•    McLaren 720S GT3 EVO of Optimum converts Spa pole into star GT3 victory 
•    Final hour rain creates dramatic PRO-AM finish, Proton Porsche wins
•    No.2 HAAS RT Audi R8 an excellent second overall with GT3-AM victory
•    Mühlner Motorsport takes comfortable 992 win, superb P4 overall
•    Vortex No.701 takes GTX success, Ligier of Not Only Motorsport wins TCE-TCX

 ERSTER SIEG FÜR MCLAREN BEI DEN MICHELIN 12H SPA NACH GELUNGENEM WOCHENENDE FÜR OPTIMUM MOTORSPORT

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (19 April 2026):
Optimum Motorsport celebrated a faultless first Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS victory on Sunday afternoon, as drivers Salman Owega, Freddie Tomlinson and Harry George converted pole position into a controlled success in their McLaren 720S GT3 EVO.

Performing incredibly impressively throughout round two of the Michelin 24H SERIES European Series, the squad led the way at the intervention break after the opening five and a half hours on Saturday and ultimately took the flag at the end of a wet hour 12 on Sunday by 52 seconds.

“It couldn’t be any better, a big thank you to the team and to McLaren – the car was really great”, commented Owega, “It was my first taste with the McLaren this weekend and I really enjoyed it, I’m looking forward to driving more races with the car and the team.”

“Epic!”, added George, “Words can’t describe, I’m just over the moon – considering I only found out on Thursday night I was going to race here. I’m just super happy, well done to the boys and girls at Optimum, and thank you very much to my team-mates as well.”

While the McLaren squad deservedly took major plaudits, all eyes in the rain-hit last hour were on a nail-biting battle for PRO-AM victory between Yannick Redant in the Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO and the Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO of Manuel Lauck.

Trading paint lap after lap, as a wet track became considerably greasier, Redant took the flag in fifth overall and seemingly with the class win – but a 20 second penalty for the Mercedes driver meant Lauck and team-mates Robert de Haan, Constantin Dressler and Jorg Dreisow took the victory.

The overall podium was completed by the GT3 AM class winning No.2 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of HAAS RT’s Steven Palette, Simon Balcaen, Pierre and Mathieu Castelein, a fantastic performance, while third overall and second in GT3 AM was the equally impressive Mercedes-AMG of GetSpeed Team JR286 racers Adam Osieka, Steve Jans, Patrick Liddy and Tanner Harvey. 

Mühlner Motorsport aced the 992 class to take a clear win with its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I) raced by Julian Hanses, Martin Rump – who was also racing at the Nürburging Nordschleife over the weekend – Conrad Tox Leveau and Tim Scheerbarth. QMMF by HRT Performance racers Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi, Ahmed Al-Emadi and Faesal Al Yafei won 992-AM in eighth overall.

Philippe Bonnel, Julien Boillot and Alexandre De Bernardinis took a strong win for Vortex in the GTX class, while Not Only Motorsport’s Ligier JS2 R also claimed a clear victory in TCE-TCX with duo Gino Rocchio and Filippo Tornaghi.

The pole starting McLaren in the hands of Owega led away at the beginning on Saturday, heading Jans in the GetSpeed Team JR286 Mercedes, but both made very early stops just 10 minutes into the race during a Code 60 period. De Haan then took the lead in the Proton Porsche, before he was usurped by Gregory Servais in the No.41 Comtoyou Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO.

Hour one was unbelievably close, multiple lead changes, and after a second Code 60 both de Haan and Servais were caught napping at the re-start as Tom Coronel, in the sister Comtoyou car, surged ahead. After two hours the Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Max Moritz was on top, but the team’s bid was hit when the car stopped on track with no power.

Servais continued strongly in the No.41 Aston, while the twin HAAS RT Audis moved into contention, and several more Code 60 periods impacted the latter stages of Saturday’s action. Optimum were back on top at the intervention break overnight, the No.21 HAAS RT of Nicolas and Peter Guelinckx, as well as the double-duty Simon Balcaen, was second and the No.41 Aston Martin third. 

Incredibly, before part two on Sunday began there were dramas for the aforementioned Aston when it crawled to a halt on the out lap from the pits – caused by a frayed cable. That spelled diaster for Comtoyou having seen its No.40 car crash out at Bruxelles towards the end of Saturday’s action.  

Owega led away in the McLaren from both HAAS RT Audis, with Palette in the No.2 really pressuring hard. The Optimum car pitted after half an hour, Palette duly moving through, but the McLaren was soon back in the lead. 

In true Spa fashion, rain arrived with just over three hours to go as a short burst resulted in a very greasy track. Race leader Tomlinson had a squirrely moment into Raidillon, but continued, and soon after the No.2 Audi ran straight on under braking for La Source – continuing without drama.

Moments later, the No.21 Audi with Nicolas Guelinckx at the wheel had a spin into the barriers at Raidillon with the right-rear sustaining suspension damage. He was able to crawl back to the pits and superb work by the mechanics got the car back in the race to finish third in GT3 AM.

Skies became increasingly dark overhead and in the final hour heavy rain arrived. The McLaren had pitted for its final planned stop, Owega back at the wheel, and within a lap he pitted again to take on wet-weather Michelins before serenely taking a famous win from HAAS RT and GetSpeed.

Incredible drama came from the battle between Yannick Redant’s Mercedes – which had not long before been off track at Blanchimont – and Lauck’s ever-present Porsche. Multiple times they traded paint, and the partly hobbled Mercedes fought furiously to try and stay ahead, but a 20 second penalty for an overtaking infringement and causing a collision handed the PRO-AM win to Proton.

Mühlner’s pole position Porsche led away at the beginning on Saturday in the hands of Hanses, with Steven Gambrell moving the No.928 HRT Performance car into second ahead of the Red Camel-Jordans.nl Porsche of Rik Breukers. In quick order Breukers managed to hit back, with the Mühlner and Red Camel cars then pitting at the first Code 60. 

Al Khelaifi took the lead for QMMF and as the end of hour two neared, the No.928 – with Jonathan Kearney at the wheel – crashed out of Blanchimont. Fabian Danz in the Red Camel car and Rump in the Mühlner Porsche battled closely, while QMMF continued to impress at the front as the Chazel Technologie Course car also climbed into contention.

Over the last couple of hours on Saturday the main contenders traded the lead, but at the end of five and a half hours QMMF topped 992 as well as 992 AM, from Mühlner and Chazel Technologie’s car shared by Jean-Paul Dominici, Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn. 

Hanses started Sunday’s action for Mühlner and the Belgian squad overturned QMMF during the early running, while Chazel’s challenge was blunted after de Barn had a spin at Raidillon, a result of brake problems. With four and a half hours to run the top three in 992, Muhlner, QMMF and the No.910 Seblajoux Racing car, were a heady fourth, fifth and sixth overall.

The late race rainfall didn’t cause any real dramas, the only issue was a technical problem for the Chazel Porsche while running second in 992 AM and third in 992. So, Mühlner wrapped-up a very commanding victory more than a lap ahead of QMMF, with the No.910 of Jerome Boullery, Lionel Amrouche, Alessandro Tudisca, Gary Terclavers and Sebastien Lajoux third and second in 992-AM.

Having dominated GTX qualifying the NM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT2 looked well set for part one of the race, but a series of car issues did hamper the squad’s challenge and so the No.701 Vortex 2.0 made its way into the lead 90 minutes into the contest with Boillot in the cockpit.

Sadly things weren’t so positive for the No.702 Vortex, which encountered its own troubles from the beginning, and things were compounded in part two on Sunday when Thierry Chkondali hit the wall out of the chicane after a tangle with the GT3 Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi.

The battle for victory therefore became a two-way fight between the No.701 and the NM Mercedes, the Vortex having taken a lead of six laps into Sunday. This more than doubled to 16 laps by the conclusion on Sunday, the Mercedes encountering more dramas with its turbo and a fluid leak.

Rocchio’s Ligier launched into a good lead in TCE-TCX from pole on Saturday, but he was kept fairly in check by Kevin Clarke in the J-Mec Engineering BMW M3 (E46) during hour one. Unfortunately for the J-Mec squad, though, the BMW’s bid faded with a series of problems.

This opened the door for asBest Racing to come through to the podium places, while the Ligier took victory by six laps. The No.102 SEAT Leon Cup Racer of Steven Teirlinck, Jens Wulf and Pia Ohlsson finished second, three laps clear of its sister Cupra TCR DSG driven by Lutz Obermann, Junichi Umemoto and Samuel Hsieh. 

The midway point of the 2026 Michelin 24H SERIES European Series, the Michelin 12H Paul Ricard, will take place across 5/6/7 June at the Le Castellet venue in southern France.