The most important event of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season is about to get underway: the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which has attracted no fewer than 70 GT3 cars. Alex Fontana will be competing in the race at the wheel of the #89 Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by the Lionspeed GP team in the Bronze Cup category. The Swiss driver and his usual partners Bashar Mardini and Patrick Kolb, will be joined for the occasion by Axcil Jefferies. The team arrives at Spa having secured their first eight points in the Bronze standings, thanks to a sixth-place finish at Monza.
This will be Alex Fontana’s seventh appearance in the historic Belgian endurance race. His last outing was in 2023, when he secured second place in the Pro-Am class. He has also enjoyed success in other categories at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit: in 2022 he finished second in the GT4 European Series, whilst in 2014, in GP3, he took third place on the podium.
The packed weekend programme will get underway on Thursday the 25th of June, following the traditional city parade due to be held on the Wednesday. The first free practice sessions are scheduled for 10.10 and 16.10, lasting 90 and 60 minutes respectively. Qualifying will take place from 19.45 to 21.50 on the same day, followed by a night-time free practice session at 22.10. On Friday, the action begins at 15:05 with Superpole, which will officially define the starting grid for the 2026 Spa 24 Hours. The final 30-minute pre-race warm-up session will be held at 19:20. The green flag will strating the race will drop at 16:30 on Saturday the 27th of June 2026.
Alex Fontana
“There’s a lot of excitement surrounding this historic race and I can’t wait to find out which positions we’ll be able to fight for. The race – indeed, the whole weekend – is a long one, and there’ll be plenty of work to do for both us drivers and the team, with temperatures expected to reach 35°C, which will feel like around 60°C inside the car. We’ll obviously be trying to make as few mistakes as possible to maximise our result, because an endurance race is a true survival marathon and it’ll be a very physically demanding race. There will be a huge number of cars on the track, which will inevitably make overtaking and lapping all the more difficult. The weather, strategy choices and the challenges of the night will be crucial. Personally, I love the Spa circuit and we gathered some interesting data during testing, but we’ll have to adapt quickly as we discover the potential of our rivals too.”
This will be Alex Fontana’s seventh appearance in the historic Belgian endurance race. His last outing was in 2023, when he secured second place in the Pro-Am class. He has also enjoyed success in other categories at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit: in 2022 he finished second in the GT4 European Series, whilst in 2014, in GP3, he took third place on the podium.
The packed weekend programme will get underway on Thursday the 25th of June, following the traditional city parade due to be held on the Wednesday. The first free practice sessions are scheduled for 10.10 and 16.10, lasting 90 and 60 minutes respectively. Qualifying will take place from 19.45 to 21.50 on the same day, followed by a night-time free practice session at 22.10. On Friday, the action begins at 15:05 with Superpole, which will officially define the starting grid for the 2026 Spa 24 Hours. The final 30-minute pre-race warm-up session will be held at 19:20. The green flag will strating the race will drop at 16:30 on Saturday the 27th of June 2026.
Alex Fontana
“There’s a lot of excitement surrounding this historic race and I can’t wait to find out which positions we’ll be able to fight for. The race – indeed, the whole weekend – is a long one, and there’ll be plenty of work to do for both us drivers and the team, with temperatures expected to reach 35°C, which will feel like around 60°C inside the car. We’ll obviously be trying to make as few mistakes as possible to maximise our result, because an endurance race is a true survival marathon and it’ll be a very physically demanding race. There will be a huge number of cars on the track, which will inevitably make overtaking and lapping all the more difficult. The weather, strategy choices and the challenges of the night will be crucial. Personally, I love the Spa circuit and we gathered some interesting data during testing, but we’ll have to adapt quickly as we discover the potential of our rivals too.”