The #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R finished in fourth and less than a second behind the third-placed #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
Victory went to Lionspeed GP trio Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus who made up a remarkable 65 places having begun the race from pit lane.
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That squad was forced into an engine change on Thursday, which meant they failed to qualify.
Feller, Preining and Buus finished 12.288s clear of the Lucas Auer/Luca Stolz/Maro Engel #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann Filter entry after a dominant final stanza.
As the sun rose over the Belgian circuit, it was the #48 Mercedes-AMG and the #51 Ferrari 296 that looked like they would war over the win.
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A clash between them with 19 hours to go resulted in a puncture for the Ferrari, which despite its pace couldn’t recover the lost time. Still, third was an impressive effort.
The pivotal moment of the race came when an undercut in the closing quarter of the race shot the #80 Porsche into the lead, which it never relinquished.
“It was a call we made collectively,” race winner Preining said.
“I told the team I could not overtake and we had to do it on strategy.
“We had the pace, but only in clean air; we saw that not only in the battles for position but also in lapped traffic.
“We are really fast in the corners, in mid-corner especially, but that is not the best way to overtake.”
Feller said he was “relieved” to win and that the Lionspeed GP team deserved to win.
“Having to start from the pitlane was, of course, a setback. But we still believed we had a chance,” Feller said.
“That’s exactly what makes a strong team. We’ve been able to write a fantastic chapter in our history.
“In our sport, you experience more defeats than victories, which is why we’re going to celebrate this success in style.”
Campbell’s co-driver Guven said damage to the Porsche and penalties ultimately put paid to their progress.
“We gave it our all and came very close to a podium finish,” Guven said.
“Overall, the race didn’t go so well for us. We were involved in a few incidents with other cars, which caused damage to our Porsche, and we also picked up a few penalties.
“That put us a bit behind. Even though we didn’t manage it ourselves, a 911 still won – and I’m happy with that.”
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