Aston Martin wins 24 Hours of Spa

Mattia Drudi was first to the chequered flag at Spa-Francorchamps in the #7 Vantage AMR GT3 which he shared with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.

Despite starting 14th, that entry emerged as one of three contenders for victory by mid-morning, the others being the #998 Rowe Racing BMW and the #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari.

Those three cars were running on the same strategy when the AF Corse Ferrari was into pit lane around midday.

The Rowe BMW and the Comtoyou Aston Martin were in a lap later, after which the former had a moment exiting the lane up the hill.

With Alessandro Pier Guidi already up to speed in the #51 Ferrari, he was able to speed past as they ran up the Kemmel Straight, before Thiim prised second place from ROWE’s Max Hesse.

AF Corse pulled away to a 10-second lead before they made their final pit stop with 50 minutes remaining.

However, its path to pit lane was blocked by a stricken Lamborghini, and Comtoyou was able to emerge from the cycle in the lead of the race, which the squad retained thereafter.

Drudi beat the Ferrari to the chequered flag by 33 seconds, while Rowe ended up sixth when they had to transit the lane again to avoid breaching a maximum stint length, leaving Team WRT to complete the podium with its #32 BMW.

This year’s Bathurst 12 Hour winner, Matt Campbell, finished eighth in the SSR Herberth Porsche which he shared with Mathieu Jaminet and Frederic Makowiecki.

Triple Eight Race Engineering’s campaign ended during the night when Martin Konrad crashed the #888 Mercedes-AMG at Eau Rouge/Raidillon during the night.