Ferrari take strategic victory in action packed 6 Hours of Spa

DIVEBOMB Endurance Team
2 minutes ago
8 min read

Written by Owen Bradley and Aaron Carroll

The No.51 Ferrari AF Corse driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi has won the 2025 6 Hours of Spa after a thrilling strategic battle in the final hour of the race. The No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari driven by François Hériau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera took victory in LMGT3.

The race got underway at 2pm local time, with the entire field getting through the pinch point at La Source safely. Up at Les Combes after the long Kemmel straight, the No.50 Ferrari led, with the No.51 sister car getting by the No.83 car for second.

Behind the No.5 Porsche was spun around by the Sebastian Bourdais in the No.38 Jota Cadillac, sending the Porsche to the back and giving the Cadillac a drive-through penalty.

As the Hypercars caught LMGT3 traffic for the first time, there was action everywhere you looked up and down the field. At this point in the race Frederick Makowiecki in the No.36 Alpine began charging up the pack.

The Alpine began making an incredible stride through the field, overtaking the No.94 Peugeot for fourth place with the No.15 BMW suddenly joining their battle. The No.36 Alpine kept on moving, just one lap later overtaking the No.83 Ferrari AF Corse being driven by Phil Hanson.

The pair battled throughout a sequence of corners, but the Alpine of Makowiecki managed to dive to the inside of the first corner, squeezing the No.83 Ferrari out wide on the exit of the corner and therefore putting them onto the podium.

Five cars began scrapping over fifth position just one lap on since the previous battle, with the cars still nose-to-tail despite having raced for almost half an hour with little disruption. The No.15 BMW would win this battle and claim fifth position, whilst the No.6 Porsche and the No.12 Jota Cadillac went off the circuit.

The No.12 Jota Cadillac would unfortunately end up with the worst outcome in that battle, ending up in 12th place after being overtaken by a lot of the other cars, running out wide corner after corner.

The No.50 Ferrari opened up a small lead of around four seconds with Nicklas Nielsen at the wheel, as the drivers began to find their footing around the difficult Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

In LMGT3, the No.46 BMW WRT of Ahmad Al-Harthy, Sheldon Van Der Linde and Valentino Rossi began making phenomenal progress, having started in ninth place, they ended up leading the LMGT3 class after just over an hour into the race.

Eventually, the No.36 Alpine managed to take second place from the No.51 Ferrari ahead, after Fred Makowiecki made a jaw-dropping overtake on the No.51 Ferrari of James Calado at Eau Rouge, suddenly starting to close in on the race leading No.50 Ferrari by multiple seconds per lap.

The No.99 Proton Porsche came to a halt at the end of the kemmel straight, bringing out the Full Course Yellow for the first time just as the teams started to make their first pit stops. This FCY ended up opening the opportunity for a lot of teams to take the tactical pit stop advantage.

After one hour of running for the Hypercar class, the No.50 Ferrari still led the way, ahead of the No.36 Alpine and the No.51 Ferrari - a sign of things to come between these three cars later into the race.

Meanwhile, both the No.94 and the No.93 Peugeot’s managed to stay inside the points at the end of the first hour, with the No.93 Peugeot inside the Top 5.

The No.83 Ferrari AF Corse began running into problems towards the end of the first hour, the Ferrari team needing to get wheeled back into the garage multiple times within just half an hour.

The No.31 BMW in the LMGT3 class took a major hit at Turn 1, with the BMW ending up in the gravel trap, subsequently then bringing out the Full Course Yellow.

This FCY would once again allow for teams to restructure and organise their strategy, with many cars coming into the pits from both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes. The FCY would later be upgraded to a full Safety Car.

Heartbreakingly for the No.46 BMW WRT crew, Al-Harthy would be penalised after speeding in the pit lane, subsequently losing their lead and stranglehold on the race. However, the same fate struck their sister No.15 BMW WRT Hypercar which was initially running in contention for the podium earlier on, as well as the No.92 Manthey Porsche in LMGT3.

The second hour of the race would mainly consist of a lengthy FCY and Safety Car period, which also then allowed for the teams to take the pit stop strategies back into their own hands. This Safety Car period almost acted as a complete reset to the race.

At the end of the second hour, the No.50 Ferrari still led the way, with the No.36 Alpine right behind, and the No.93 Peugeot suddenly arriving to the fight in third place, ahead of the No.51 Ferrari in fourth.

The No.12 Jota Cadillac and the No.94 Peugeot would be hit by 5-second penalties for pit stop infringements, an action which dropped them both back several places.

The No.51 Ferrari managed to make it through on the No.93 Peugeot after a somewhat lengthy amount of laps behind the French manufacturer. The Ferrari then began chasing the No.36 Alpine and the race leading sister car, the No.50 Ferrari.

However, whilst the No.51 Ferrari used up some of the energy they had been forced to save behind the Peugeot, the No.36 Alpine also rapidly closed the gap to the leading No.50 Ferrari, as the leading trio got closer towards the half distance mark.

After their next stop, the No.36 Alpine did manage to overtake the No.50 Ferrari on the pit exit, tucking into the slipstream and using their momentum to propel themselves ahead before Eau Rouge, as the Ferrari rejoined the race from the pits.

Right as we crossed over the three hour mark, Sean Gelael in the No.95 United Autosports McLaren collided with the No.60 Mercedes, bringing out the Safety Car. It was a big hit for Gelael but he emerged from the car unaided.

The pit lane was opened during the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period and almost all of the Hypercars dived into the pits, except the No.93 Peugeot, who led at the green flag.

On the restart the No.51 Ferrari went off the track while trying to get past the No.7 Toyota, staying behind. That wouldn't be for long though as Kobayashi in the No.7 locked up a the very next corner and lost four positions in his excursion. A few laps later Kobayashi would lock up again as he struggled with a flat spot on his tyres.

Eventually the No.93 Peugeot would come into the pits, giving the lead back to the No.36 Alpine ahead of the two factory Ferraris.

There was a heated battle between the No.59 United Autosports McLaren and the No.10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin. The two were side-by-side on multiple occasions, making wheel to wheel contact. Eventually it culminated with the No.59 being pushed off the track into the barriers, and a VSC.

The No.59 was able to reverse out of the barriers under its own steam however, and limp back to the pits. The full Safety Car (SC) was still needed to cover barriers repairs after the collision. The No.10 Aston Martin also came out of the incident with a puncture.

The VSC and SC period caused a wave of pit stops for the Hypercar runners, in which the pair of Ferraris overtook the No.36 Alpine. The No.51 led the No.50 with two hours remaining in the race.

On the opening lap after the restart the No.94 Peugeot and the No.20 BMW came together, both cars off the track and the Peugeot with heavy suspension damage. They were forced into the garage for repairs.

The No.20 BMW went on to catch the battling No.50 Ferrari and No.36 Alpine ahead, joining their battle. The Alpine made the move on the Ferrari to move into second, with the BMW trying the same later in the lap, but the two touched at high speed in the final sector, however the BMW still came out on top.

Soon after though, the Ferrari would muscle its way back past both cars and the Alpine dropping to fourth. As the BMW and Ferrari were side by side going up Eau Rouge, the Ferrari left the track and was forced to give the position back by the stewards.

The Alpine would come into the pits not long after the battle for its second to last pit stop in the race. They pit with around one hour and 20 minutes remaining, offsetting them from many of the other Hypercars.

About 20 minutes later, most of the cars had pit, all on differing strategies. It was unclear with just 60 minutes left who could make it to the end without the need for a splash of fuel in the dying laps of the race.

The race which had been all about wheel to wheel action for five hours, suddenly turned into the worlds fastest game of chess.

In LMGT3, it was a 1-2 for Vista AF Corse Ferrari, with the No.21 leading the No.54. Behind them in the battle for third place, the No.46 BMW and the pair of Ford Mustangs went three wide through turn one. The No.77 was squeezed wide, with the No.88 winning out.

Back up at the front, the No.51 finally got past the No.20 BMW ahead, with a move down the inside at turn 12. Driver of the No.20, Robin Frijns soon reported a problem with the brakes on the car however. This would spell the end of their race, with Frijns soon pulling the car into the pits to retire.

At this point in the strategy race, it became clear that all cars in Hypercar except the No.50 and No.51 would have to pit again, it was still unclear for the Ferraris. If they were to make it to the end, they would need some very heavy fuel saving.

There was a short FCY for debris on the track with around 35 minutes to go, but it only lasted around three minutes.

Soon after the No.36 came in for its final stop with Mick Schumacher at the wheel. The German then went on a charge after the two Ferraris. In between him and the pair of 499Ps, was the No.7 Toyota.

Schumacher quickly caught the Toyota and went for a move just seconds before a FCY was called. As we went back to green after the short caution, Nyck De Vries in the No.7 got the jump on the Alpine as the battle between the two ex-F1 drivers got very aggressive.

Schumacher eventually got the place back, but with some time lost to the Ferraris ahead. The No.51 pit for its final splash with 10 minutes remaining, but crucially had built enough of a gap to the sister car behind to keep the lead.

Eventually the order would stay like that, with Schumacher narrowly missing out on second as he caught the No.50 car.

In LMGT3 the No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari won by almost 30 seconds to the No.88 Ford Mustang behind. The sister No.54 Ferrari was in third.

Race Results - Top 10

1st No.51 Ferrari AF Corse - Pier Guidi, Calado, Giovinazzi

2nd No.50 Ferrari AF Corse - Molina, Fuoco, Nielsen

3rd No.36 Alpine - Schumacher, Makowiecki, Gounon

4th No.8 Toyota - Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa

5th No.12 Hertz Team Jota Cadillac - Lynn, Nato, Stevens

6th No.38 - Bourdais, Button, Bamber

7th No.7 Toyota - Conway, Kobayashi, De Vries

8th No.35 Alpine - Chatin, Habsburg, Milesi

9th No.6 Porsche - Estre, Wehrlein, Vanthoor