SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM – Al-Manar Racing by Getspeed’s Al-Faisal bin Khalid Al-Zubair, Dominik Baumann, Mikaël Grenier and team debutant Philip Ellis finished the gruelling CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa seventh overall and took a stunning Gold Cup victory on Sunday.
Starting the second round of the 2024 GT World Challenge Endurance Cup fourth in Gold, the team managed its strategy perfectly through heavy overnight rain. Grenier drove the final stint and stayed out of trouble to take the flag well clear of Gold runners-up Saintéloc Racing after 477 laps.
Overall victory went to the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen, after a stopped Lamborghini blocked the pit entry for over a minute and the long-time leading AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi dropped to second.
It was a great race. We were not sure how it was going to be initially. We had a strong driver line-up and a team package to really come with something strong. We were very happy with how everything turned out. We kept it clean with no track limits and all my team-mate were quick in the race.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
The most important thing was to bring back the win but also not only finishing as Gold Cup winners but also seventh overall out of 66 cars was something special and something to be very proud of. To do this under the Omani flag was something I was very happy to do. For what we have done in the past few years this was definitely at the top of the list. It was such a hectic race. It is the 100th edition and that makes it more special. The drivers and the team did an amazing job.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
How the race unfolded
Sixty-six cars started the centenary race. Baumann completed lap one 11th overall and fourth in Gold, behind Glenn Van Berlo, Jim Pla and Arjun Maini. With 80% of the track resurfaced, grip was good in the dry; after pitting at 40 minutes Baumann climbed to 10th and then ninth before the first hour.
Al-Zubair took over for stint two and moved up to third in Gold. The car was eighth at four hours, dropped to 22nd and second in Gold at quarter distance, then rose to 11th overall and the Gold lead after midnight. Heavy rain and standing water brought out the safety car for more than two and a half hours around daybreak.
By the 15th hour the crew was eighth with a comfortable Gold lead, and after 18 hours and 335 laps they were sixth overall, between two Pro cars. Ellis then ran fourth overall behind the Rowe Racing BMW, the Comtoyou Aston Martin and the Team WRT BMW, briefly leading during pit stops. With 2hr 25min left, Grenier took over in eighth after 416 laps, held sixth overall through a late full-course yellow, and brought the car home seventh overall and first in Gold.
Qualifying
Running a one-off Spa livery, the crew was fourth in Gold in Q1 (2min 16.917sec) and Q2 (2min 15.891sec), fourth again in Q3 and fastest in Q4. Combined, they started fourth in Gold, with Saintéloc’s Audi R8 on class pole.