Now in its third year, the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup returned to Spa-Francorchamps with a compact nine-car field of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars for 12 hours around the Belgian circuit.
It may have been a small grid, but Spa, changing conditions and a race running from morning into darkness still provided plenty to work with.
Friday
Friday began grey and damp, with a wet circuit and low cloud hanging over Spa. Conditions improved through the day, with the occasional burst of sunshine, but the weather never really settled.
Free practice gave teams their first proper opportunity to work through setup and driver changes before attention turned to qualifying.
The format consisted of three qualifying sessions before the fastest five cars progressed to a single-lap Shoot-Out for pole. The opening session was interrupted by a red flag, while Red Camel-Jordans emerged as the strongest car across the three sessions.
Dylan Pereira then appeared to have put the #17 AF Motorsport Porsche on pole with a 2:19.870 in the Shoot-Out, comfortably the quickest lap of the session. That time was later deleted for a track-limits infringement.
Pole therefore passed to the #21 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche of Conrad Tox Leveau, Joshua Bednarski and Rolando Saca. LMR Motorsport lined up alongside, just 0.047 seconds behind, with Chazel Technologie Course third and AF Motorsport dropping to fourth. Red Camel completed the top five after also losing its Shoot-Out lap to track limits.
By the evening, Spa had changed completely.
Heavy rain arrived ahead of night practice, leaving standing water across parts of the circuit and huge walls of spray behind the cars. Headlights reflected from the soaked surface and visibility became difficult in places.
For the teams it was valuable wet-weather running. For everyone watching, it was another reminder of how quickly Spa can change.
Saturday
Race morning brought much calmer conditions. The circuit was dry beneath cloudy skies, with temperatures around 14°C for the 09:45 start and gradually rising towards 18°C through the opening four hours.
Conrad Tox Leveau led the field away from pole for Mühlner Motorsport, but Rik Breukers made a quick start from fourth in the #9 Red Camel Porsche and was immediately in the fight at the front.
Breukers soon found a way past and took the lead, although both Red Camel and Chazel were subsequently hit with drive-through penalties for false starts.
That briefly handed the advantage back to Mühlner, with MM Racing also making rapid progress from the rear of the field.
The first major drama came just over half an hour into the race when the front-right wheel detached from the pole-sitting #21 Mühlner Porsche at Stavelot.
Leveau managed to bring the car back to the pits, but further checks followed and the team lost around three laps. Their challenge for the outright win had effectively been reset.
Red Camel worked its way back to the front after serving its penalty, while MM Racing and Theeba Motorsport increasingly became part of the lead battle.
A Full Course Yellow was required when the #78 Speed Lover Porsche ended up stranded in the gravel. The Safety Car that followed closed the field back up, leaving Red Camel, MM Racing and Theeba Motorsport on the lead lap.
Paul Meijer was one of the most aggressive drivers on track in the #22 Theeba Motorsport by QMMF EST1 Racing Porsche. He quickly moved into second after the restart and later passed Red Camel for the lead at Blanchimont.
The move came via the run-off area, however, and Meijer was handed a drive-through penalty.
It did little to slow his progress for long. After dropping back, he worked his way forward again and returned to the lead as the race moved towards half distance.
With mandatory pit stops continuing to shuffle the order, Theeba Motorsport briefly held the advantage before Rik Breukers began closing rapidly for Red Camel. Once back ahead, the #9 Porsche started to build a significant margin.
There was relatively little major drama elsewhere. Chazel had a spin during the race and several cars picked up penalties, but compared with Friday evening’s conditions the race remained largely dry and relatively clean.
As daylight began to disappear over Spa, Red Camel increasingly looked in control.
Their advantage reached two laps at one stage, although Meijer continued to push in the #22 and reduced the deficit back to a single lap heading into the final hour.
Behind them, MM Racing remained in contention for an overall podium after an impressive recovery from the back of the grid, but a late fuel stop with less than ten minutes remaining dropped the #23 Porsche to fourth.
That promoted AF Motorsport to third.
Even then, the #17 was not entirely safe. Dylan Pereira had to manage the car carefully in the closing stages to ensure there was enough fuel to reach the chequered flag.
After 12 hours, victory belonged to Red Camel-Jordans, ahead of Theeba Motorsport by QMMF EST1 Racing, with AF Motorsport completing the overall podium.
MM Racing finished fourth after its late stop, ahead of Chazel Technologie Course.
Mühlner Motorsport eventually recovered to sixth after the early wheel failure, a respectable result considering how much time had been lost.
For a race that began with only nine cars, there had been no shortage of stories. Penalties, a detached wheel, changing strategies, a Safety Car, fuel concerns and a lead battle that continued well into the second half of the race.
And, after Friday night’s torrential rain, Spa had at least spared them one thing on Saturday.
The weather.
