BMW claim historic one-two victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

It was a weekend of huge surprises at the always-unpredictable Spa-Francorchamps circuit. First, there was Peugeot’s maiden pole in the hypercar class, although the French team couldn’t convert it into a win with the #94 car. After losing the lead on the opening lap, the French team didn’t even make the finish - Malthe Jakobsen ended up in the wall after being unfortunately tapped off the track by a spinning Mercedes GT3 car.

That was far from the only incident on the sun-drenched Ardennes track. There was a botched pit stop for the #50 Ferrari, while the sister car #51 was eliminated by a GT machine at La Source. Costly points lost for the reigning world champion from Italy.

After the Safety Car came out to clear all the debris and spilled fluids, the #27 Aston Martin immediately misjudged an overtake on an Alpine at the restart. The British car ran onto the grass, looked set for a heavy crash, but miraculously avoided being launched into the barriers. Once back to green again, it was Antonio Felix da Costa who lost his Alpine at Radillion, suffering a puncture, and seeing his race go up in smoke.

Meanwhile, Robin Frijns had been leading for a while, as the BMW team’s alternative strategy came fully to fruition. On top of that, after all the chaos, Kevin Magnussen found himself in second place in the other BMW for the final hour. The ex-Formula 1 driver served as the perfect buffer for Frijns at the restart, keeping the #50 Ferrari and the #7 Toyota at bay with brilliant moves.

Those battles were ideal for Frijns, as the Dutchman was able to rebuild a healthy gap. After six hours of racing he ultimately took the checkered flag first. Behind him, Kevin Magnussen held firm in superb fashion, with Ferrari finishing third.