33th Spa Six Hours - Francorchamps 25-27 September 2025 ^Featured

Written by Guus Docen

For three days, the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps saw the racing cars of the past in action. The theme of the 32th edition of the Spa Six Hours was the Sound of History. Indeed, for the connoisseur, it quickly becomes clear which racing class is on the track when enjoying the high-revving sound of racing cars looming in the distance. The spectators' main interest was obviously the Six Hours endurance race on Saturday. Other interesting races scheduled during this event were from the Historic Grand Prix Car Association, Classic Sports Car Club & British HTGT Competition, Historic Championship ’65 & ’81, Alfa Revival Cup, the Formula 3 1000 cc European Trophy, RAC Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy, Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge, the Pre War Sports Cars, GT3 Legends and Classic GP – Historic F1 Pre-1986

Six Hours Race
The starting field comprised a total of 78 vehicles, almost the same as last year, also the various marques and types were more or less equivalent. Fourteen Ford GT40s, fourteen Lotus Elans, seven Jaguar E-Types, several Shelby Cobras, Ford Mustangs, MGs, and Austin-Healeys, as well as a few soloists such as a Ginetta G4R, a TVR Griffith, a Marcos 1800 GT, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, and a real heavyweight: a 7-Litre Ford Galaxie 500.
Amongst the registered drivers were some well-known names like former Formula 1 driver Christian Danner, Martin Brundle with his son Alex, Jacky Ickx daughter Vanina, Sam Hancock, Andy Priaulx, Martin Stretton, Simon Hadfield, Michael Lyons, Nico Verdonck, Count Oeynhausen and others who have already made a name as experienced drivers in endurance racing. As the starting lights turned green the GT40s on the front row stormed to La Source, it was the GT40 of Michael Funke /Luco Sanchez /Nick Salewsky which took the lead followed by the Oeynhausen /Verdonck /Newall GT40 and third the GT40 of Christian Albrecht/Seb Perez. Only a few seconds later No.7 GT40 (Stretton/Ferrao) and No.5 GT40 (Holz/Nuthall/Lyons) had contact, causing the number 5 car to spin, losing a back wheel and come to a stop against the pit wall. The yellow flag had to be waved and it took some laps before the number 5 GT40 was removed from the track. After the race restarted a trio of front-running GT40s No. 20 (Michael Funke), No. 30 (Graf Oeynhausen), and No. 25 (Christian Albrecht) took some distance from the rest of the field. For more than two hours they kept the lead. Just like last year the small Ginetta of Palle Birkelund Pedersen, Alexander Weiss, and Nicolaj Kjaergaard posed the biggest threat for the GT40s. This small glass fibre car (1720 cc. Lotus engine) proved to be quite capable of keeping up with the pace of the GT40s, a top speed measurement showed 230.3 km/h! Martin Stretton's GT40 was marginally faster at 232.8 km/h. The Ginetta started from eleventh position but had worked its way up to the top three and in lap 49 the darkgreen car suddenly took the lead. The Danish equippe completed their laps flawlessly and consistently in the little rocket but a badly timed refueling stop in lap 67 dropped the Ginetta back to 8th place. Refueling was an issue this year. As usual, for safety reasons, the cars were only allowed to refuel at the official gas station behind the old pit exit, and the driver had to do the refueling himself. Unfortunately, only three of the four pumps were available as one of the pump got broke and cars were queuing up. Bad luck for the GT40s with two tanks of each 70 litres! The Spa Six Hours was a tombola, with four safety car periods in the first hour alone, some lasting as long as ten minutes – a trend that remained unchanged for the entire race. Most safety cars periods were caused by mechanical issues that left oil trails. In the second hour an oil trail was created from Les Combes to Campus. The oil-covered section of the track was gritted, and the race was restarted – but only briefly: The Mustang of Yool/Sykes/Grimes skidded on the still-slippery section, spun 90 degrees, and crashed head-on into the barriers. The driver was uninjured, but another safety car intervention was unavoidable. After the tenth safety car, most drivers lost count. After four hours the No.30 GT40 of Marcus Count Oeynhausen/Nico Verdonck/Andrew Newall was in the lead, over a minute ahead of the No.3 GT40 of Nikolaus Ditting and Sam Hancock. In third position was the no.7 GT40 of Martin Stretton and Diogo Ferrao but in the fifth hour of the race they managed to get into the lead but within a few laps the Danish Ginetta reappeared in their rearview mirror. Stretton en Ferrao had to defend themselves from the Ginetta as the gap between the two cars got smaller and smaller. Finally Stretton and Ferrao won the race, for Martin Stretton it was the fifth time that he won this race,the last time was in 2014. Third and fourth place were for two other Ford GT40s: the No.20 of Michael Funke, Luco Sanchez, and Nick Salewsky, and the No.30 Nico Verdonck, Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen, and Andy Newall. It is evident that a six hours race causes a lot of wear and tear to an older racing car as just 50 cars reached the finish.
Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge
The Dutch Youngtimer Touring Car Challenge had the largest number of entries after the Six Hours race with 75 cars. No fewer than three races were held with the first race on Thursday evening on a wet track. Alex Taylor won with his TVR Tuscan, followed by Piers Masarati’s Porsche 911 Turbo and Mike Manning's Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500.
Race 2 was held on a dry track, with several neutralizations, one of them caused by the crash of the Alex Taylor’s TVR Tuscan (driven by James Affleck). The battle for victory was between Miles Masarati in the Porsche 911 Turbo and Felix Haas's spectacular Morgan MMC4, with Masarati taking victory. The final YTCC race on Saturday was marked by several incidents. After a good battle with Felix Haas in the Morgan, Stephen Scott Dunwoodie drove his Ford Sierra Cosworth to victory. So Felix Haas finished second followed by Piers-James Masarati (Porsche 911 Turbo).
Classic Sports Car Club & British HTGT Competition
Two very interesting races were the combined fields of the Classic Sports Car Club and British HTGT Competition (from Germany), in total 49 entries. The first race was held on late Thursday afternoon during heavy rainfall. Luxembourger Philippe Vermast who started from the frontrow in the heavily modified Triumph Vitesse could keep the pace behind Steve Osborne's Jaguar E-Type. The Briton secured victory in the CSCC-Swinging Sixties class, Vermast took the win in the British HTGT Competition category. Race 2 was held under much better weather conditions on Friday afternoon with the sun shining. Steve Osborne drove his E-Type to victory again, this time ahead of John Wolfe's TVR and Dean Halsey's Datsun 240 Z. Bad luck for Philippe Vermast as in lap 5 the left front suspension gave up at Fagnes.
Historic F3 1000cc European Trophy
The Historic F3 1000cc European Trophy was born in 2001. It is open to every F3 1000cc "screamer" built between 01/01/1964 and 31/12/1970 representing the first generation Formula 3 cars that have made the iconic hours of international motorsport in the sixties. A fantastic field of around thirty 1000cc Formula 3s took to the grid this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Race 1 was held on Friday morning, Peter De La Roche in the Alexis took the lead followed by Charlie Martin's De Sanctis. Jason Timm finished third in a Brabham BT21. De La Roche started from pole for Race 2 on Saturday, but on the second lap, his Alexis encountered problems and he was forced to pit. Charlie Martin took over in his De Sanctis, but he was also plagued by technical issues. This gave Ross Drybrough the opportunity to pilot his Merlyn to victory, ahead of the two Brabhams of Jason Timms and Christoph Widmer.
Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy
Apart from the Pre-War Sportscars, Motor Racing Legends also returned with the combined RAC Woodcote & Stirling Moss Trophy. These series showed just sixteen cars during qualification on Thursday and even less cars (fourteen) on the Friday starting grid. In my 2018 Spa Six Hours report there where 56 cars entered for this race…
From pole position, Maxwell Lynn's Lister Costin Chevrolet immediately took off and built up a 20-second lead. Frederic Wakeman (Cooper T38) and John Spiers (Lister Knobbly) battled for second place. Unfortunately, the leading Lister Costin Chevrolet retired with engine problems twenty minutes before the finish! The track was open for Chris Ward's Cooper T38, who replaced Fred Wakeman and opened up a small lead over Spiers Lister Knobbly. The the Lotus XV of Guy Peters and Will Nuthall took third place.
Pre-War Sports Cars
On Saturday all the visitors could enjoy a forty-minute duel of twenty pre-war sports cars. Jonathan Bailey (Bugatti T35C) started from the front row but quickly ended up in the La Source gravel trap. He made an impressive comeback finishing in nineth position. Gareth Burnett starting second on the grid seemed to dominate the race with his blue Alta Sports, but due to mechanical failure was forced to retire with just three laps remaining! The 1932 Alvis Firefly Special of Rudiger Friedrichs and Charlie Martin took over the lead and had a convincing victory, well ahead of the 1500 cc.Frazer Nash TT Replica (Robert and Joshua Beebee) and the 1937 Riley 12/4 TT Sprite Rep. of Alex Hewitson. Of the eight Bentley’s it was the 3 Litre (4½ Litre engine) of Clive and James Morley which finished forth. Best Bugatti driver was Belgian François Rivaz finisihing fifth in a type T44 preceding Sue Derbyshire in her three-wheeler Morgan Super Aero.
Historic Grand Prix Cars Association – Pre-’66 Grand Prix Cars
Thirty-five Grand Prix cars, featuring a mix of front- and rear-engined single-seaters drove two 30-minutes races. In race 1 there was a fierce battle between German Rüdiger Friedrichs in a Cooper T53 and Tim Child at the wheel of a Brabham BT3/4. Finally it was Tim Child who won the race 12 seconds ahead of Rüdiger Friedrichs. Race 2 was held early Saturday afternoon. The previous day's winner, Tim Child (Brabham BT3/4) had to retire with technical problems. Rudiger Friedrichs (Cooper T53) took the lead but had to fend off attacks from Dutchman Michel Kuiper (Brabham BT4) until the finish.
Historic Championship 65 & 81
The German Historic Championships of ’65 and ’81 were merged into a single race of sixty minutes. François Rivaz (Chevron B19) won the ’81 race followed by the Ford GT40 of Michael Funke and Luco Sanchez. Michael Wittke took third place at the wheel of a Porsche 911 RSR. Oliver Hartmann's speedy Elva MkVIII S was fastest in the ‘65 race, 11 seconds ahead of Rudiger Friedrichs' Shelby Cobra 289. The Ford Mustang of Dutchman Reinier Van Abbe took the third place on the podium.
Alfa Revival Cup
A new race series at this event was the Italian Alfa Revival Cup with exclusively the Bertone model. Of this type there were fourteen 1750 GTAms, five Giulia Sprint GTAs and two GT Veloce 2000s. In the sixty-minute race the brothers Daniele and Ambrogio Perfetti set the pace from the start on both a 1750 GTAm. Daniele Perfetti seemed poised for victory but a five-second track limit penalty decided otherwise: his brother Ambrogio was handed the victory! Roberto Restelli completed the podium. Former F1 driver Christian Danner drove a 1750 GTAm with Mathias Körber, they finished finished in eighth place.
GT3 Legend and Formula One pre-1986
The GT3 Legends series caters for the early period of GT3 racing , from its founding in 2006 up to 2012. Sadly their were just 15 cars entered for Spa-Francorchamps. Australian Graham Davidson drove his Aston Martin V12 Vantage to victory in both races without any serious opposition. Christoph von Oeynhausen finished second in a BMW Z4 GT3.
As the Masters race series are no longer present in the program of the Spa Six Hours the Roadbook organization collaborated with Portugese Diogo Ferrao to organize an F1 race. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned and only six cars were on the starting list of which only took the track! Paul Tattersall won on Friday, being the only one to cross the finish line! On Saturday, it was Michael Lyons who secured the victory.
This 2025 edition of the Spa Six Hours Endurance, attracted again a large crowd, especially on Saturday. The various parking lots around the circuit de Spa-Francorchamps were completely full! It would be great if the Roadbook organisation decided to change the event days back to Thursday through Sunday instead of Wednesday through Saturday. This would increase the number of English participants, which would benefit visitor numbers.