1 in 3 wins at Spa 24 Hours goes to BMW

Marco Wittman, Philipp Eng and Nicholas Yelloly drove their Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 to victory in last weekend’s Spa 24 Hours. Thus, they handed BMW a 25^th overall victory in the Belgian classic.

Just as Porsche is king at the Le Mans 24 Hours with 19 victories, BMW is the undisputed ruler of the Spa 24 Hours. The Bavarian brand has just scored its 25^th overall victory at the Belgian endurance classic. With that, BMW not just leads the list, but also absolutely dominates all other brands. On what is a rare feat, Porsche is ‘the next best thing’ at the Spa 24 Hours, with eight victories to its credit.

Ups and downs

The Spa 24 Hours have had an early history with some ups and downs in the beginning. The first 24-hour race was organised in 1924, just three years after the track opened. During the war years (1939 – 1945) the race – taking place on the German border – was suspended. Spa was one of the first organisers to come back after the war, taking the 24-hour format back up in 1948, one year ahead of Le Mans. But it only lasted until 1949, and between 1950 and 1963, just one 24-hour race was organised.

As of 1964, the Spa 24 Hours has been on the agenda uninterrupted. The only anomaly in recent history was the 1993 race that was cut short at 7 AM on Sunday after the announcement of the death of the Belgian king Baudouin.

One in three is a BMW win

2023 included, there have been 76 editions of the Spa 24 Hours, which is one in three races. If you look at the post-1963 period, when BMW started getting serious, we are even looking at an even more impressive statistic. Here, BMW scores a victory rate of 42%. BMW was the dominant player in the touring car era at Spa, but has also successfully turned itself around in the GT3 era, winning with the Z4, the M6 and now with the M4.

The closest finish ever at the Spa 24 Hours – 0.48 seconds – involved two BMW M3s in 1992, with Steve Soper and Eric van de Poele involved in a last-lap battle for the lead. You can read all about that in issue 5. The E30 M3 model is BMW’s most successful car at Spa, with four victories to its credit.

The list of honour:

1965    Pascal Ickx/Gérard Langlois (BMW 1800)

1966    Jacky Ickx/Hubert Hahne (BMW 2000 Ti)

1970    Helmut Kelleners/Günther Huber (BMW 2800 CS)

1973    Toine Hezemans/Dieter Quester (BMW 3.0 CSL)

1974    Jean Xhenceval/Alain Peltier/Pierre Dieudonné (BMW 3.0 CSi)

1975    Jean Xhenceval/Pierre Dieudonné (BMW 3.0 CSi)

1976    Jean-Marie Detrin/Nino Demuth/Charles ‘Chavan’ Van Stolles (BMW 3.0 CSL)

1977    Eddy Joosen/Jean-Claude Andruet (BMW 530i)

1982    Hans Heyer/Armin Hahne/Eddy Joosen (BMW 528i)

1983    Armin Hahne/Hans Heyer/Thierry Tassin (BMW 635 CSi)

1985    Roberto Ravaglio/Gerhard Berger/Marc Surer (BMW 635 CSi)

1986    Dieter Quester/Thierry Tassin/Altfrid Heger (BMW 635 CSi)

1987    Didier Theys/Jean-Michel Martin/Eric van de Poele (BMW M3)

1988    Roberto Ravaglia/Altfrid Heger/Dieter Quester (BMW M3)

1990    Johnny Cecotto/Fabien Giroix/Markus Oestreich (BMW M3)

1992    Steve Soper/Christian Danner/Jean-Michel Martin (BMW M3)

1994    Roberto Ravaglia/Thierry Tassin/Alexander Burgstaller (BMW 318is)

1995    Joachim Winkelhock/Steve Soper/Peter Kox (BMW 320i)

1996    Jörg Müller/Thierry Tassin/ Alexander Burgstaller (BMW 320i)

1997    Didier de Radigues/Marc Duez/Eric Hélary (BMW 320i)

1998    Eric van de Poele/Marc Duez/Alain Cudini (BMW 318i)

2015    Nick Catsburg/Lucas Luhr/Markus Palttala (BMW Z4 GT3)

2016    Maxime Martin/Philipp Eng/Alexander Sims (BMW M6 GT3)

2018    Tom Blomqvist/Philipp Eng/Christian Krognes (BMW M6 GT3)

2023    Philipp Eng/Marco Wittman/Nick Yelloly (BMW M4 GT3)