After failing to win the Nürburgring 24 Hours at the end of June, Audi bounced back to take sweet revenge today at Spa-Francorchamps. This year’s classic was marked by unsettled weather during practice and the odd showery spell during the night-time part of the race.

The N°33 Audi (Franchi/Ekström/Scheider) eased ahead at about the halfway point and went on to cross the line in first place with a two-lap advantage over the BMW Z4 of Werner/Sandström/Hürtgen. The two cars were joined on the podium by another German machine, the Black Falcon Mercedes AMG SLS of Lémeret/Heyer/Jäger, which means that no Porsche 997 GT3s made it into the top three. That said, the Manthey Racing Porsche played a leading role before hitting electrical trouble and catching fire, while the N°9 Porsche crashed at Raidillon and the two Prospeed 997s tangled early on.

The Hexis Racing-tended Aston Martin of Makowiecki/Dusseldorp/Moser had been running in third place until a few hours before the flag until mechanical problems relegated it to 15^th spot. Meanwhile, the pole-winning Marc VDS Racing BMW Z4 was sidelined by an oil leak after four hours. The N°2 Ferrari Vit4One of Bartels/Bertolini/Machiels/Hommerson was enjoying a run inside the top five before being excluded following a pit-stop procedure infraction.

The hectic early part of the race produced several safety car interruptions as a result of collisions and tangles, with the new McLaren (N°59) crashing out after just 11 minutes. The N°25 Lamborghini was also involved in a scary off.

The result saw MICHELIN claim its third straight victory in a 24-hour race this season in the wake of its success at Le Mans (with Audi) and at the Nürburgring (with Porsche).

Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Michelin, Spa 24 Hours 2011