Spa WEC: Alpine grabs lead from Ferrari before halfway mark
Lead change in the Spa WEC race.
Alpine claimed the lead from Ferrari shortly before the halfway mark of the 6 Hours of Spa to put itself in a position to claim its first victory in the World Endurance Championship since 2022.
The #36 Alpine A424 LMDh stopped a lap earlier than the polesitting #50 Ferrari during the third hour of the race, giving the French squad the benefit of the undercut.
Although the Signatech crew had to complete a driver change on the #36 car, with Jules Gounon taking over the driving duties from Frederic Makowiecki, Alpine managed to significantly close the gap to the leading Ferrari.
That meant that when Miguel Molina returned on track in the Ferrari 499P LMH on cold tyres, Gounon could easily pass him at the bottom of the Eau Rouge to take the lead for the first time in the race.
The overtake by Gounon followed an impressive performance from teammate Makowiecki, who rapidly climbed up from sixth on the grid in a mammoth 2.5-hour stint.
The Frenchman passed both the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Phil Hanson and the factory #51 Ferrari of James Calado in the opening hour on his way up to second place.
He had closed in rapidly on the race-leading #50 Ferrari of Molina before diving into the pits in the middle of the third hour.
Alpine lost won a race with its grandfathered A480 LMP1 car in 2022, but has only managed a few podium finishes with its Oreca-based LMDh prototype that debuted in 2024.
Ferrari still has two cars running in provisional podium positions, with Antonio Giovinazzi repassing both Peugeot 9X8 LMHs to grab third position in the #51 499P.
Robin Frijns holds fourth place in the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 entered by the factory WRT team, with Jean-Eric Vergne in the #93 Peugeot running ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in the sister #94 entry.
The LMGT3 class is being led by Zacharie Robichon in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
