The Belgian Grand Prix is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula One World Championship. The first national race of Belgium was held in 1925 at the Spa region's race course, an area of the country that had been associated with motor sport since the very early years of racing. To accommodate Grand Prix motor racing, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps race course was built in 1921 but until 1924 it was used only for motorcycle racing. After the 1923 success of the new 24 hours of Le Mans in France, the Spa 24 Hours, a similar 24-hour endurance race, was run at the Spa track.
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, informally referred to as Spa, is a 7.004 km (4.352 mi) motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about 8 km (5.0 mi) southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has held a Grand Prix every year since 1985 except 2003 and 2006.
Thierry Marc Boutsen is a Belgian former racing driver who raced for the Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan teams in Formula One. He competed in 164 World Championship Grands Prix, winning three races, achieving 15 podiums and scoring 132 career points. His best finish in the World Drivers' Championship was fourth in 1988 whilst driving for Benetton. He also twice finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race.
Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin is a French racing and rally driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and Le Mans Series champion in both 2007 and 2010. Although he has never won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, he has finished on the podium six times, including four outright second positions. He participated in one Formula One Grand Prix, the 1999 Brazilian Grand Prix, for Minardi as a replacement for Luca Badoer, who had injured his wrist. He suffered a big spin in the race coming up to the start-finish straight on lap 31 and scored no championship points. He also carried out testing duties for the Prost Grand Prix team during the 1999–2001 Formula One seasons and for Toyota Racing in their first season in 2002.
Lucien Bianchi was an Italian-born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One World Championship races, scoring six points and had a best finish of third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix.
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating 4.011 km (2.492 mi) motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
Bas Leinders is a retired professional racing driver from Belgium. He was a Formula One test and reserve driver in 2004 for the Minardi F1 team, taking part in the Friday practice sessions during Grand Prix weekends, making 17 appearances in all. He is also a former British Formula Ford and German Formula Three champion, winning the titles in 1995 and 1998 respectively.
Marc Goossens, nicknamed The Goose, is a Belgian professional racing driver that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, priorly driving the No. 14 Chevrolet Camaro for SpeedHouse in the EuroNASCAR PRO class. He is now driving the No. 56 Chevrolet Camaro for CAAL Racing in the EuroNascar PRO class.
Marc Lieb is a former German Porsche factory motor-racing driver. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2003 and 2005, and the European Le Mans Series in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring four times, one time the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016, in the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring, in the 2003 24 hours of Spa and in the 2007 Petit Le Mans. He is also the 2016 FIA World Endurance Champion.
Vanina Ickx is a Belgian racing driver.
Racing Bart Mampaey is a racing team based in Mechelen, Belgium that runs the BMW Team RBM operation in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Previously the team had been racing in the European Touring Car Championship and World Touring Car Championship.
Koen Maria Gaston Wauters is a Belgian singer, active with the band Clouseau, television presenter, and occasionally actor and race car driver.
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.
Maxime Martin is a Belgian professional racing driver and son of four-time Spa 24 Hours winner Jean-Michel Martin. He currently is a BMW factory driver mainly competing in the GT World Challenge Europe driving for Team WRT. Martin had previously been a BMW factory driver between 2013 and 2017, racing full-time in the American Le Mans Series for BMW Team RLL in 2013, as well as acting as BMW's DTM test and reserve driver. In late 2013 at BMW Motorsport's yearly review, Martin was confirmed as a full-time BMW DTM driver for the 2014 season. In 2018 Martin joined Aston Martin Racing for which he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship between 2018 and 2020.
Nick Catsburg is a Dutch professional racing driver, currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. He was also a factory driver for BMW from 2011 to 2022.
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.
Prospeed Competition is a sports car racing team based in Liège, Belgium. It was founded in 2006 by Rudi Penders and Luc Goris. It has been a factory-supported Porsche team since 2008.
Anthony Kumpen is a Belgian professional racing driver and team manager. Kumpen currently works as the team manager for PK Carsport in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. He previously competed full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, winning the championship twice, in 2014 and 2016. He also joint-held the record of the most 24 Hours of Zolder wins with six.
Pekaracing NV, competing as PK Carsport, is a racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as well as the Belcar Trophy in conjunction with Russell Racing. The team has previously competed in other series such as the FIA GT Championship.
Christine Beckers is a Belgian former racing driver who had success in multiple disciplines: circuit, rallying, rally raid, hillclimbing, autoslalom, and NASCAR.
Belgian
Pierre Thimonier
Klaus Wicha
