Racing's beasts roar again: 2025 Spa Classic preview

Sponsored by Peter Auto

Is there a better weekend of racing to be found in 2025? Along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indy 500 is the Spa Classic, featuring some of the most celebrated cars from racing’s past on one of the world’s great circuits.

Three days of nostalgic, hard-fought competition begins on Friday with practice sessions for all ten categories, from Minis and Lotus Cortinas to moinstrous Group C sports cars.

If you can’t make it there (and tickets are still available), you can watch the live stream of the full weekend at the top of this page.

Racing starts at 8.30am (BST) on Friday and goes on into the night on both Friday and Saturday. Scroll down for more on the classes of cars on track and the weekend schedule.

Spa Classic racing categories

Classic Touring Challenge

The pre-1966 touring car category is replete with Minis, Lotus Cortinas and Alfa Giulia Sprint GTAs taking on toy-like dimensions against the grandeur of Spa.

Heritage Touring Cup

European Touring Championship cars from 1966 to 1984. Expect wheel-to-wheel competition between BMW 3,0 CSLs, Ford Escort RSs, Capris and a series of Alfa Romeos, which spans two days thanks to the hour-long race’s 11.05pm start time (10.05pm BST) on Saturday night.

Sixties’ Endurance

The grid of pre-1963 sports cars and pre-1966 GTs sees the return of Spa Classic regular François Fillon. The former French Prime Minister has made the solid choice of a Jaguar E-type — one of more than a dozen on the 56-car grid, which also includes an array of Shelby Cobras and Lotus Elans. Need more incentive to watch? They’ll be qualifying and then racing into the sunset on Friday and Saturday.

Classic Endurance Racing

Split into two categories, Classic Endurance Racing recalls the glory days of sports cars. The first grid is made up of car that raced between 1966 and 1971. They span the full era, including Ford GT40s, Porsche 908s, 911s and a 917, as well as Lola T70s and a Ferrari 512M.

Classic Endurance Racing 2 brings us into the late 1970s and early 1980s with Porsche 935s, a gamut of Lolas and plenty of variety in between: there’s also a BMW M1 Procar, a TOJ SC303, a Cheetah G601 and an Aston Martin DBS on the entry list.

Group C Racing

The endurance extravaganza continues with the monsters that pounded Spa between 1982 and 1993: Porsche 965 and 956, Nissan R90C, Mercedes C11, Peugeot 905 and March 85G — they’ll all be there.

2.0L Cup

This single-make series brings together 29 short-wheelbase Porsche 911s, complying with pre-1966 FIA regulations and lets them loose around Spa. It can’t possibly be anything other than entertaining.

Endurance Racing Legends

Split into two categories, which bring sports car racing closer to the current era, the Endurance Racing Legends grids feature cars that raced in the 1990s and 2000s. GT1s and prototypes will take the start for the first race, with Audi R8s alongside Aston Martin DBR9s, Maserati MC12s and Dodge Vipers.

Endurance Racing Legends 2 is a GT celebration dominated by Porsche 911s from 993s to 997s, with a sprinkling of Ferraris and BMWs.

Qualifying for both categories takes place on Friday night, and Endurance Racing Legends 1 will race at night on Saturday.

The Gentlemen Challenge

A throwback to the 1950s and early 1960s, the Gentlemen Challenge might be the most stylish grid of the weekend, with multiple Ferrari 250 GT SWBs competing with Aston Martin DB2s, Jaguar E-types and Lister Jaguar Knobblys to name just a few.

2025 Spa Classic schedule