romeo 8C 2300LM | Antonio Brivio Eugenio Siena |
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| 1933 | Alfa Romeo 8C 2300LM |  Louis Chiron Luigi Chinetti |
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| 1934 | Bugatti Type 44 | Jean Desvignes Norbert Mahé |
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| 1935 | No race held | |||
| 1936 | Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A | Francesco Severi Raymond Sommer |
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| 1937 | No race held | |||
| 1938 | Alfa Romeo | Carlo Pintacuda Francesco Severi |
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| 1939 1947 |
No races held | |||
| 1948 | Aston Martin |  St John Horsfall Leslie Johnson |
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| 1949 | Ferrari 166MM |  Luigi Chinetti Jean Lucas |
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| 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 |
[edit] External links
24 Hours of Le Mans · 24 Hours Nürburgring · Rolex 24 at Daytona · Spa 24 Hours
