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Motorsport

Heiko Stritzke

Spa 24 Hours: Ferrari crushes competition in superpole

Ferrari Alessio Rovera Jules Gounon Spa 24 Hours Tom Fleming McLaren Arjun Maini Arthur Leclerc Audi BMW

Ferrari’s absolute dominance at the 2026 Spa 24 Hours showed no signs of slowing down during Friday's high-stakes shootout. Four Ferrari 296 GT3 Evos locked down positions within the top eight.

Leading the charge from the very front of the grid will be the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, thanks to a stellar performance by Alessio Rovera. The Italian driver topped every single one of the four elimination segments.

When everything was on the line in Superpole 4, he blasted to a pole-winning time of 2m18.330s, gapping a highly impressive Tom Fleming in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren by 0.428 seconds. Fleming’s brilliant run also secured him the top spot in the Gold Cup class.

Row two will be shared by the #50 AF Corse Ferrari, qualified by Arthur Leclerc, and the #3 Verstappen Mercedes, which Jules Gounon successfully drove into the final four-car shootout.

"The conditions were incredibly tricky. We really didn't expect that little grip, and I was sliding around a lot. But I guess it was the same for everyone,” Rovera said after his string of fastest laptimes on Friday afternoon.

“In the end, I tried to do as few laps as possible in the first three segments to save the best tyre life for the final shootout." Under the new rules, all four knockout sessions had to be completed on a single set of tyres.

Superpole 3: A fierce battle for the final four

Eight cars went head-to-head for a chance to make it into the final pole shootout. While Rovera immediately laid down a benchmark time, a chaotic battle raged behind him, with positions on the bubble changing by the second.

The biggest surprise of the session came from Ariel Levi in the #66 Attempto Audi. As the sole remaining Silver Cup entry in the top eight, Levi put on a fantastic show in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. He managed to break into the top four twice on timing sheets, only to be bumped back down into the elimination zone in the closing moments.

Gounon pulled off a blistering lap in the final seconds. The Verstappen AMG had been languishing at the bottom for most of Superpole 3. However, on his final flying lap, Gounon extracted everything from the car, bumping the #71 Selected Car Ferrari out of the final shootout by a mere 0.039 seconds.

Meanwhile, the Bronze Cup pole went comfortably to the #74 Kessel Ferrari. Although a Bronze entry making it this far up the grid seems surprising, the class allowing professional drivers made it possible for Dennis Marschall to push the 296 GT3 all the way into Superpole 3.

Leaving the session without a real shot at advancing was Lucas Auer in the #48 GetSpeed Mercedes. The famous "Mamba" entry struggled for pace in Superpole 3 and will start the 24-hour race from row four.

Superpole 2: Last Porsche and Ford Eliminated

The second segment proved costly for the McLaren contingent, with three 720S GT3 Evos getting knocked out. Last year's polesetter Marvin Kirchhofer missed out on the top eight by 0.099 seconds in the #59 Garage-59 McLaren after being bumped on the final lap by Frederik Schandorff in the #71 Selected Car Ferrari.

It was also the end of the road for both Ford and Porsche. The #64 HRT Ford driven by Arjun Maini and the #80 Lionspeed Porsche with Ricardo Feller at the wheel were both eliminated, meaning the final remaining cars for both manufacturers were out of contention.

This left a field of four Ferraris, two Mercedes-AMGs, one Audi, and one McLaren to fight it out in Superpole 3.

Superpole 1: Collective exit for BMW, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini

The opening 10-minute segment instantly cut the 32-car field in half. As anticipated based on practice pace, both Pro Cup Lamborghini Temerario GT3 entries failed to make the cut, despite a highly respectable lap by Mirko Bortolotti in the #63 GRT Lamborghini leaving him in 20th.

More surprisingly, the entire BMW contingent was wiped out in the first round, with the top M4 GT3 Evo managing no better than 18th on the grid. The cars have noticeably lacked raw pace all weekend.

Aston Martin suffered a similar fate, as none of the Vantage AMR GT3 Evos advanced, including the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin which had shown strong form with an eighth-place finish in Thursday's combined qualifying.

The sweltering track temperatures seemed to disadvantage the front-engined machinery—with Mercedes-AMG being the lone exception.

While starting positions are traditionally secondary in a grueling 24-hour race, launching from the midfield always increases the risk of getting caught up in opening-lap drama.

The field will return to the track later this evening for a final 30-minute warm-up session. The race itself gets underway on Saturday at 4.30pm local time.

The field is set to take the start in searing heat before an approaching cold front threatens to bring severe thunderstorms to the Ardennes.

SUPERPOLE HIGHLIGHTS 🎬 Rovera bags @FerrariRaces's first #Spa24H pole since 2017! pic.twitter.com/NsaTWV891D
— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) June 26, 2026