A record-breaking crowd of 88,180 spectators gathered for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, setting a brand new attendance document for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) races, excluding the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The occasion, nevertheless, turned out to be much less celebratory for the BMW M Crew WRT and BMW M Motorsport groups. Throughout spherical three of the 2024 season, BMW M Crew WRT’s Hypercars, the 2 BMW M Hybrid V8s, confronted a difficult race, ending in 11th and 13th place after a tumultuous six hours that included a close to two-hour pause resulting from a purple flag incident. This disappointing end result adopted their entry into the Hyperpole session with one Hypercar throughout Friday’s qualifying, mirroring their earlier efficiency at Imola.
Regardless of excessive hopes and a powerful begin from ninth place on the grid by the crew of Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde, and René Rast in automobile #20, and 12th place by Dries Vanthoor, Marco Wittmann, and Raffaele Marciello in automobile #15, each groups struggled to advance within the race. Whereas BMW M Crew WRT confronted setbacks, the race concluded with Hertz Crew JOTA securing their first outright victory within the WEC’s Hypercar period, with Will Stevens and Callum Ilott on the helm. The duo outpaced the No. 6 Penske Porsche group and the No. 50 Ferrari, finishing a podium of intense competitors and high-speed drama.
Within the LMGT3 class, the narrative was equally grim for Crew WRT. Regardless of a promising 1-2 end at Imola, each BMW M4 GT3s retired prematurely resulting from incidents past their management. Ahmad Al Harthy, sharing the #46 BMW M4 GT3 with Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin, was pressured out of competition after a extreme collision attributable to a sequence response. Equally, the #31 automobile, piloted by Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael, and Darren Leung, was additionally knocked out in an accident after 4 hours of racing. As repairs to the observe limitations ensued, the race was halted, testing the resilience of groups and drivers. Happily, each Al Harthy and Gelael have been unhurt within the incidents.
The subsequent main take a look at would be the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15th and 16th the place BMW Motorsport can even race their upcoming Artwork Automotive.