After a safety car intervention closed up the field in Belgium, the scene is set for a sensational finish to today’s second round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign in both categories…
The mid-phase of the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps witnessed a fascinating multi-marque battle between BMW, Alpine and Cadillac at the front of the headlining Hypercar class
A tense and intriguing tactical fight played out around the undulating and iconic Ardennes track, as BMW continued to try and make its bold offset strategy pay off
Sheldon van der Linde headed the field for the majority of the third and fourth hours, as locally-based Team WRT attempted to exploit its earlier-than-usual fuel strategy
With strong pace, van der Linde was able to extend the overall gap to the chasing pack, headed initially by the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Louis Delétraz and subsequently the #35 Alpine with António Félix da Costa at the wheel
Da Costa, in only his second race for the French manufacturer, was able to reduce the gap slightly to the BMW in his stints at the wheel after jumping the #12 Cadillac during the third scheduled pit-stops; the Portuguese star then handed over to Charles Milesi for the final two hours, still in a net second place
Delétraz fell back into the hands of the off-strategy #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie and similarly strategically creative #50 Ferrari 499P piloted by Nicklas Nielsen, the latter of which was trying to make up for a slow pit-stop earlier in the race
But Delétraz was deemed to have overtaken slower cars off the track at Raidillon in the fourth hour, obliging the Cadillac driver to serve a five-second penalty as a consequence; Norman Nato took over the car and headed out to attempt to make up for the lost time
The #51 Ferrari AF Corse entry that had earlier been in a contretemps with the #15 BMW, began to make strong progress with James Calado at the wheel; that momentum, however, was blunted by another collision with the #15 BMW, this time driven by Dries Vanthoor, sending the Belgian into a spin at Les Combes
Just before the fifth hour arrived, there was an unfortunate collision at Les Combes when the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG driven by Matteo Cressoni spun and was collected by pole-sitter Malthe Jakobsen in the #94 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8, badly damaging both cars
That triggered a second safety car period for debris to be collected from the circuit, and changed the complexion of the race with all Hypercars effectively now back on the same strategy; the #20 BMW of Frijns maintained the lead as the re-start neared
Genesis Magma Racing had varying fortunes as the delayed #19 GMR-001 stopped briefly on-track at Les Combes, but the sister #17 car circulated strongly, holding 14th position on the lead lap
LMGT3: Leader - #21 VISTA AF Corse
The LMGT3 battle raged throughout the mid-portion of the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps, with Simon Mann spending the majority of that time in the lead
Mann, though, was hunted down by the flying #10 Garage 59 McLaren piloted by Imola pole-winner, Tom Fleming; as the fourth hour came to a close and the second safety car period was declared, the Ferrari and McLaren pitted together, with Alessio Rovera and Marvin Kirchhöfer respectively climbing aboard for the final two hours
Garage 59 is aiming to eradicate the bitter memory of Imola last month, when it was forced to retire in the final 35 minutes after leading comfortably and looking nailed-on for victory
Recovering from its earlier penalty for track limits violations, the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus held third position with Esteban Masson taking over from Hadrien David, who again impressed with consistent pace in the RC F
There was frustration for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang, which was hit with two separate track limits penalties for Giammarco Levorato, shuffling the car back down the order and out of the points
Heart of Racing Team runs fourth, with the #27 Aston Martin Vantage enjoying a clean run during the first four hours; Mattia Drudi heads the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3R that Riccardo Pera had powered up the order in the mid-phase of the race
Completing the current top six is the Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette, as Charlie Eastwood enters the fray for the final two hours
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