The 2016 Total Spa 24 Hours was the 69th running of the Spa 24 Hours. It was also the fourth round of the 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and was held on 30 and 31 July at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.
The race was won by ROWE Racing and drivers Philipp Eng, Maxime Martin and Alexander Sims. The trio's No. 99 BMW M6 GT3 finished just shy of two minutes clear of AKKA ASP and their No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3, driven by Felix Rosenqvist, Tristan Vautier and Renger van der Zande. Completing the podium in third place was the No. 28 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS of Nico Müller, René Rast and Laurens Vanthoor, five seconds behind second place. [1]
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike.
The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a 24-hour annual touring car and GT endurance racing event that takes place on a combination of the Nordschleife and the GP-Strecke circuits of the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Held since 1970, the over 25.3 km (15.7 mi) lap length allows more than 200 cars and over 700 drivers to participate.
Stéphane Ortelli is a Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1998 with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. He's also won the GT1 Class at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2005 with David Brabham and Darren Turner. Currently, he is an Emil Frey Racing driver competing and developing the Jaguar and Lexus GT racing cars in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the VLN series.
Laurens Vanthoor is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He currently resides in Waiblingen outside of Stuttgart.
René Rast is a German professional racing driver and the 2017, 2019 and 2020 DTM champion. He last competed in Formula E. He claimed overall wins at the 2012 and 2014 24 Hours of Spa, 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring and a class win at the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona.
Phoenix Racing is a motor racing team based at the Nürburgring in Germany. The team competes in series such as the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and FIA GT1 World Championship and was the winner of the 2022 24 Hours of Nürburgring with the car #15.
Christopher Haase is a German professional racing driver. He currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with Audi customer team Tresor Attempto Racing. Among his most notable successes are winning the 2007 ADAC GT Masters title, triumphing alongside Christopher Mies in the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship, and taking home the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2012 and 2014. He also won the 24 Hours of Spa in 2017.
The 2010 Total 24 Hours of Spa was the 63rd running of the Spa 24 Hours. Following the break-up of the FIA GT Championship, the 2010 running of the Spa 24 Hours served as part of the FIA GT2 European Cup, with cars from the GT3, GT4, and national-level GT categories also being allowed to participate. Due to a transaxle gearbox the BMW M3 GT2 was not allowed to compete in the GT2 class, forcing them to race in GTN instead. This was the last year GT2 cars were eligible for the race.
W Racing Team is a Belgian auto racing team founded in 2009 by engineer and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist, racing driver Vincent Vosse, and entrepreneur Yves Weerts. Between 2010 and 2022 the team campaigned Audi R8 LMSs in several international sports car series. In 2010 the team won the Belcar Drivers' and Teams' Championships, while in 2011 they won the Spa 24 Hours. After winning multiple titles in various GT championships, WRT is considered to be one of the best teams worldwide in GT racing. In 2019 and 2020 WRT ran two Audi RS5 Turbo DTMs in the highly competitive DTM championship. In 2021 WRT added a full time LMP2 program, by entering an Oreca 07 in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series, and won the LMP2 class of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. From 2023 on WRT switched their partnership in GT racing from Audi to BMW and will run the BMW M4 GT3. The team will also run two factory backed BMW M Hybrid V8s in the FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar category from 2024.
ROWE Racing is the motor racing team of the German lubricant manufacturer Rowe Mineralölwerk. Since 2011, ROWE Racing has competed in series such as the Nürburgring Endurance Series, the GT World Challenge Europe, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and the 24 Hours Nürburgring. In 2020 it won both the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours. In 2023 it won the Spa 24 Hours for the third time.
The 2015 Total Spa 24 Hours was the 68th running of the Spa 24 Hours. It was also the fourth round of the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series season and was held on 25 and 26 July at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.
The 2017 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup was the seventh season of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The season began on 23 April at Monza and ended on 1 October in Barcelona. The season featured five rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of three hours besides the 24 Hours of Spa and the 1000 km Paul Ricard events.
The 2017 Intercontinental GT Challenge was the second season of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The season featured three rounds, starting with the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour on 5 February and concluding with the Mazda Raceway California 8 Hours on 15 October, after the SRO Motorsports Group chose to cancel the Sepang 12 Hours scheduled for 10 December, due to a lack of entries. Laurens Vanthoor was the defending drivers' champion and Audi was the defending manufacturers' champion.
The 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup was the eighth season of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The season began on 22 April at Monza and ended on 30 September in Barcelona. The season featured five rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of three hours besides the 24 Hours of Spa and the 1000 km Paul Ricard events.
Stuart Leonard is a British racing driver who is currently competing in the Blancpain GT Series for W Racing Team, driving an Audi R8 LMS (GT3).
Dries Vanthoor is a racing driver from Belgium who is set to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship with BMW M Team WRT. In his previous role as an Audi factory driver Vanthoor amassed multiple accolades, winning the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hours and 2019 24 Hours of Nürburgring, as well as taking three consecutive titles in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup from 2020 to 2022 alongside Charles Weerts.
The 2021 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup was the eleventh season of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. It saw the series return to a five-event schedule following a shortened 2020 programme.
Maxime Soulet is a Belgian racing driver.
The 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS was the ninth season of GT World Challenge Europe. The season began at Imola on 3 April and ended at Catalunya on 2 October. The season consisted of 10 events: 5 Sprint Cup events, and 5 Endurance Cup events.
The 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup was the thirteenth season of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup since its inception in 2011 as the Blancpain Endurance Series. The season began on 22 April at Autodromo Nazionale Monza and ended on 1 October at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.