Black Falcon Team 48 Losch has won the first-ever Michelin 992 Endurance Cup powered by Porsche Motorsport after a commanding performance at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

In contention from the very early going, Black Falcon Team 48 Losch (#48, Loek Hartog / Christopher Mies / Tobias Müller / Noah Nagelsdiek) led 212 of the 276 completed laps around the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps en-route to victory at the first 12-hour endurance race dedicated to the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992).

Emulating a similar run earlier in the day by his teammate Christopher Mies, Loek Hartog completed a double stint at “relentless” pace mid-afternoon to pull the Black Falcon car out of striking distance, and, eventually, one lap clear of the rest of the field. A cushion the German team held all the way to the chequered flag.

Tobias Müller: “This was a great effort, a great win. It was a very good race, a tough race, to be honest, but we were quite consistent, the car was very good, the line-up is very good, the boys did perfect work at the pit stops, and at the end, we had a one-lap lead. Yeah, that’s a good win!”

On top of its impressive pace, Black Falcon Team 48 Losch was one of the very few cars not to receive a drive-through or time penalty.

Max Kruse Racing (#8, Jan Jaap van Roon / Tom Coronel / Paul Meijer / Benjamin Leuchter) completed an incredible comeback drive to finish 2nd, albeit less than nine seconds ahead of Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#9, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers / Rik Breukers / Fabian Danz) in a close fight for the runners-up spot.

Event polesitter Max Kruse Racing spent the afternoon working its way back through the pack after an electrical gremlin forced the German team out of an early lead – and the top 20 altogether – earlier in the day.

Paul Meijer: “We didn’t really expect to be back here [on the podium], after the first hour and going back to 23rd, I think. At the start, we had a nice lead, I was gaining time on everybody, and then suddenly everything went black: no steering system; no ABS system; nothing. I was locking up [the wheels] everywhere. That happened four times, so the tyres were completely done. It was like an electrical problem, which the team solved at the first pit stop. But everything after that went perfectly. We pushed like hell, all of us, and we did it as a team. It was a crazy ride.”

While delighted with 3rd, Red Camel-Jordans.nl was nevertheless frustrated that two full-course caution periods in rapid succession, two hours from home, negated their conservative fuel strategy: without the reduced pace under yellow, the Dutch team had felt sure that they, unlike their immediate rivals, could go the distance over the final two hours on just one stop.

Neuhofer Rennsport (#86, Felix Neuhofer / Alfred Renauer / Robert Renauer / Martin Ragginger) was in podium contention throughout the afternoon, and, having battled back from an early puncture and a drive-through penalty for a track limit infringement, was originally classified 4th at the flag. A strategic error however meant one of the team’s Gold drivers exceeded their maximum drive time, and a post-race, eight-lap deduction handed down by race control demoted the #86 Porsche out of the top 15.

Tierra Outdoor Racing by HWM (#33, Ralph Poppelaars / Jop Rappange / Hans Weijs), which secured PRO/AM victory after a controlled run, has thus been elevated to 4th. The only hiccup was a clash with Team GP-Elite (#12, Peter Munnichs / Koen Munnichs / Wouter Boerekamps) at three-quarter distance. The latter fell out of contention for AM victory early on with a trip into the tyre barriers, but still managed to go the distance and finish 19th overall.

Mühlner Motorsport (#4, Jeroen Bleekemolen / Martin Rump / Fabio Grosse) qualified on the front row, and even led the early stages after Max Kruse Racing’s issues, but slipped back into the midpack after the first few rounds of pit stops, and suffered further delays with a refueling-related stop-go penalty. Against the odds, the Belgian outfit completed a stellar recovery drive to finish 5th.

A long-time leader in PRO/AM, Belgium Racing (#99, Dylan Derdaele / Jan Lauryssen / Sacha Norden) swapped the lead with Black Falcon Team 48 during the second and third hours, but lost crucial time to several drive-through penalties and a puncture, and eventually came home 6th overall. The local team also finished 2nd in PRO/AM.

Less than 30 seconds further back, Max Kruse Racing’s second entry (#10, Marcel Fugel / Dominik Fugel / Nico Otto / Benjamin Leuchter) completed a strong weekend for the eponymous team of former international German footballer Max Kruse by finishing 7th.

The fight for AM class honours went down to the wire, and was eventually won by QMMF by HRT (#31, Abdulla Ali Al Khelaif / Ghanim Al Ali / Ibrahim Al Abdulghani / Julian Hanses) – on the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation’s first European endurance race at Spa – just under 80 seconds clear of Neuhofer Rennsport’s second Porsche (#85, Eric Kwong / Henry Kwong / Dylan Yip / Jinlong Bao). But for a late-race drive-through for the latter for exceeding the speed limit during a full course caution, the gap would have been closer still.

The battle for the final rostrum spot was even tighter between Seblajoux Racing by DUWO Racing (#888, Sebastien Lajoux / Stéphane Perrin / Laurent Misbach / Mathys Jaubert) and PTE operated by Manthey Racing (#992, Joel Monegro / Campbell Nunn / Jukka Honkavuori / Constantin Dressler), the latter entered on behalf of official Porsche Track Experience ‘Rennsport Academy’ driver training program.

Amazingly, just eight seconds separated 2nd through to 4th in the AM class, and Seblajoux Racing by DUWO Racing’s Mathys Jaubert even posted the fastest race lap of the day: a 2m 21.610s.

Belgium Racing’s #98 entry (Michael Cool / Ghislain Cordeel / Kobe de Breucker) was sandwiched between the AM class winner and runner-up. The Belgian team finished 9th overall, and rounds out the PRO/AM podium.

A potential PRO/AM podium for Mühlner Motorsport’s PRO/AM entry (#18, Parker Thompson / Jared Thomas / Anthony McIntosh / Glenn McGee) was sadly undone by a suspected failure on the rear axle. The Porsche later stopped on-track with 20 minutes of the race left to run. Unable to get going again, the #18 Porsche was eventually classified 21st overall. Mühlner’s AM-fielded Porsche meanwhile (#21, Ryan Yardley / Anthony McIntosh / Glenn McGee / Tyler Hoffman) lost more than an hour in the pits following a collision with Black Falcon’s second Porsche on lap one. The race did at least run more smoothly thereafter for the Belgium outfit en-route to 26th overall.

The Black Falcon Porsche (#5, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya / Christopher Mies / Gabriele Piana / Mike Stursberg) despite losing time in the gravel straight after the green flag, worked its way meticulously back up the field to finish 13th overall and 4th in PRO/AM.

KKrämer Racing (#36, Karsten Krämer / Michele Di Martino / Fidel Leib / Marlon Menden) had been in contention for an AM class podium heading into the second half of the event, but lost more than two hours to a fuel pump repair, and eventually finished 26th.

After a frustrating event, MRS GT-Racing unfortunately registered two of only three official retirements from the 992 Endurance Cup: the German team’s #90 Porsche (Therese Lahlouh / Madeline Stewart / Alex Sedgwick / Nicolas Romano) was retired after seven hours following left rear wheel hub failure, while the #89 911 GT3 Cup (992) (#89, Francisco Horta / Lucas Salles / Nelson Monteiro / Marcio Mauro) ended its weekend abruptly against the tyre barriers on the exit of Eau Rouge.

The team’s sole remaining Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) (#88, Marcus Vinicius Neves / Rouman Ziemkiewicz / Eduardo Menossi / Carlos Vidigal Renaux) lost its left rear wheel on the Kemmel Straight after just 25 minutes of racing, and struggled with tyre pressure issues, but did at least manage to finish 23rd.

H-2-H Racing (#15, Gilles Verleyen / Guillaume Mondron / Mathieu Detry / Stanislav Minsky), which had been running in a comfortable 2nd overall at two-thirds distance, was the final retirement. The Belgian team battled with gearbox temperature issues for several hours before finally pulling the plug 90 minutes from home with suspected oil pump failure.

This coming weekend, CREVENTIC hosts the final European round of its flagship endurance racing program – the 24H SERIES – at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (13-14-15 September). Further details can be found at www.24hseries.com.

Further updates regarding the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup powered by Porsche Motorsport can also be found at www.992-endurance-cup.com.