Ferrari secured a commanding start at the 2026 Spa 24 Hours after a flawless Superpole, with four 296 GT3 Evo entries occupying the top eight grid positions.
Ferrari’s Glide to Pole
Alessio Rovera delivered every single one of the four elimination segments, culminating in a Superpole 4 time of 2m18.330 seconds that left Tom Fleming in the #58 Garage‑59 McLaren on the front row by 0.428 seconds. Rovera’s run also gave him the Gold Cup class pole. Following him, Arthur Leclerc qualified the #50 AF Corsè Ferrari, and Jules Gounon secured the fourth position for the #3 Verstappen Mercedes in the final shoot‑out.
Fierce Shifts in Superpole 3
While Rovera set an early benchmark, the remainder of Superpole 3 was a live‑wire contest. Ariel Levi, the sole Silver Cup entrant, shocked the field with two top‑four runs before falling behind in the final moment. Gounon extracted a blistering lap that pushed the #71 Selected‑Car Ferrari out of the end‑game by a razor‑thin margin. Dennis Marschall’s bronze‑class drive for Kessel Ferrari finished a surprisingly strong campaign, while Lucas Auer of GetSpeed Mercedes slipped to the rear of the grid after an underwhelming run.
McLaren and Factory Elimination in Superpole 2
Three McLaren 720S GT3 Evos were eliminated, and last year’s pole‑setter Marvin Kirchhofer dropped out by 0.099 seconds to Frederik Schandorff of the #71 Ferrari. In a double blow, the final Ford and Porsche entries—Arjun Maini’s HRT and Ricardo Feller’s Lionspeed—were knocked out, leaving a qualifying field of four Ferraris, two Mercedes‑AMGs, one Audi, and one remaining McLaren.
Pre‑Superspeed Grid Collapse
Superpole 1 cut the 32‑car field in half, eliminating the Porsches, Lamborghinis, BMWs, and Aston Martins from contention. A sweltering track tested front‑engined machinery, sparing only the Mercedes‑AMG Vantage. The field was paved for a battle between the surviving manufacturers under a backdrop of scorching heat poised to give way to a cold front and potential thunderstorms.
With the final 30‑minute warm‑up session queued for the evening, the Spa 24 Hours race is set to commence Saturday at 4:30 pm local time, promising a contest that will punish midfield setbacks before the clouds roll in.
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