Mega Gallery & Report: the 33rd edition of the Spa Six Hours

Submitted by Marcel Hundscheid on October 2, 2026

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

An annual highlight on the European historic motorsport calendar is the Spa Six Hours, one of the toughest and most challenging endurance races for GTs and touring cars from the 1960s. The 33rd edition took place over the weekend of September 25–27. We were on site and prepared the story below.

Although the number of participants was unfortunately limited to 67 registered cars this year, the excitement and drama were undiminished. No fewer than thirteen Ford GT40s made an appearance, once again regarded as the clear favorites.

Just like last year however, there was a small feisty Danish Ginetta G4R with a single goal: to make life as difficult as possible for the GT40s and as it had the previous year, to contend for one of the coveted podium spots. As usual qualifying was dominated by the GT40s. Only the Danish Ginetta G4R driven by Palle Birkelund-Pedersen, Alexander Weiss, and Nicolai Kjaergaard managed to prevent the GT40s from sweeping the entire top ten.

Oliver Bryant and Phil Keen drove the No. 18 GT40 to pole position, with a margin of just 0.7 seconds over the No. 8 GT40 shared by David Hart, his son Olivier Hart, and Nicky Pastorelli. The No. 2 Ginetta G4R set an impressive ninth-fastest time.

As soon as the lights turned green, the No. 52 GT40 driven by Nico Verdonk and Andy Newall—which had started third—convincingly took the lead. A notable feature of the 33rd edition of the Spa Six Hours was that racing continued for a long period without the intervention of a safety car.

This meant that several teams had to adjust their strategies—including the No. 2 Ginetta, which had to pit early for a refueling stop. It was not until the second half of the race that the safety car was forced onto the track for the first time. This worked to the advantage of the leading GT40, sparing it the need for a third refueling stop.

Kjaergaard drove the opening stint in the No. 2 Ginetta and impressively worked his way up from ninth to fourth place during the first hour. When Weiss subsequently took over the wheel, he managed to seize the lead and build a solid advantage thanks to super-fast sector times.

It even looked as though that little dark-green monster was going to thumb its nose at the GT40s and snatch the victory. Yet, the jinx always strikes when least expected and unfortunately that was the fate in store for the lightning-fast Danish trio. With an hour and a half remaining, the gear lever snapped, and the Ginetta came to a halt in the chicane with the gearbox stuck in neutral. The car was towed to the pit box, where Palle Birkelund-Pedersen managed to replace the gear lever in record time.

The race lead and the two-lap advantage had literally evaporated, although the trio still managed to slot back into third place in the standings. However, things were not running entirely smoothly for the leading GT40 driven by Nico Verdonck either; the experienced Belgian had to drive conservatively during the final fifteen minutes to conserve fuel.

It was to no avail however, as Verdonck had to pull the GT40 over in the very last lap of the six-hour race, without a drop of fuel in the tank. In this way, Oliver Bryant and Phil Keen inherited the lead and crossed the finish line first, followed by the Ginetta driven by Palle Birkelund-Pedersen, Alexander Weiss, and Nicolai Kjaergaard.

Results Spa Six Hours 2026

Ford GT40, Oliver Bryant/Phil Keen
Ginetta G4R, Palle Birkelund-Pedersen/Alexander Weiss/Nicolai Kjaergaard, + 1:58.526
Ford GT40, Steve Osborne/Jörg Müller/Chris Ward, + 1 lap

The support programme featured an international array of races involving Formula Junior cars, GTs, and touring cars. In addition, three Porsche Sprint Challenge Benelux races featuring modern Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars were held on Friday.

The largest starting field of the weekend belonged to the Colmore-Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge, featuring no fewer than 78 cars. Swiss driver Felix Haas dominated all three races in an ADA 03 C2, a former Group C car.

Alfa Romeo enthusiasts and in particularly fans of the Giulia and GTAm were well catered to by the Alfa Revival Cup. The series featured just one sixty-minute race on the Saturday morning schedule. Victory ultimately went to the only entered Alfetta GT Turbodelta, driven by Alessandro Morteo and Lorenzo Moramarco.

Chris Goodwin was dominant in Historic Formula Junior. At the wheel of his Lotus 22, he proved a class apart from a field of nearly forty Formula Juniors. The Briton convincingly won both races, held on Saturday and Sunday.

Two races were scheduled for the Belcar Historic Cup. Although Wim Kuijl found himself in a fierce battle with Ric Wood’s Nissan R32 and Luc Branckaert’s Corvette in his Ford Capri RS 3100, he ultimately managed to secure the victory in a controlled manner.

During the second race Kuijl appeared to be on track for his second victory of the weekend. However there was a major surprise when Branckaerts struggled to get up to speed following the restart after a Full Course Yellow, allowing the Corvette driver to close the gap in the closing stages. Kuijl managed to hold off Branckaerts by a narrow margin, enabling him to climb to the top step of the podium for the second time.

The Historic Championship ’65 and ’81 series from Germany visited Spa. Two races were scheduled for the HC ’65 category. The first race was won by Oliver Hartmann in his Elva Mk.8 after polesitter Valentin Schuhmann crashed his Elva Mk.7S into the barriers at Raidillon on the opening lap. The second race was won by Ties Meeuwissen in a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe following a fierce battle.

For HC’81, the schedule featured a single ninety-minute race held on Sunday afternoon. The starting grid comprised a mix of sports prototypes, GTs, and touring cars, with the prototypes—as expected—battling for the overall victory. The hour-and-a-half race was ultimately won convincingly by Georg Hallau in his Lola T212.

The oldest cars to take the start at this edition of the Spa Six Hours were the Frazer Nashes competing in the Jenks Trophy Race. Cliff Gray claimed victory with his Frazer Nash Le Mans Rep. The Spa Six Hours rightly remains one of the absolute highlights of the historic motorsport calendar. We are already counting down the days to the 34th edition, scheduled for 2027.

Results support program Spa Six Hours 2026

Colmore Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge

Race 1