Mega Gallery & Report: The Stunning 14th Edition Of The Spa Classic

Submitted by Marcel Hundscheid on May 29, 2026

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

The 14th edition of the Spa Classic, organized by Peter Auto, was once again a real treat and one that surpassed itself. Under the banner of the Le Mans Classic Series, it was the second event on the calendar to be held on the sun-drenched and summer-warm Spa-Francorchamps circuit, following the season opener in Barcelona. Since its inaugural edition in 2011, the Spa Classic has grown to become one of Europe’s leading historic meetings.

Despite the cancellation of Group C Racing, which usually draws a considerable number of fans to the Ardennes, the organizers could look back on a very successful event, including three days of action from early morning until nearly midnight.

In addition to the well-known Peter Auto series, such as Classic Endurance Racing 1&2, Endurance Racing Legends, The Gentlemen Challenge, Sixties Endurance, and The Heritage Touring Cup, the program now also included a genuine premiere. The public could enjoy the arrival of the Heritage Touring Cup 2. A series that extends the history of touring car racing by focusing on the post-1982 era—when Group A cars energized European championships through to the early 1990s.

Due to insufficient entries for Group C cars, the program was further enhanced with the GT3 Revival Series from the SRO Motorsports Group and Peter Auto. It is a new historic series specifically intended for GT3 cars to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the GT3 class. The series is particularly aimed at the first generation of GT3 cars from the period between 2006 and 2013. No fewer than 44 GT3s had entered for the Spa Classic.

Endurance Racing Legends 2 for GT2 cars kicked off the weekend on Saturday afternoon with their first race. It would primarily be a duel for the victory between an array of Ferrari F430s and Porsche 996s and 997s, interspersed with Aston Martin Vantages, a Mosler MT900R, a Corvette C6 ZR1, and a Toyota Supra. Pole position went convincingly to the Ferrari F430 GTC Evo of Philip Kadoorie. However, the forty-minute race was convincingly won by the Ferrari F430 GTC Evo of father David and son Olivier Hart from the Netherlands.

The second race, scheduled for Saturday evening, was prematurely ended with a red flag due to a crash in the GT3 Revival. The condition of the guardrail was such that a repair lasting several hours followed, after which race control made the correct decision not to start the race.

As the second series, the prototypes and GTs of Endurance Racing Legends 1 took to the track for their first race of the weekend. Alfie Briggs narrowly won the battle for pole position in his Zytek 04S against Christian Albrecht in an Audi R8 LMP. However, during the forty-minute race, Olivier Galant had the longest stamina with his mighty Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S, pulling away to secure a safe lead. Galant also dictated the pace during the second race on Sunday, once again crossing the finish line in first place after forty minutes with a lead of around four seconds.

After the fairly modern sports cars, the program took a significant dive back in time with the first race of The Gentlemen Challenge. An interesting series open to cars that were used in the most prominent endurance races during the 50s and 60s. Serge Kriknoff from Switzerland drove his Lotus to pole position. However, during the thirty-five-minute race, two Listers dominated. The duel for the victory between Luc-Pierre Verquin and the John Spiers/Nigel Greensall combination was ultimately settled by the Frenchman.

True to tradition, a two-hour endurance race took place before the Sixties Endurance, which was held on Saturday evening. Over fifty Shelby Cobras, Jaguar E-Types, Lotus Elans, and various Porsches, to name a few. As expected, the battle for the victory was between the Cobras and the E-Types. After two hours of racing, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe of Maxime Guenat and Guillaume Mahe took home the win.

On Saturday evening, the first of two fifty-minute races for the GT3 Revival Series was held. The battle for pole position was decided by the Ferrari 458 GT3 Evo of Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Jim Pla. The race started on Saturday evening at 9:35 PM, but after eleven minutes of racing, the safety car had to come out because drivers had broken down at two different locations. At one of the locations, the guardrail appeared to be so severely damaged that race control decided to stop the race with the red flag and not resume it.

The second race of The Gentlemen Challenge kicked off on Sunday morning with another forty-five-minute race. Luc-Pierre Verquin took the win again with his Lister Knobbly Chevrolet. The Frenchman faced virtually no opposition and crossed the finish line first with a lead of about ten seconds over Serge Kriknoff’s Lotus 15.

On Sunday morning, the sports cars and GTs of Classic Endurance Racing 2 entered the arena for their sixty-minute race. Chris Ward and Jan Magnussen proved to be a cut above the rest of the field. The impromptu duo secured pole position in their Lola T292 by a margin of over a second. During the race, both seemed to be from another planet. With a lead of over a minute, Magnussen crossed the checkered flag first after an hour of racing, having previously swapped seats with Ward.

The Spa Classic was the very first race of a brand new serie, the Heritage Touring Cup 2. Mats van der Brand already delivered an impressive performance during qualifying by driving his BMW M3 E30 to pole position with a gap of nearly four seconds. He also dominated the race without any opposition. However, a technical problem forced him to pull his M3 over prematurely. Thus, after forty minutes of racing, the victory went to the BMW M3 E30 of Sam Adriaans.

The second race of the GT3 Revival Series on Sunday afternoon was dominated for the vast majority of the fifty-minute race by the French combination of Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Jim Pla. Only in the very final stages did the Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 of Andrew Bentley and Maxwell Lynn come dangerously close. However, with a minimal difference of just two tenths of a second, the victory went to the Ferrari 458 GT3 Evo of Beaubelique and Pla.

The epic touring cars of the seventies, the Heritage Touring Cup 1, were scheduled as the penultimate event on the extensive program. Sebastian Glaser had narrowly secured pole position with his fire-breathing BMW 3.0 CSL at the expense of Maxime Guenat in a Ford Capri RS3100. Initially, everything seemed to indicate that the duel during the race would also be between these two rivals. After the lights turned green, the entire field sprinted towards the La Source hairpin.

Pekka Nystrom went straight on in the sprint with his Chevrolet Camaro and crashed into the unfortunate Glaser and Guenat. For all three, the race was over after just a few meters, with the top two from qualifying immediately eliminated. The battle ultimately came down to the Cologne Capris of Yves Scemama and Armand Mille. Despite a red flag and a restart, Scemama eventually took the victory.

The conclusion of the long race weekend on Sunday afternoon was taken by the sports cars and GTs of Classic Endurance Racing 1. Here too, Chris Ward and Jan Magnussen set the tone during qualifying with their Lola T70 Mk.IIIB. During the sixty-minute race, the British-Danish duo faced no opposition whatsoever. Ward took the lead immediately after the start and disappeared over the horizon. After the mandatory pit stop, Magnussen took over the wheel and drove the T70 across the finish line first with a lead of over fourteen seconds.

The 14th edition of the Spa Classic was literally a mouth-watering affair, once again an edition that managed to surpass the previous one. We are already counting down the days to the 15th edition of this greatest historic motorsport event, which absolutely should not be missing from the calendar of any true motorsport fan.

Race results Le Mans Classic Series – Spa Classic 2026

Classic Endurance Racing 1