Round 7 of the 2019 Blancpain GT Series, the TOTAL 24 hours of Spa

The most important races in the Blancpain GT Series of endurance races held around Europe are also the longest races, the 24-hour endurance races. The 24-hour race held at the SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS circuit in Belgium was first held in 1924, giving it the second longest history after the 24 Hours of Le Mans (first held in 1923) and the distinction of being often referred to as one the World's Three Great Endurance Races. Unlike the 24 Hours of Le Mans where prototype cars are the standout category, it is stock car-based racing cars that compete for the overall win at the 24 hours of SPA, which means that it attracts the full lineup of GT3 cars built primarily by the carmakers of Europe and others. This makes it a race where the performances of the GT3 cars stand out most impressively.

When the Tech 1 Racing team, which has long been known for raising talented young drivers from the world's junior formula race scene, decided to try its hand at endurance racing, the team they chose to join up with was Panis Barthez Competition, a racing team that has competed with good success in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other races since 2016. This is a team put together by the 1996 winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, Olivier Panis, and the former goalkeeper of France's national football team, Fabien Barthez. And the car that this unique pair of teams chose was the LEXUS RC F GT3. Together they entered the AM class with the race number 23 and came through the qualifying rounds in 5th position. However, reviewing the qualifying times of the top 25 cars in this class revealed an incredibly tight competition with all 25 bunched within the space of less than 1 second. Everything indicated that the final race was going to be even more tightly contested.

After competing in the qualifying rounds where the air temperature rose to nearly 40℃, the final race was cursed with bad weather, which saw the race started behind the Safety Car in heavy-wet track conditions. Then, just after the 2-hour point, there was a big crash that put the full course under yellow-flag control, and eventually that turned to red-flag. From there the race action was suspended for nearly six hours. During the latter stages of the race there were also intermittent showers, which resulted in several more accidents that each brought out the Safety Car to disrupt the progress of the race and cause growing frustration among the contestants and the spectators. As for car No. 23, despite being forced to take a long pit stop in the latter stages of the race, it was able to go on and finish the full 24 hours (345 laps, 2,416.38 km) with no serious accidents.