Ferrari led the first official session of the 2026 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa after Alessio Rovera put the #51 AF Corse entry on top with a time 2m17.234s in Free Practice 1.
The 90-minute session got underway at 10:10 and brought the full 69-car field on to the circuit in sweltering temperatures. Rovera set his time early and stayed on top throughout, beating the sister #71 Ferrari – which runs under the Selected Car Racing banner – by 0.073s. Conrad Laursen set the time in this car, which also placed the Danish squad on top in the Gold Cup.
Dylan Pereira was third overall and second in Gold, followed by the #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Guilherme Oliveira. The Portuguese driver paced the Silver Cup class and edged one of the pre-race favorites – the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter – by 0.106s.
The Bronze Cup leader was sixth overall. Defending class winner Kessel Racing topped the times thanks to Dennis Marschall, who was 0.439s off the overall benchmark in the #74 Ferrari. The #177 Grupo Prom Mercedes-AMG was best of the Pro-Am runners in P17.
The session was stopped briefly by a red flag during the first half-hour, though the incident was not serious and the action resumed quickly. Cars will be back on-track at 16:10 for a second Free Practice session lasting one hour. This will mark the start of live streaming on GT World. Qualifying follows at 19:45 and will decide this year's Superpole contenders while also locking in positions 33 through 69.
> Results: Free Practice 1