ELMS 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
ELMS 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Spa and Endurance Racing just fit.
The beginning of second half of the 2026 ELMS Season takes us to the Ardennes and the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The weekend greeted the competitors with sunshine on Friday followed by heavy rain during the Pitstop-Challenge and more rain on the following morning.
For Qualifying the Track dried up again. With the Championship going into the final phase every point is even more valuable from now on. And the extra point for Pole Position in GT3 was taken by the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO (McIntosh/Fossard/Thompson) followed by the #33 TF Sport Corvette C8.R GT3 (McDonald/Udell/Eastwood) and the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO (Aal Khelaifi/Hansens/Martin).
In LMP3 Pole went to the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine D09 (Michal/Provost/Schwarze) trailed by the #4 DKR Engineering Ligier JS P325 (Rammo/Favre/Brichacek) and the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 (Lanchere/Jacoby/Iglesias)
In LMP2 Pro/Am Giorgio Roda secured another Pole Position in the #30 Duqueine Team Oreca 07 (Roda/Pin/Verschoor) in front of the #3 DKR Engineering Oreca 07 (Glorieux/Hernandez/Andlauer) and the #7 Vector Sport Oreca 07 (Moller/Bolukbasi/Fluxa).
Idec Sport secured their first Pole Position in LMP2 with Valerio Rinicella at the whell of the #18 Idec Sport Oreca 07 (Chadwick/Rinicella/Horr) beating the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 (Smiechowsko/Dillmann/Yelloly) and the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 (Peebles/Hanley/Saucy)
Right at the start the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 (Garg/De Gerus) missed its braking point by a fraction touching the #22 car and damaging their own headlights on the right side. Peebles managed to catch his car and continue in second while Smiechowski slotted in in third. Garg in the #34 car then lost his whole headlight cover on the way down to Eau Rouge and was due for a replacement stop.
More drama then unfolded as the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P325 (Bukhantsov/Olarte/Chou) locked the rear tires under braking for Les Combes and spun round and subsequently hit the barrier on the other side of the track facing the wrong way. It was not a major hit but sadly enough to end the Race of the #13 car after only one sector. After roughly 15 minutes the Race then resumed. Peebles timed his restart to perfection and was able to follow Chadwick only inches behind. Peebles then attacked Chadwick in La Source and made the move around the outside stick and claimed the lead.
The #22 Unite Autosport car the proceeded to create a big gap with Peebles even setting the fastest lap of the entire Race. After the early Safety Car period the Race got into a nice rhythm. With Peebles creating a 12 second gap in the 15 minutes after the overtake the rest of the LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/AM engulfed in various battles.
In LMP3 Michal in the #85 lost the lead to the #17 CLX Motorsport car and was further chased by the #4 DKR Engineering car.
A tag by a competitor for the #47 CLX Motorsport LMP2 Pro/Am entry (Kolovos/Habsburg/Milesi) saw the car rejoin in an unlucky angle and beach itself on the apex sausage curb of the last Turn bringing out a VSC. The restart held on till Les Combes as the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO (Gilbert/Rueda/Leroux) got send wide at the exit and hitting the outside wall slightly. The subsequent Safety Car was the used to sweep the Track a bit and with 2 hours and 45 minutes on the clock the Race was restarted once more.
During these yellow periods different fuel strategies began to develop with the leading cars choosing track position while some of the Pro/Am cars choose to fill the tank up. As well as the last restart, this one as well took less than a lap for carnage to happen. The #8 Team Virage Ligier JS P325 (Stern/Quintarelli/Nogales) tried to make its way back through the GT3 field and misjudged a gap in the braking zone to Fagnes turning the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO (Kimura/Jaubert/Serra) around. Both cars ended up beached in the gravel on the outside bringing the Safety Car back out again. A number of cars again choose to pit while others stayed out. Third times the charm now the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO grazed the wall in Speakers Corner and got beached in the gravel on the restart.
On the following restart then everybody managed to stay clean and Michal snatched back the LMP3 lead in his #85 Duqueine D09 by R-Ace GP with a late move into the Bus Stop chicane. Michal then had to watch the mirrors to cover the counter attack by the #4 DKR Engineering Ligier JS P325. With half the race now done an unusual picture now occurred. The Top 7 cars all came from the Pro/Am category due to the unusual high frequency of safety cars and different pit strategies. Also on at the half way point a major accident happened on the exit of Pouhon. The #47 CLX Motorsport LMP2 Pro/Am car tried a late move around the outside on the #50 Richard Mille by AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO (Teledo/Wadoux/Agostini). The cars merged together right on the exit curb sending Toledo in the Ferrari hard into the inside wall without any chance to react. Thankfully the driver was OK afterwards. Within the next 15 minutes all the cars with bronze rated drivers took the chance and changed over if they have not already done so and with 1 hour and 45 minutes left the race got back underway. Still the Top 7 positions were occupied by LMP2 Pro/Am cars and the field was headed by the #21 United Autosport Oreca 07 (Schneider/Sato/Jarvis). Following the seven Pro/Am cars the next five cars displayed the leaders on the other strategy consisting mainly of the leaders before these Safety Cars. In LMP3 the #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier JS P325 (Cautela/Rodella/Pedersen) has steadily worked its way up the field and now lead with roughly 90 minutes on the clock. With Battles happening an all four classes the Race got into a really nice flow. With all Pitstops done the #43 Inter Europol Competition car lead the field followed by the #10 Vector Sports Oreca 07 (Cullen/Lomko/Fittipaldi) and the #29 Forestier Racing Oreca 07 (Rousset/Gray/Masson) in third. Pole Sitters Idec Sport #18 again trailed in 4 th like on all three prior races this Season. In LMP2 Pro/Am the lead battle between the #83 Af Corse Oreca 07 (Perrodo/Vaxiviere/Fouco) and the #99 AO by TF Oreca 07 (Hyett/Cameron/Deletraz) was in full swing.
Right before the end the #85 R-Ace GP driven by Hugo Schwarze sneaked third from the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JS P325 (Bell/Dedecker/van der Snel) around the outside of the Bus Stop using faster traffic and capitalising on the #11 being compromised. 2 laps from the end Deletraz had a superb run up Kemmel Straight and showed his nose. Fouco on the defense reacted very late already under braking and thus the touched sending Deletraz around and losing second to the #20 APR Oreca 07 (Jensen/Trulli/Jakobsen). After a turbulent Race the #43 Inter Europol Competition (Smiechowsko/Dillmann/Yelloly) takes a long coming ELMS LMP2 win with the #10 Vector Sports Oreca 07 (Cullen/Lomko/Fittipaldi) crossing the line in second but a post-Race penalty cut short the joy.
Classified second the #29 Forestier Racing Oreca 07 (Rousset/Gray/Masson) extends their championship lead and the #18 Idec Sport (Chadwick/Rinicella/Horr) Genesis Trajectory car finally clinched that first podium.
LMP2 Pro/Am was won by the #83 Af Corse (Perrodo/Vaxiviere/Fouco) entry despite some controversy around that late defensive move right before the end. Second over the line was the #20 APR (Jensen/Trulli/Jakobsen) followed by Spike the Dragon #99 AO by TF (Hyett/Cameron/Deletraz). A disqualification for the on-road winners #5 Rinaldi Racing (Cautela/Rodella/Pedersen) due to a fuel tank irregularity meant that the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 (Lanchere/Jacoby/Iglesias) won the Race. With the only Duqueine in the field ##85 R-Ace GP (Michal/Provost/Schwarze) clinched second and ##11 Eurointernational (Bell/Dedecker/van der Snel) grabbed third. The crew of the #86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO (Wainwright/Hanafin/Jansen) took amaiden win in LMGT3 after being chased down by Alessio Picariello in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO (Berry/van Eijndhoven/Picariello) the whole of the last stint.
They squeezed out a mere 2 second gap over the line. Third went to the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx (Aal Khelaifi/Hansens/Martin) squad. Next up for the ELMS will be the 4 Hours of Silverstone as penultimate Round of the 2026 Season.
