BMW has ended a 27-year absence from the top step of the podium at the pinnacle of international endurance racing, by clinching a memorable triumph in today’s TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
The ‘Ardennes Rollercoaster’ invariably generates exciting action, and the second round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign was no exception. BMW M Team WRT – based just up the road near Liège – began the six-hour contest in front of a record-breaking Spa crowd of 101,606 enthusiastic fans from just tenth and 11th on the Hypercar class grid, but an audacious strategy and a stroke of luck proved to be key to the squad’s success.
In a race that featured no fewer than four safety car interventions, BMW elected to roll the dice during the first round of pit-stops at the end of the opening hour, short-fuelling the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 to vault René Rast into the lead. A new fastest lap for the experienced German subsequently extended that advantage, before he handed over to team-mate Sheldon van der Linde at one-quarter distance.
In clean air, the South African maintained the momentum as he unleashed a similarly impressive turn-of-speed, and a neutralisation four hours in enabled the crew to get back in sync with their rivals – while crucially retaining first place.
Robin Frijns increased the margin in the final stages as the pursuing pack squabbled frenetically in his wake. With Kevin Magnussen producing a defensive masterclass against rivals Ferrari and Toyota in the sister #15 BMW the Dane shares with home hero Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello, the Bavarian brand was able to celebrate a famous one-two finish – its first outright victory in global endurance racing since the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1999.
“It's an unbelievable story for us,” enthused race-winner, Rast, who in tandem with Frijns, now tops the Drivers’ title table, while BMW has leapt to the summit of the Manufacturers’ standings. “It’s been a long time in the making – we’ve been waiting for this moment for the last two or three years. Everybody has worked so hard, and to celebrate our first win in Belgium, where WRT is at home, is something very special.
“The team pulled off a miracle in terms of strategy. They put me in front, and then the car was just flying and in clean air, we had great pace. We had great pit-stops, we made no mistakes and we had no contact. It’s just an amazing day!”
If the #20 BMW played the long game to perfection, the #15’s race was far less straightforward. The car survived two collisions with the #51 Ferrari, while Magnussen produced a tenacious performance at both the beginning and end, climbing from tenth to fifth early on and later staunchly holding his ground under pressure from a gaggle of fresher Michelin-shod Hypercars filling his rear-view mirrors.
After failing to in his efforts to snatch the runner-up spoils, Antonio Fuoco turned his attentions to staving off a fired-up Kamui Kobayashi to ascend the bottom step of the rostrum alongside Ferrari AF Corse team-mates Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, with the #50 trio ruing a wheel nut issue during a pit-stop towards the end of the second hour that cost them 20 seconds.
Toyota’s Kobayashi fell prey to an inspired Tom Gamble six laps from the flag, with the Brit and countryman Harry Tincknell duly cementing the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s finest finish in FIA WEC to-date in fourth place.
There was plenty of cause for cheer, too, for Genesis Magma Racing, as the Hypercar newcomer scored points in only its second start in the series. ‘Pipo’ Derani, André Lotterer and Mathys Jaubert steered the #17 GMR-001 prototype to eighth position.
By contrast, there was bitter disappointment for the Hypercar category’s two French manufacturers. Alpine’s #35 A424 and Peugeot’s #94 9X8 were both solidly in the hunt for silverware, only to walk away empty-handed.
Former LMP2 class champion António Félix da Costa crashed spectacularly out of the second-place scrap with less than half-an-hour remaining, while qualifying star Malthe Jakobsen – who barely 24 hours earlier had claimed Peugeot’s first pole position in FIA WEC – found himself collected by Matteo Cressoni’s spinning Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 entry just before the four-hour mark, with the damage incurred curtailing the #94 crew’s charge.
Next up on the FIA WEC calendar is the series’ flagship event – the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in France on 10-14 June.
Check out the full qualifying times.
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