Garage 59 moved to the front of the 2026 CrowdStrike 24H of Spa as rain arrived shortly before the halfway mark at Spa-Francorchamps.
Tom Fleming led aboard the Gold Cup-entered #58 McLaren during a lengthy Full-Course Yellow, which followed a major accident involving Sarah Bovy’s #700 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin. The neutralisation also coincided with the first rain of the race and prompted several teams to switch to wet tyres.
However, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER and HRT Ford Racing controlled much of the preceding four-hour period. The #48 Mercedes-AMG and #64 Ford repeatedly exchanged the advantage through pit-stop cycles, while contact, punctures, penalties and further cautions reshaped the leading group.
Fleming recovers as Hour 9 begins
The ninth hour began with Luca Stolz leading aboard the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry.
Tom Fleming followed in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren after passing the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche for second. Valentino Rossi held fourth in the #46 Team WRT BMW as the race settled following the incidents that had disrupted the opening night running.
Garage 59 had already faced trouble shortly before Fleming’s move. Louis Prette and Morris Schuring collided at the Bus Stop while fighting for fourth, spinning the #58 McLaren and briefly dropping it behind several rivals.
Race Control held Schuring responsible and handed the #2 Porsche a drive-through penalty. The sanction removed Boutsen VDS from the immediate lead battle and allowed Fleming to re-establish Garage 59 near the front.
Puncture costs ROWE Racing valuable ground
The #98 ROWE Racing BMW suffered another setback after emerging as one of the strongest cars during the opening eight hours.
Raffaele Marciello had worked his way into the leading group, but a puncture forced the BMW into an unscheduled stop. The delay dropped the car to 16th and placed it out of sequence with the main contenders.
The timing compounded ROWE Racing’s frustration. The #98 had already lost time through a penalty before the puncture interrupted another competitive stint.
Worse followed when the car stopped shortly before the next Full-Course Yellow. The neutralisation handed several rivals a cheaper pit stop and denied ROWE Racing the same strategic advantage.
HRT Ford uses caution to take control
Arjun Maini brought the #64 HRT Ford Mustang into the lead battle through an alternative strategy.
The Ford spent part of Hour 9 at the front before Maini handed the car to Fabio Scherer. Although the stop initially dropped the #64 to 10th, HRT expected it to return to the lead as the other contenders completed their own services.
That prediction proved accurate when the #60 JMW Motorsport Ferrari stopped at Turn 15 and triggered a Full-Course Yellow.
The interruption arrived as the Ford approached the end of its stint, giving HRT an ideal opportunity to stop. Most of the leading group followed the Ford into the pits, which brought the strategies back together and allowed Scherer to retain the advantage.
By contrast, the #98 BMW had entered the pits immediately before the caution and lost further ground through pure bad luck.
Safety Car compresses the leading group
Race Control converted the Full-Course Yellow into a Safety Car period and completed a wave-by procedure before returning the race to green.
Scherer controlled the restart in the #64 Ford, but Maro Engel immediately placed the #48 Mercedes-AMG under its rear wing. Only three-tenths of a second separated the two cars, while less than five seconds covered the leading nine.
The #46 Team WRT BMW, #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry, #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and #58 Garage 59 McLaren all remained within striking distance.
The tightly packed restart created one of the closest overall battles of the race, although traffic continued to influence every attempt to overtake.
WRT completes the first technical stop
Team WRT used one of the Safety Car periods to complete the #32 BMW’s mandatory technical stop.
The regulations require each car to remain stationary for at least five minutes during a designated part of the race. WRT became the first team to complete the requirement, trading immediate track position for a potential strategic advantage later.
However, the #32 BMW had already endured mechanical trouble. The team previously brought the car into the garage and removed its bonnet, dropping Charles Weerts and his teammates off the lead lap.
The BMW returned to the circuit, although the technical stop and earlier repairs left it outside the leading fight.
Mercedes-AMG beats Ford during the next stop
The #64 Ford continued to lead as the race completed 10 hours, with the #48 Mercedes-AMG less than one second behind.
However, HRT lost the advantage during the next round of stops. The Ford’s service took approximately three seconds longer than the Mercedes-AMG’s, allowing Stolz to emerge ahead of Thomas Drouet.
The pair immediately began fighting for first place, while the #46 Team WRT BMW and #3 Mercedes-AMG remained close behind.
The pit-lane exchange demonstrated how little separated the leading teams. With track position difficult to gain through traffic, a few seconds during routine service carried significant consequences.
Winkelhock crashes at Blanchimont
Markus Winkelhock brought out another Full-Course Yellow after crashing the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi at the exit of Blanchimont.
The incident stranded the Audi and required officials to recover the car. Race Control subsequently deployed the Safety Car, prompting most teams to abandon their planned stint lengths and return to the pits.
Several cars had completed only half of their expected fuel runs, but the reduced time loss made stopping the safer strategic choice.
The neutralisation once again compressed the leading field and erased the gaps that Mercedes-AMG, Ford and their immediate challengers had built.
Stolz controls the restart
Luca Stolz retained the advantage when racing resumed, leading Drouet in the #64 Ford and Dani Juncadella in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry.
Behind them, Fleming continued to keep the Gold Cup McLaren involved in the overall contest. Garage 59 had survived the earlier collision with the #2 Porsche and remained close enough to capitalise on further strategy changes.
Elsewhere, the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin briefly showed flames at its front. The team quickly dealt with the problem and returned the car to the race.
The #32 BMW also rejoined after another garage visit, although the earlier delays had dropped it well outside the lead battle.
Three incidents extend the final caution
The race returned to Full-Course Yellow conditions during the closing stages of Hour 12 after Sarah Bovy crashed the #700 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin at Turn 17.
Bovy hit the barriers heavily, although reports confirmed that she was okay. Race Control noted the incident and also examined the possible involvement of the #20 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG.
Two further problems followed almost immediately. Jacopo Jelmini stopped the #11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin near Turn 2 after the car appeared to lose power, while Javier Sagrera parked the #42 Oman Racing by Century Motorsport BMW at Turn 9.
Officials needed to recover three cars, repair the barriers at Turn 17 and restore the gravel traps. Race Control therefore warned teams to expect a lengthy neutralisation.
Garage 59 moves ahead during the caution
The extended Full-Course Yellow triggered another busy pit-stop sequence.
Fleming moved the #58 Garage 59 McLaren to the head of the order as the strategies shifted, with the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry also moving forward.
The #991 Paradine Competition BMW and #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari rose into the leading group through their Bronze Cup strategies, while the #48 Mercedes-AMG and #64 Ford dropped behind several cars that followed different pit cycles.
The changes did not necessarily represent a permanent strategic order, but they placed Garage 59 at the front as the race approached halfway.
Rain transforms the race at halfway
Raindrops first appeared in the pit lane while officials continued the recovery and barrier repairs.
The rainfall soon intensified across the circuit, leading Race Control to declare wet-track conditions. Teams then began calling their drivers into the pits for wet tyres as the race entered its second half.
Officials also reset every track-limits warning because the changing conditions altered the drivers’ ability to remain within the circuit boundaries.
The rain introduced another major strategic variable after 12 hours of heat, repeated cautions and rapidly changing track positions. Teams now had to judge tyre choice and rainfall intensity while preparing to restart on a circuit that offered different grip levels from corner to corner.
An unsettled race reaches halfway
The four-hour period changed the contest several times.
Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER began the phase in control, HRT Ford Racing used strategy to take the lead, and the #48 regained the advantage through a quicker pit stop. Garage 59 then moved ahead during the final extended neutralisation.
Meanwhile, the #2 Porsche lost ground through its drive-through, the #98 BMW suffered another costly setback and the #84 Audi joined the growing retirement list after its Blanchimont crash.
The arrival of rain ensured that the race entered its second half with no settled hierarchy. Garage 59 held the immediate advantage, but Mercedes-AMG, Ford, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin remained represented near the front as the field prepared for wet night-time running.
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