Ferrari set the early standard at the 2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa as Alessio Rovera placed the #51 AF Corse entry at the top of the Free Practice 1 (FP1) classification.
Rovera completed a 2:17.234 aboard the Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, beating Conrad Laursen’s Gold Cup-leading #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari by just 0.073 seconds. Furthermore, Ferrari entries led three of the five classes during the opening official session of the event.
Laursen strikes first before Rovera responds
The official timing sheet recorded the green flag at 10:16 local time as all 69 entries joined the 7.004-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Dry but sweltering conditions greeted the field. The air temperature rose from 30.3°C to 32°C during the 90-minute session, while the track temperature climbed from 38.4°C to 45.7°C.
Laursen established the first major benchmark with a 2:17.307 in the #71 Ferrari. However, Rovera responded a few minutes later and found another 0.073 seconds on his second flying lap. The AF Corse driver recorded his session-leading time at 10:27 and retained first place for the remainder of the morning. Consequently, Ferrari secured the top two positions while also leading the Pro and Gold Cup classifications.
Dylan Pereira followed in third for Tresor Attempto Racing. The Portuguese driver took the #99 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II around Spa in 2:17.371, finishing only 0.137 seconds behind Rovera and 0.064 seconds behind Laursen.
Oliveira leads Silver as Mercedes-AMG joins the top five
Guilherme Oliveira placed the #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren fourth overall and headed the Silver Cup with a 2:17.484. Oliveira finished 0.250 seconds behind Rovera and held a 0.611-second advantage over the next Silver Cup entry. Meanwhile, Luca Stolz took fifth overall for Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER with a 2:17.590.
Stolz also secured second place among the Pro entries, although Rovera held a 0.356-second advantage over the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Dennis Marschall then added another Ferrari to the leading group. The Kessel Racing driver produced a 2:17.673 to take sixth overall and lead the Bronze Cup. Marschall finished 0.439 seconds behind the outright benchmark and placed the defending Bronze Cup-winning team at the front of its class.
Tight margins fill the remainder of the top 10 in FP1 at the 2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa
Marvin Kirchhöfer placed the #59 Garage 59 McLaren seventh with a 2:17.720. Maximilian Götz followed only 0.001 seconds behind in the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry.
Meanwhile, Ayhancan Güven took ninth for Schumacher CLRT after recording a 2:17.731 in the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO. Mattia Drudi then completed the top 10 with a 2:17.806 aboard Comtoyou Racing’s #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO. Therefore, only 0.572 seconds separated Rovera from Drudi. Moreover, the opening 23 cars all finished within 0.987 seconds of the fastest time, highlighting the closely matched field ahead of Qualifying.
Further down the order, Herberth Motorsport claimed second in the Bronze Cup and 17th overall through Mathieu Jaminet. The #177 Grupo Prom Racing Team Mercedes-AMG followed in 18th overall and led the Pro-Am Cup through Alvaro Hernandez.
Red flag briefly interrupts the session
Race control briefly halted the action during the opening half-hour after Kerong Li brought the #86 High Class Racing Porsche to a stop at Paul Frère. Officials dealt with the incident quickly and allowed teams to resume their programmes without a lengthy delay. The stoppage ultimately caused little disruption, and the session produced no further major incidents.
After the restart, several drivers improved, but none challenged Rovera’s early benchmark. The #51 Ferrari, therefore, completed the first official session of the event at the head of the 69-car field.
2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa: FP1: Top three by class
Pro
- #51 AF Corse Ferrari – Alessio Rovera: 2:17.234, P1 overall
- #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER – Luca Stolz: 2:17.590, P5 overall
- #59 Garage 59 McLaren – Marvin Kirchhöfer: 2:17.720, P7 overall
Gold
- #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari – Conrad Laursen: 2:17.307, P2 overall
- #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi – Dylan Pereira: 2:17.371, P3 overall
- #58 Garage 59 McLaren – Benjamin Goethe: 2:17.856, P12 overall
Silver
- #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren – Guilherme Oliveira: 2:17.484, P4 overall
- #6 GetSpeed Team Bartone Bros Mercedes-AMG – Karol Basz: 2:18.095, P19 overall
- #20 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG – Yannick Mettler: 2:18.313, P27 overall
Bronze
- #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari – Dennis Marschall: 2:17.673, P6 overall
- #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche – Mathieu Jaminet: 2:17.989, P17 overall
- #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG – Mikaël Grenier: 2:18.173, P21 overall
Pro-Am
- #177 Grupo Prom Racing Team Mercedes-AMG – Alvaro Hernandez: 2:18.054, P18 overall
- #0 Johor Motorsports Racing JMR Corvette – Ben Green: 2:18.380, P30 overall
- #70 AF Corse Ferrari – Miguel Molina: 2:18.733, P45 overall
The provisional classification placed Ferrari at the head of Pro, Gold and Bronze, while McLaren led Silver and Mercedes-AMG controlled Pro-Am.
2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa: FP1: Overall top 10
Free Practice 1 overall top 10
- #51 AF Corse Ferrari – Alessio Rovera: 2:17.234
- #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari – Conrad Laursen: 2:17.307, +0.073
- #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi – Dylan Pereira: 2:17.371, +0.137
- #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren – Guilherme Oliveira: 2:17.484, +0.250
- #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER – Luca Stolz: 2:17.590, +0.356
- #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari – Dennis Marschall: 2:17.673, +0.439
- #59 Garage 59 McLaren – Marvin Kirchhöfer: 2:17.720, +0.486
- #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed – Maximilian Götz: 2:17.721, +0.487
- #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche – Ayhancan Güven: 2:17.731, +0.497
- #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin – Mattia Drudi: 2:17.806, +0.572
Qualifying takes centre stage later at Spa
The field returns to the circuit at 16:10 local time for a second Free Practice session, which runs for one hour and launches the event’s live GT World coverage.
Qualifying then begins at 19:45. The session will determine the Superpole contenders and lock the cars outside the leading group into positions 33 through 69 for the race.
Full entry list
Weekend schedule
Watch the race live here and follow along with Pit Debrief‘s live blog.
