Capping off a packed mid-year endurance racing season that included successful trips to the podium at both Le Mans & the Nürburgring, Porsche has scored a third consecutive 24-hour top 3 result. Rutronik Racing’s experienced trio of Alessio Picariello, Patric Niederhauser and Sven Müller crossed the 2025 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps’ finish line 8.7 seconds after Grasser Racing Team’s winning Lamborghini.
After rather eventful opening & mid phases, the Belgian endurance classic’s final eight hours saw battle intensifying for overall victory throughout the Grand Prix circuit’s 7.004 kilometers. A decisive incident took place at around 12:30 pm, when a stricken car triggered a full-course yellow flag just as Alessio Picariello steered the #96 Porsche 992.1 911 GT3 R into the pits for his routine stop.
The field was thus limited to 80 km/h speeds under full-course yellow safety conditions while the team’s mechanics conducted refueling on Porsche’s contender shared by Picariello, Germany’s Sven Müller and Switzerland’s Patric Niederhauser, which then managed to rejoin the field with significant time gained. Going into the closing four hours, a well-timed sequence of strategic pit stops also brought the trio’s 911 GT3 R back into ideally placed contention for the overall win.
A heated neck-and-neck duel thus unfolded between the Porsche & GRT’s #63 Lamborghini, even as track temperatures soared over a scorching 50 degrees Celsius. Just before the clock passed over two hours remaining, the GRT Lamborghini decisively overtook Rutronik’s 911 GT3 R for the race lead, before making its final fuel stop just 40 minutes away from the checkered flag.
Although it didn’t go according to plan, the stop was still quick enough for the Huracán GT3 EVO2 to rejoin a second in front of Niederhauser, effectively sealing the deal. Nevertheless, Porsche still secured first place with Rutronik Racing’s driver trio in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, which the 24 Hours of Spa is part of.
Wright Motorsport concluded their strong European debut by finishing the race 16th overall, making them Porsche’s second-best placed customer team at Spa this year. The US-based team’s drivers Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer, and Thomas Sargent performed flawlessly in their demanding first race abroad, competing against a field of 73 other GT3 cars & securing fourth place in the Gold Cup class.
In the Pro-Am class, victory was clinched by Porsche customer team AV Racing by Car Collection Motorsport. The quartet of Noam Abramczyk, Bo Yuan, Mathieu Detry and Fabian Duffieux started 61st on the grid and consistently drove an incident-free race to finish 31st overall. This is not a result to be sniffed at, as Spa has long been known to be a highly demanding, unforgiving & highly unpredictable sort of race – but that’s what makes it so uniquely thrilling to enjoy, whether as a driver, live spectator, or even someone enthusiastically watching the action unfold on their laptop’s screen at home.
Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R said, ‟What a finale! After so many highs and lows, the final four hours at Spa delivered an incredibly exciting finish. Rutronik Racing fought hard for overall victory right up to the end. Finishing second makes us extremely proud of both the team and the drivers. I’d also like to highlight the Pro-Am class win from AV Racing by Car Collection Motorsport. After the third 24-hour race in a row, I would like to express my sincere thanks to our customer teams for their fantastic cooperation. With the LMGT3 victory at Le Mans and second places here and at the Nürburgring, we can be proud of our achievements!”
Alessio Picariello added, ‟I’m standing here with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I’m obviously happy – before this race, I would’ve taken this result without a second thought. But after such a hard-fought battle, finishing second is a little heartbreaking. We gave it everything; there was nothing left in the tank for us. The fact that we managed to fight at the front feels like a small miracle. The team and the drivers delivered a flawless performance. Next year, we’ll come back even stronger.”
