TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa


A Silver Cup 1-2 for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport in anniversary race at Spa-Francorchamps.


  • Best-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 in tenth position after TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa
  • In spite of starting grid positions 1 and 3 no podium results in the overall classification
  • 1-2 in Silver-Cup by Madpanda Motorsport and Toksport WRT

 

The wait for the much-wanted renewed overall win by Mercedes-AMG in the 24-hour race at Spa continues.  With the third consecutive pole position, the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach got the event underway with a good start. However, like in the two previous years, the efforts were to remain unrewarded. First of all, the pole sitters with the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP had to retire from the race with a broken shock absorber, having spent more than 13 hours in the front-running group. On Sunday morning, the race also came to an end for the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT car while on course for the top ten: several minor damaged had added up and impeded the balance of the race car to such an extent that it could no longer continue the race in a competitive way. The best-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the field of 58 cars was the #89 car in tenth overall. As a result, the AKKA ASP trio of Lucas Auer (AUT), Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS) and Felipe Fraga (BRA) also scored valuable points for the 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge for which the race at Spa served as the season opener. In the Silver Cup, meanwhile, the race was successful: with the #90 Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by Madpanda Motorsport, Rik Breukers (NED), Ezequiel Perez Companc (ARG), Patrick Kujala (FIN) and Ricardo Sanchez (MEX) were leading the class for large parts of the 24-hour duration. After 551 laps, final driver Breukers brought the class victory home (P11 overall). The #7 Toksport WRT crew also managed to finish on the class podium: in the rainy and turbulent final stage, Marvin Dienst (GER), Axcil Jefferies (ZIM), Paul Petit (FRA) and Oscar Tunjo (COL) secured second place in the Silver Cup (P13 overall). This year’s 24-hour race at Spa marked the 50th anniversary of AMG’s first major motorsport success as the legendary Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG secured the class win at Spa and finished second overall.

Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “In spite of all the efforts and the good preparation by our teams, one sadly has to say that we haven’t achieved our high goals. Admittedly, we were able to prove the performance of our Mercedes-AMG GT3 from the qualifying sessions onwards already, but we weren’t in a position to make it last the distance. Gradually, I almost start believing that there is something about the curse of the pole position. Too bad that we haven’t been able to provide a victory for our fans, especially in our anniversary race. Nevertheless, I would like to thank the teams and the drivers for their huge commitment. I extend my congratulations to our Customer Racing Teams Madpanda Motorsport and Toksport WRT for their Silver Cup 1-2.”

Rik Breukers, Madpanda Motorsport #90: “This was the first time that there were so many Silver Cup cars in the field here. Therefore, I am super happy with this class win. Had it not been for my colleagues, this would have been impossible. The team has worked together in a fantastic way, from free practice until right now. I am happy for the entire team.”

Marvin Dienst, Toksport WRT #7: “I am overjoyed and I simply want to say thank you to my team. Everybody has been doing a great job. For us, it was a tricky race. We had to start from the pit lane. 24 hours ago, we had the entire field ahead of us and now, we are on the Silver Cup podium, that is unbelievable! The weather at the end played in our favour.”

Result Mercedes-AMG GT3, TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa*:

Pos.
overall

Pos.
class

Nr.
 

Car
 

Team
 

Drivers
 

Laps
 

1.

1.

Pro

51

Ferrari 488 GT3

Iron Lynx

Come Ledogar (FRA)
Nicklas Nielsen (DEN)
Alessandro Pier Guidi (ITA)

556

2.

2.

Pro

32

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Audi Sport Team WRT

Dries Vanthoor (BEL)
Kelvin van der Linde (RSA)
Charles Weerts (BEL)

556

3.

3.

Pro

95

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

Garage 59

Nicki Thiim (DEN)
Ross Gunn (GBR)
Marco Sorensen (DEN)

556

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.

10.

Pro

89

Mercedes-AMG GT3

AKKA ASP Team

Lucas Auer (AUT)
Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS)
Felipe Fraga (BRA)

552

11.

1.

Silver

90

Mercedes-AMG GT3

Madpanda Motorsport

Rik Breukers (NED)
Ezequiel P. Companc (ARG)
Patrick Kujala (FIN)
Ricardo Sanchez (MEX)

551

13.

2.

Silver

7

Mercedes-AMG GT3

Toksport WRT

Marvin Dienst (GER)
Axcil Jefferies (ZIM)
Paul Petit (FRA)
Oscar Tunjo (COL)

550

21.

5.

Silver

40

Mercedes-AMG GT3

SPS automotive performance

Lance D. Arnold (GER)
Miklas Born (SUI)
Jordan Love (AUS)
Yannick Mettler (SUI)

547

23.

7.

Silver

87

Mercedes-AMG GT3

AKKA ASP Team

Thomas Drouet (FRA)
Simon Gachet (FRA)
Konstantin Tereschenko (RUS)

545

25.

6.

Pro-Am

20

Mercedes-AMG GT3

SPS automotive performance

Dominik Baumann (AUT)
Colin Braun (USA)
George Kurtz (USA)
Valentin Pierburg (GER)

544

34.

8.

Pro-Am

69

Mercedes-AMG GT3

RAM Racing

Ricky Collard (GBR)
Robert Collard (GBR)
Sam De Haan (GBR)
Fabian Schiller (GER)

474

36.

12

Pro

4

Mercedes-AMG GT3

Mercedes-AMG Team HRT

Vincent Abril (MCO)
Maro Engel (GER)
Luca Stolz (GER)

431

37.

13.

Pro

50

Mercedes-AMG GT3

HubAuto

Maximilian Buhk (GER)
Nicky Catsburg (NED)
Maximilian Götz (GER)

408

DNF

DNF

Pro-Am

2

Mercedes-AMG GT3

GetSpeed Performance

Nico Bastian (GER)
Olivier Grotz (LUX)
Jim Pla (FRA)
Florian Scholze (GER)

376

DNF

DNF

Pro

88

Mercedes-AMG GT3

Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP

Jules Gounon (FRA)
Daniel Juncadella (ESP)
Raffaele Marciello (ITA),

344

DNF

DNF

Silver

57

Mercedes-AMG GT3

WINWARD Racing

Philip Ellis (SUI)
Mikaël Grenier (CAN)
Russell Ward (USA)

167

DNF

DNF

Silver

5

Mercedes-AMG GT3

Haupt Racing Team

Patrick Assenheimer (GER)
Michele Beretta (ITA)
Indy Dontje (NED)
Hubert Haupt (GER)

71

* excerpt subject to confirmation by the organiser