Lap Time: 2:41.452 Minutes

Due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the 72nd edition of the 24 Hours of Spa is delayed until late October – when the already erratic weather in the Ardennes can be even more unpredictable. With conditions alternating between rainfall and dry phases, the skies open up again toward the end of the race.

Porsche works driver Nick Tandy is on a fast track to certain victory in his 911 GT3 R from Rowe Racing. It’s the second-to-last lap, with less than 10 kilometers to go to the finish line. Tandy, Earl Bamber, and local hero Laurens Vanthoor have secured a lead of more than 20 seconds ahead of the driver in second place, thanks to cunning strategy and masterful driving. “Now just to get it home,” Tandy thinks to himself. Even in the most difficult conditions, the then 35-year-old Englishman proves to be the fastest driver on the track. 

Coming out of the legendary Eau Rouge curve, he accelerates down the Kemmel Straight, tackles the right-left-right combination of Les Combes, and then enters the short straight – and that’s when it suddenly happens. As he applies the brakes and shifts down ahead of the downhill right-hand hairpin, Tandy feels a massive jolt from behind. He instinctively pinpoints the issue in the powertrain amid the sound of screeching metal.

But he refuses to give in to panic. Does this ruin his chances of winning? The transmission seems to be working. Tandy, who is mechanically inclined, immediately adapts to the new situation, using only the third, fourth, and fifth gears and handling the toggle switches on the steering wheel with extraordinary finesse. “It almost sounded like little bombs were exploding,” Tandy explains later on. 

“It almost sounded like little bombs were exploding.” 

Nick Tandy

Rather than lubricating the gears with a consistent 3.8 bars, the oil pressure in the transmission falls to zero. But the film of lubrication holds, as the transmission autopsy reveals afterwards. What Tandy couldn’t have anticipated is that the Porsche has lost all of its transmission oil through a gaping hole in the housing, which has ended up on the course. The final meters are covered in oil, making fast lap times impossible for the competition. “I was shocked at the moment of malfunction, but also instantly realized that the rear axle was sliding around on a trail of oil. What I didn’t know was that the oil was coming from my car,” Tandy later explains in dismay. It takes him 2:41.452 minutes to complete the final, dramatic lap, and he’s more than seven seconds slower than in the third-to-last lap of a total 527. Tandy crosses the finish line with a lead of just 4.6 seconds.

This triumph is his third major success in a 24-hour race – after his wins in Le Mans in 2015 and at Nürburgring in 2018. He also goes on to win the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2025, making Nick Tandy the only pilot to have won all four Grand Slam 24-hour endurance races – each time in the cockpit of a Porsche.