Second place overall and class win for Mercedes-AMG in CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa

The AKKODIS ASP Team with Timur Boguslavskiy (FIA), Jules Gounon (AND) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) has secured second place in the 75th running of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with an outstanding performance. After a rainy qualifying, the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 had only started the world’s biggest GT3 race from 23rd place on the grid. With a faultless performance by the driver trio and tactically clever decisions by the team, however, the defending winners worked up their way through the field and found themselves close to the leaders. In the closing stages, the team put all its eggs into one basket and came in for its stop one lap earlier than the opposition. That enabled the French team to make up the decisive positions towards the end. Jules Gounon defended second place in a commanding way which was rewarded with the deserved podium result. After 24 hours, the gap to the winners was only around eleven seconds. After two overall wins in the 24 Hours of Spa, second place was another podium result for Gounon. As a result, he also defended his lead in the Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ standings. Together with his teammates Boguslavskiy and Marciello, he is also in second place of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers’ standings after the 24-hour race.

Running with an anti-cyclic strategy for most of the time, the #777 car was another Mercedes-AMG GT3 to make it into the top ten. Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar’s Lucas Auer (AUT), Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz (both GER) finished the intense race that saw 28 cars retiring in ninth place overall after 536 laps.

SunEnergy1 Racing races from pit lane to class win

With Nick Catsburg (NED), Martin Konrad (AUT), Chaz Mostert (AUS) and Adam Osieka (GER), SunEnergy1 Racing scored a hard-fought class win. The team, that had to revert to a replacement car and a new driver at the last minute following an accident by Kenny Habul (AUS) started the 24-hour race from the pit lane. In spite of these difficult conditions, the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 consistently worked its way up to finish in 22nd place overall and first in the PRO-AM class. After the incident at Raidillon, team owner Kenny Habul is on his way to recovery.

Seven Mercedes-AMG GT3s including two Performance cars were forced to retire early from the race that was marked by numerous incidents and collisions. The #87 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKODIS ASP entry retired after contact through no fault of its own. The #999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM car incurred wheel bearing damage after earlier contact and had to retire in the early morning hours as a result. Until that point, the yellow mamba had always been withing striking distance to the front runners.

The next round on the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup schedule will take place at the Nürburgring on 29th and 30th July. In the Intercontinental GT Challenge, there is now a longer break until the penultimate round of the season, the Indianapolis 8 Hour on 6th and 7th October.

“24 hours ago, I wouldn’t have thought that we would be standing on the podium here. I am overjoyed that we were able to finish the race in second place overall and with victory in the PRO-AM class. A good strategy and a faultless performance by drivers and teams enabled us to make progress. Spa-Francorchamps is always a very special venue and a place with a lot of tradition for us as a brand. Moreover, it is one of the world’s toughest races. For the second half of the season, we still have to work a bit on our outcome. A podium result is good, but winning is always better, of course, that simply is our mentality. Still, we have seen a great race and high-quality competition. Thanks to all our drivers and teams for their passionate commitment and congratulations to BMW Motorsport on their victory.” Christoph Sagemüller, head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport

“It was the hard battle that was anticipated and sometimes was like a game of chess. From all our teams in all classes, we were initially missing some pace. In the course of the race, however, we were able to improve and were also able to compete for the overall win and class victories. At the six- and twelve-hour marks, we scored points with all the Performance cars. It was a perfect achievement by the AKKODIS ASP Team and the drivers. Strategically working their way up like that and defending second place deserves respect. A nice experience is the fact that Kenny Habul and SunEnergy1, with the support from Adam Osieka and HRT, managed to get the replacement car ready and make it to the PRO-AM class win. Of course, we congratulate BMW Motorsport and ROWE on their well-deserved victory.” Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing

“It was a hard race in which we gave it our all. We remained faultless, we didn’t have any contact and any penalties. Admittedly, it wasn’t enough fort he win, but after last year’s success, we knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. Therefore, second place is a great result.” Raffaele Marciello, AKKODIS ASP Team #88

“We can be proud of ourselves as we got the best possible out of the race. Today, the front runner simply was stronger. That we finished on the podium again after our victory from last year shows how strong the Mercedes-AMG GT3 is and how well the AKKODIS ASP Team works. Even though I always want to win, of course, I am happy with second place. These are important points for the championship.” Jules Gounon, AKKODIS ASP Team #88

“This is great for the team. They managed to get a car here that wasn’t meant to race here at all and to run a driver who wasn’t scheduled to race either. They had so much work with it and then we also had to start all the way at the back from the pit lane. But somehow it all worked out. A big hand to the entire team, to my teammates for the faultless job and also to Kenny, who immediately said: I want you guys to race. Hopefully, we can bring the trophy to him in the hospital this evening. It is an incredible feeling.” Nick Catsburg, SunEnergy1 Racing #75

For us, this wasn’t the Spa 24-hour race, it was the Spa 48-hour race. The guys drove with a lot of passion and they got themselves the reward for it. After Thursday, we had to deal with many challenges, but everyone at Mercedes-AMG, HRT and SunEnergy1 Racing worked relentlessly to make this all happen. I am very proud to have won the race with Mercedes-AMG. I really had massive pain and even though I wasn’t able to drink champagne together with the guys today, I am sure that we will make up for this.” Kenny Habul, SunEnergy1 Racing #75

“A slightly disappointing result for us. We had definitely hoped for more than ninth place. This year, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. In the race, we weren’t in a position to attack. Now, we have to analyse it and work even harder to come back stronger next year.” Fabian Schiller, Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar #777

“The 24 Hours of Spa are always a challenge, but we have made it to the finish. We had quite a lot to deal with and had to catch up time and again. Making it into the top 5 of our class is a good result. But we know that more would have been possible. It just wasn’t our race. We made the best out of the circumstances. I can’t thank Mercedes-AMG and the Haupt Racing Team enough for this programme.” Jordan Love, Haupt Racing Team #79

“It was a very patchy race with more negative than positive elements for us. From lap four onwards, we were three laps down and then we also incurred a few penalties. On Saturday, we weren’t quite happy with our pace, but from the night onwards, it got considerably better. Unfortunately, we were too far down already at that point to still play a role in the battle for the class podium.” Philip Ellis, Winward Racing #57