Ford at the front in 24 Hours of Spa after 8 hours, with Mann-Filter Merc in second

Credit: SRO/JEP

The No.64 HRT Ford Mustang led the 24 Hours of Spa after eight hours, but owed a pit stop. Therefore the net lead was the No.48 Mercedes, driven by Lucas Auer at the time.

Thomas Fleming led Gold in the No.58 McLaren from fourth overall, while Mathys Jaubert led Bronze from seventh in the No.74 Kessel Ferrari. The No.52 AF Corse Ferrari led Silver from 17th, while the No.86 High Class Porsche led Pro-Am from 41st.

Read about hours 5 and 6 here which saw a dramatic lead change and a push through the field!

As it happened

The No.700 ComToYou Aston Martin opened up the seventh hour with rear damage and a puncture. They got back into the pits for repairs, but lot quite a bit of time.

At the front the No.998 ROWE Racing BMW ran deep into the gravel at turn 8 and ended up losing seventh place to the No.3 Verstappen Racing car. Despite those cars being slightly further down the top 10, they were still not too far away from the leaders. The gaps at this stage were still quite close.

There was a disaster for the contending No.59 Garage 59 McLaren with Joseph Loake at the wheel, when the car slowed with sparks flying from the right hand side. The car went into the garage and still hasn't emerged as of the time of writing.

The No.21 Aston Martin brought out the FCY with a huge incident in the final sector. Sebastian Baud was in the car, which had a barely recognisable rear end. It was brought back on the back of a flatbed, day done for the ComToYou car.

Not long after we went back to green, there was a multi-car crash involving the No.93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Porsche. It was very difficult to see who else was involved in the darkness, but that car limped home to the pits, while the FCY was brought out to clear debris, and some general track cleaning.

Under the SC, Arjun Maini in the No.64 HRT Ford Mustang led the way having not pit under the yellow, and he led from the No.48 Mercedes and the No.2 Porsche. The No.46 BMW was fourth and the No.3 Mercedes was fifth.

Just before the 16 hours to go mark, Thomas Fleming in the No.58 McLaren made a move on Valentino Rossi in the No.46 car to move up to fourth place over.

When the eighth hour came to a close, Maini still led in the Ford, but was due a pit stop. In the net lead then was Lucas Auer in the No.48 Mercedes.