Spa Summer Classic 24-26 April 2026

Written by Guus Docen

The Spa Summer Classic has become a benchmark on the European classic car racing calendar and every year it attracts large and impressive starting grids. It was the seventeenth edition of the event and the tenth edition of the headliner, the Spa 3 Hours race. The program featured 10 race series which included historic Touring cars, vintage GTs and the more modern classic racers. The regular visitors of the Spa-Francorchamps area are familiar with the very changeable weather conditions whatever time of the year. Not so during this three-day meeting, full sunshine from the early morning until late in the evening. An extraordinary experience at Spa-Francorchamps in April.

Three Hours Race
For the tenth edition of the three hours endurance race co-organised by Race Ready and Roadbook, sixty-five cars were on the track for the qualification on Friday afternoon. Favorites for pole position were the winners of last year's edition, the Danes Palle Birkelund Pedersen and Alexander Weiss in the ultralight Ginetta G4R. Just four Lotus Elans 26R were comparable to the Ginetta, all other teams drove much heavier and powerful cars like Shelby Cobras, Ford Mustangs, Austin Healeys and Porsches. Again the Danes showed their driving skills by putting their car on pole position with a lap time of 2:45.07 followed by the Shelby Cobra of Alexander and Vincent Kolb. Third on the grid was the Porsche 911 3.0 RS driven by Belgian Oliver Meutjens and Frenchman Brice Pineau. Entering La Source first after the start on Sunday-morning was the Danish Ginetta followed by the Cobra and Porsche. The Ginetta kept the lead for the whole race, the fight for second, third and fourth position was continually changing from the start until the end of the race, mostly dominated by the Shelby Cobra (Kolb), the Ford Mustang of Andy Taylor, Dave Coyne and Mike Wright and the Ford Capri 2600RS of the Kuijl family. The Capri started from the back of the grid because of an engine change after qualifying but the team managed to make a remarkable comeback to the frontrunners. Unfortunately, the replacement engine gave up, and after lap 34 the Capri ended back into the pitbox. The British Mustang took second position in lap 35 with a gap of two laps to the Lotus twin-cam powered Ginetta.
The battle for third and four position kept going on between the two Shelby Cobras of Charles Faber-Castell-Andy Newall and Alexander Kolb-Vincent Kolb. Finally the latter finished in third position and fourth the Kolb equippe. The Jaguar E-Type of Michael Gray and Kallum Gray completed the top five, ahead of the first Lotus Elan, driven by Luxembourgers Philippe Vermast and Patrick Wilwert. Again the Danes Pedersen and Weiss have proved that they are the potential winners of the Six Hours race in September. Will there be another team already busy preparing a second Ginetta G4R for the Six Hours race ?
German Historic Championship
The German Historic Championship had their races for the cars build until 1965 in two 30-minutes races and the pre ’81 cars had a single race on Sunday lasting 90 minutes. In the pre ‘65 class thirty cars qualified themselves on Friday. The Elva Mk8 (Oliver Hartmann) drove to pole position but it was Dutchman Bas Jansen in his Shelby Cobra 289 who won race 1. On Sunday Bas Jansen started in the second race from pole position but another Dutchman Jac Meeuwissen (Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe) was on his tail and positions between the two Cobras changed constantly. Finally Meeuwissen won the battle 10.617 sec. ahead of the other Cobra. The 90-minutes race on Sunday for the pre’81 showed a much larger grid of 39 cars of which 16 Porsches and several Alfa Romeos 1750 GTAm. A rather unusual car was the Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, nicknamed the Red Sow. It was a replica of the original car which drove the 24-hours race for Touring cars at Spa in 1971. The original was scrapped many years ago but around sixteen replicas were built all over the world and this was one of them. The car started from the back of the grid and sadly didn’t finish. Maxwell Polzler and Nick Salewsky took the victory in a Porsche 911 RS followed by Daniel Schrey in a Porsche 911 RSR. Third was the Markus Diederich in a Ford Escort RS1600 MkI.
Belcar Historic Cup
Another major race series at the Spa Summer Classic is the Belcar Historic Cup which attracted again a large number of entries, 48 cars took part in two splendid 30 minutes races. Favorites this weekend were the brothers Wim en Tim Kuijl , Wim Kuijl drove to overall pole position and set a fantastic 2’36’481 lap time in the Ford Capri 3100 RS Cosworth. Tim Kuijl placed the BMW E66 2.5 next to his brother’s Capri on the front row of the grid. Luc Moortgat achieved the third fastest time in a Porsche 964 RS. During the first race, only Luc Moortgat's Porsche could keep up with Wim Kuijl's blistering pace. The result of race 1 is the starting grid for race 2, and thus Wim Kuijl was once again on pole with his Capri, with Luc Moortgat alongside him. Again Wim Kuijl and Luc Moortgat opened up an impressive gap on the competition. Kuijl won again followed by Moortgat 7 seconds later.
British Classic Sports Car Club races
Another combined race was organized by the British Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC), the CSCC Classic & Morgan Challenge – British GTGT.
This led to an impressive number of entries, 62 cars of various marques, of course Morgans and BMWs but also MGB GTs, Jaguars XJS, Lotus Elans and even an Austin A40, Warwick GT and a Reliant Sabre. A 2-Litre Morgan Plus 4 (Louis Ruff) drove to pole position, second was Colin Philpott in a Jaguar XJS. Louis Ruff and Colin Philpott finished in the same order in both races.
The other CSCC combined race was the Modern Interseries & Ramair BMW Championship with again 62 entries. Interesting cars filled the grit like several Caterhams 7, small hot hatches like Renaults Clio and Abarth 595s but also a Ferrari 488 and a Lamborghini Huracán. BMWs E46 M3 filled the top ten finishers in race1 but race 2 saw five Caterhams finishing in the top ten and far less BMW M3s.
Battle of the Dwarfs
Small racing cars but a big starting field this weekend in the Battle of the Dwarfs. Cars like the Fiat Abarth 1000 TCs, Autobianchi A112, and Fiat 127, with just over 1000 cc. compete in the Abarth Coppa Mille. The group British Car Trophy is filled with Mini Coopers. The NSU TT Trophy is for NSU 1200TT. The 1300 Histo-Cup is home to classic touring cars like the Fiat 128, Simca Rallye, and Lada’s. Again like the previous year the Simca 1200 S Coupé driven by Hans März was the overall winner during both races and second place in both races was for the Abarth 1000 TRC driven by Michael Männl. Third place in both races was for Gregor Nick in a Mini Cooper.
1300 European Touring Car Challenge and Fast Seventies
The “1300 European Touring Car Challenge” (1300 ETC) offers a platform for drivers of small 1300 cc. Touring cars to compete on the track. This weekend the 1300 ETC was combined with the Dutch race series Fast Seventies with Touring cars and GTs. This combination gave a very attractive and diverse field with almost 40 cars on the grid. The results of both races showed the dominance of the Fast Seventies cars. Daniel Schrey drove his yellow Porsche 935 K1 twice to victory. Cees Lubbers in the beautiful BMW 3.0 CSL finished second in both races. Fastest ETCC car was the Morris Mini Cooper S driven by Frenchman Thiery Thiefain. The difference in laptime between the Porsche and Mini was 20 seconds !
Colmore YTCC
The Colmore YTCC delivered a spectacular show with a wonderfull varied field (73 entries!). From the Trabant 601 RS to a Dodge Challenger, VW Golf GTI, BMW M3 E30s, Ford Sierra RS500s, Ford Escort Zakspeed, and even a BMW M1. It was the only series with three 20-minutes races. Dutchman David Verzijlbergen (BMW M3 E36) drove from pole in race 1 followed by the German Daniel Schrey (Porsche 935 K1). Schrey won the first two races while Dutchman David Verzijlbergen took advantage of a penalty imposed on Malcolm Harding (Ford Escort Zakspeed), securing the Sunday race.
The 17th edition of the Spa Summer Classic was an entertaining weekend for all racing teams. The optimal weather conditions allowed drivers to push their cars to (and sometimes over) the limits. Free entry for the visitors, direct access to the teams in the pitboxes and a relaxed atmosphere allowed fans and photographers to engage directly with the cars and drivers. Next racing event organized by the Roadbook organization is the Spa Six Hours 25-27 September.