Peter Auto at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa

In 2022, Peter Auto and the SRO Motorsports Group joined forces to celebrate the group’s 30 years of GT racing by organising a first race for historic cars. Two years later, the partners renewed their collaboration to celebrate the past and present on this iconic circuit. As part of a Historic Racing by Peter Auto season the Heritage Touring Cup grid and the GTs from the Endurance Racing Legends had the chance to raise the curtain on the legendary CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa on 26-30 June to celebrate the centenary of the event.

Photos Rob Van Gelder

Organised as part of the SRO Motorsports Group championships since 2001, this race is now the flagship event of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe. The two grids were a reminder of the era of Touring cars which made up the field for the Belgian race until 2001 before giving way to Grand Touring, GT1 and GT2 and then GT3 only.

The Heritage Touring Cup recreates the European Touring Championship (ETCC) between 1966 and 1984, for which the highlight of the season was the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. To pay homage to the event, the grid extended its eligibility period into the 2000s. With 38 cars at the start of the single 45-minute race was won by Michael Kammerman in his BMW CSL.

The Endurance Racing Legends brings together GTs and prototypes from the 1990s and 2000s that are particularly popular with young spectators. On the occasion of the 24h of Spa, only the GTs participated, including GT1s and GT2s from 1994 to 2010, and GT3s up to 2013. The first of two 40-minute ERL races was won by Adrian Wilmot in a GT2 Corvette, who grabbed the lead from Olivier Galant’s Panoz on the last turn of the last lap after the Panoz appeared to run out of fuel! Alexander Rittweger and Sam Hancock, in the former’s Maserati MC12 GT1, which had been penalised one minute in the first race for a pit stop infringement ran away with race 2.