Spa-Francorchamps: The Long History of a Famed Track

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has been hosting motorsport competition for over 100 years, after a newspaper proprietor laid out a racing circuit on a triangle of public roads linking three villages in 1921.

“It’s one of the very, very best circuits,” said Sébastien Buemi of Toyota Gazoo Racing, a five-time winner of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which is on Saturday.

The 6 Hours was first held in 1953 and has always been held at the track off and on since, along with other sports-car competitions. It is also the site of Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix.

The length of the track has also changed over the years and has been at its current size of a little more than four miles since 1982.

In 1985 the driver Stefan Bellof was killed in an accident at the Eau Rouge curve, and after 1990 the event was discontinued. It was revived in 1999, became a timed race in 2010, and since 2012 has been part of the F.I.A. World Endurance Championship.

“Obviously, Spa and the track has changed a fair bit, in terms of runoff areas, and Eau Rouge in historic pictures looks different,” said Will Stevens of Cadillac Hertz Team Jota, which won the race in 2024. “But it’s a track I’ve been driving for a long time, in lots of different cars, and whichever car you go to that track in it always feels special to be driving around there.”

The competitive nature of the W.E.C., and the resurfaced track now providing more grip, means the 6 Hours of Spa — despite its endurance status — has evolved into a frenetic contest.

“Even though it’s a long race, it’s one of the shorter races of the year, and we have three drivers for the car, so we do two hours each,” Stevens said. “It’s basically a flat out race from start to end, so even though it’s an endurance race it’s like a sprint race — the cars nowadays are very good on reliability, so we can push the cars very hard.

“You need to qualify well, stay out of trouble for the first four to five hours of the race, and make sure you’re in one piece for the final hour of the race.”

Spa-Francorchamps is in the Ardennes, where the weather can switch in an instant. The 1975 race was shortened because of a storm, which happened again in 2002, while snow greeted drivers on race day in 2019, with some even falling during the race.

“We tested there recently, and we had beautiful weather for two days,” Buemi said in an interview last month. “It feels like it’s the best place ever when you have good weather, the track is obviously amazing, it looks so green. But we all know sometimes it rains there, and a few years ago we had that snow and it was unbelievable thinking it was May. You never know what to expect there.”

The circuit’s large area can also introduce problems.

“It’s always a tough race in terms of strategy,” Buemi said, “because the weather changes so much and the track is so long that sometimes the track is wet on one side and dry on the other, so it requires flexibility.”

Drivers also have another competition in mind when contesting the 6 Hours of Spa. There are eight events on the W.E.C. calendar, but Spa’s six-hour contest is the final gathering before the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, the centerpiece of the year.

“I think clearly the biggest race of our calendar is Le Mans, and all the races are a buildup to the biggest race of the year,” Stevens said. “Spa being the race one directly before it, and as circuit characteristics go it’s similar to Le Mans, it’s always a good warm-up.

“So some people have their eye on Le Mans, try certain things to maximize the package. But as much as we’re here to win Le Mans, we also want to finish well in this race specifically as it counts towards the main championship, and we want to do well in all races and the championship. But it’s always good to build confidence towards Le Mans.”