A thrilling race saw the closest finish yet since the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa has been part of the FIA GT Championship. After 558 laps of non-stop combat round the beautiful and challenging circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, the BMS Scuderia Italia 550 Maranello of Lilian Bryner, Luca Cappellari, Fabrizio Gollin and Enzo Calderari finished a lap ahead of its race-long rival, the GPC Giesse Squadra Corse 575 Maranello of Philipp Peter, Fabio Babini, Vincent Vosse and Mika Salo.

This was the first time that a female driver has taken overall victory in the 24-hour race, which moreover took place on the Swiss national day, providing a fitting celebration for the lovely Lilian.

The BMS Scuderia Italia 550 started from pole and took the lead from the Giesse 575 GTC by virtue of fewer problems and shorter pit-stops. Third at the six-hour point, the crew of Gollin, Cappellari, Bryner and Calderari led at both the twelve-hour and full race distance, scoring 18 points in total.

The GPC 575 of Babini, Peter, Salo and Vosse finished second after leading for much of the race. They took the maximum points at the six-hour mark, and were leading from just after the mid-race until lap 443, when a longer pit-stop to fix a broken diffuser at the rear gave the BMS car the advantage. This is the new team's best-ever result, and with a total score of twenty over the race, GPC Giesse Squadra Corse have taken a comfortable second place in the GT Teams classification.

Third place went to the second BMS car, driven by Bobbi, Gardel, Livio and de Castro. The strong line-up had a crash around midnight, and a long pit-stop dropped them back. They recovered to finish in seventh overall. Fourth went to the JMB Racing 575 GTC of Longin, Wendlinger, Müller and Corthals. The second GPC car drive by Morbidelli/.phpetti/ Defourny/Bouvy suffered from clutch problems, finished sixth in class, with the second JMB Ferrari of Gosse/Kutemann/Garbagnati the last car classified.

In the GT Championships, Gollin and Cappellari have further strengthened their lead, with 62 each ahead of Bobbi and Gardel's 48.5. Babini and Peter both have 40; the end of the season promises to see a close fight ! In the teams, BMS Scuderia Italia has over twice as many points as GPC Giesse Squadra Corse, in second place.

N-GT was a disaster for Ferrari, with the sole entrant, the GPC Ferrari 360 GTC of De Simone and Pescatori making a premature exit after a heavy crash on lap 8. The GPC team and drivers have remained third in their respective championships.

Past the halfway point of the Series, there was still no sign of the Arnoux/Tambay 575, nor the Maserati.........

Fourth place went to Longin/Wendlinger/ Müller/Corthals	The GPC Ferrari 360 GTC crashed out...	.....making N-GT a disaster for Ferrari	Stuck and the Müllers won G2 in BMW Motosport's M3

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There's nowhere quite like Spa

Tthe winning team (l-r) Enzo Calderari, Lilian Bryner, Luca Cappellari & Fabrizio Gollin

The winning BMS Scuderia Italia 550M ahead of their team mates, who ended up seventh

The GPC Ferrari 575 M finished second

pics by FIA GT