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2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa | Night Practice | Fleming puts Garage 59 on top

Karishma Persad06 mins
Tom Fleming led 2026 24H Spa Night Practice for Garage 59, beating Maro Engel as McLaren topped Gold Cup under the lights before Superpole.
Photo Credit: SRO | JEP
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Tom Fleming placed Garage 59 at the top of Night Practice for the 2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa as the Gold Cup-entered #58 McLaren led the field under the lights.

Fleming recorded a 2:18.231 during the opening stages of the 90-minute session, beating Maro Engel’s #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry by 0.401 seconds. Jules Gounon completed the overall top three for Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing.

McLaren therefore led the overall, Gold and Silver Cup classifications, while Mercedes-AMG topped Pro, Kessel Racing headed Bronze and Car Collection Motorsport controlled Pro-Am.

Fleming establishes the early benchmark

Night Practice began at 23:06 local time and gave the drivers their first opportunity to experience the 7.004-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps circuit in full darkness. Dry conditions greeted the field, while the air temperature stood at 28.6°C and the track measured 33.4°C when the green flag appeared. Both figures gradually fell during the session, reaching 26.4°C and 31.4°C respectively by the chequered flag.

Fleming immediately moved to the front in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren. The Briton completed his fastest lap on his fourth tour, stopping the clock at 2:18.231 only 11 minutes into the session. His time remained approximately 1.5 seconds slower than the 2:16.685 that Simon Gachet produced on track during Qualifying. However, the stewards later deleted the #111 CSA Racing McLaren’s Qualifying laps.

Nevertheless, nobody challenged Fleming’s Night Practice benchmark, allowing Garage 59 to complete Thursday’s track action at the head of the order.

Engel leads Pro as Mercedes-AMG fills the next positions

Maro Engel emerged as Fleming’s closest challenger aboard the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry. The German recorded a 2:18.632 on his fourth lap, securing second overall and first place among the Pro entries. However, Fleming retained a comfortable 0.401-second advantage.

Jules Gounon produced one of the few late improvements. The Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing driver completed a 2:18.786 during the final minutes and climbed to third overall. Gounon displaced Fabian Schiller by only 0.002 seconds. Schiller had recorded a 2:18.788 early in the session aboard the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed car.

The #17 crew had provisionally topped Combined Qualifying earlier in the evening. However, the stewards deleted its Q3 laps after team personnel carried out unpermitted work on the car, removing it from Friday’s Superpole field. Despite that setback, Schiller’s fourth-place result gave Mercedes-AMG three cars inside the leading four positions during Night Practice.

Owega keeps Optimum Motorsport ahead in Silver

Salman Owega continued Optimum Motorsport’s strong form by placing the #5 McLaren fifth overall and first in the Silver Cup. Owega produced a 2:18.825, finishing 0.594 seconds behind Fleming and only 0.037 seconds behind Schiller. The result followed two class-leading performances for the same car during Thursday’s daytime running. Guilherme Oliveira had led Silver in Free Practice 1, while Owega topped the category in Free Practice 2.

Alessio Picariello followed only 0.002 seconds behind the Optimum Motorsport driver. His 2:18.827 placed the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche sixth overall and made it the fastest Porsche of the session. Meanwhile, Arjun Maini also brought the #64 HRT Ford Racing Mustang into the top 10. His 2:18.911 secured eighth overall, 0.680 seconds behind the leader.

Sturm puts Car Collection Motorsport on top in Pro-Am

Joel Sturm delivered one of the session’s standout performances by placing the #8 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche seventh overall. Sturm completed a 2:18.841 to lead the Pro-Am class by 0.821 seconds. He also finished only 0.014 seconds behind Picariello’s Pro-entered Boutsen VDS Porsche.

The result provided Car Collection with a positive conclusion to a difficult Qualifying evening. Contact and a red-flag infringement had disrupted the team’s earlier programme, but Sturm demonstrated the #8 Porsche’s outright pace during Night Practice.

The #999 GetSpeed Team PCX Mercedes-AMG finished second in Pro-Am and 24th overall with a 2:19.662. Meanwhile, Hongli Ye placed the #86 High Class Racing Porsche third in class and 34th overall after recording a 2:19.883.

Chaves and Schandorff complete the top 10

Henrique Chaves placed the #34 Natural Elements by Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin ninth overall. The Portuguese driver recorded a 2:19.034 during the early stages and finished 0.803 seconds behind Fleming.

Frederik Schandorff then completed the top 10 after delivering another late improvement in the #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari. Schandorff completed a 2:19.077 with approximately six minutes remaining. His lap also placed the AF Corse-run Ferrari second in the Gold Cup behind Fleming’s Garage 59 McLaren.

Robin Knutsson secured third in Gold and 18th overall with a 2:19.535 aboard the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche.

Tuck leads the Bronze Cup for Kessel Racing

Ben Tuck placed the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari at the top of the Bronze Cup order with a 2:19.229. The defending class-winning team finished 13th overall and less than one second behind Fleming’s benchmark.

Alex Fontana followed in second for Lionspeed GP. His 2:19.364 placed the #89 Porsche 15th overall, only 0.135 seconds behind Tuck. Meanwhile, Daan Arrow completed the Bronze Cup top three aboard the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. Arrow recorded a 2:19.553 and finished 19th overall.

Night Practice runs without major interruption

Although the drivers encountered Spa-Francorchamps in darkness for the first time during the event, the session produced no major incidents. Race control did not deploy a safety car, full-course yellow or red flag, allowing the teams to complete uninterrupted long-run and night-time programmes.

Sixty-seven of the 69 entries started the session, and officials classified every participating car.

The #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG remained in the garage after missing Qualifying. GetSpeed began a precautionary engine change and expects the car to return during Friday’s Warm-Up. Meanwhile, the #79 Tsunami RT Porsche also completed no laps after the team encountered further problems following its shortened Qualifying programme.

2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa Night Practice: Top three by class

Pro

  1. #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER – Maro Engel: 2:18.632, P2 overall
  2. #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing – Jules Gounon: 2:18.786, P3 overall
  3. #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed – Fabian Schiller: 2:18.788, P4 overall

Gold

  1. #58 Garage 59 McLaren – Tom Fleming: 2:18.231, P1 overall
  2. #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari – Frederik Schandorff: 2:19.077, P10 overall
  3. #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche – Robin Knutsson: 2:19.535, P18 overall

Silver

  1. #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren – Salman Owega: 2:18.825, P5 overall
  2. #65 HRT Ford Racing – Finn Wiebelhaus: 2:19.611, P21 overall
  3. #555 CSA Racing McLaren – Lorens Lecertua: 2:19.677, P25 overall

Bronze

  1. #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari – Ben Tuck: 2:19.229, P13 overall
  2. #89 Lionspeed GP Porsche – Alex Fontana: 2:19.364, P15 overall
  3. #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG – Daan Arrow: 2:19.553, P19 overall

Pro-Am

  1. #8 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche – Joel Sturm: 2:18.841, P7 overall
  2. #999 GetSpeed Team PCX Mercedes-AMG – Marvin Klein: 2:19.662, P24 overall
  3. #86 High Class Racing Porsche – Hongli Ye: 2:19.883, P34 overall

The final classification placed McLaren at the head of Gold and Silver, while Mercedes-AMG led Pro. Ferrari controlled Bronze, and Porsche topped Pro-Am.

2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa Night Practice: Overall top 10

  1. #58 Garage 59 McLaren – Tom Fleming: 2:18.231
  2. #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER – Maro Engel: 2:18.632, +0.401
  3. #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing – Jules Gounon: 2:18.786, +0.555
  4. #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed – Fabian Schiller: 2:18.788, +0.557
  5. #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren – Salman Owega: 2:18.825, +0.594
  6. #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche – Alessio Picariello: 2:18.827, +0.596
  7. #8 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche – Joel Sturm: 2:18.841, +0.610
  8. #64 HRT Ford Racing – Arjun Maini: 2:18.911, +0.680
  9. #34 Natural Elements by Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin – Henrique Chaves: 2:19.034, +0.803
  10. #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari – Frederik Schandorff: 2:19.077, +0.846

Full results

Superpole takes centre stage on Friday

The leading 32 cars from Thursday’s final Combined Qualifying classification will return to the circuit for Superpole at 15:05 local time on Friday.

The knockout session will determine the front of the starting grid for the 2026 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Meanwhile, the remaining teams will focus on completing their final preparations before Saturday afternoon’s race start.

Full entry list
Weekend schedule

Watch the race live here and follow along with Pit Debrief‘s live blog

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