HRT Ford Racing representatives met with the media last week to preview the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which will mark the second appearance by the factory-supported program and second 24-hour endurance race in 2026. Those representatives included:
- Ulrich Fritz – CEO of Haupt Racing Team GmbH
- Arjun Maini – Ford Racing Factory Driver
- Finn Wiebelhaus – Ford Racing Driver Development Team Member
FRITZ – HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A SPRINT RACE IN THE DTM, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY PLANNING FOR A MAJOR ENDURANCE RACE SUCH AS THE 24 HOURS OF SPA?
“We are still new to the program, but in the end we are learning every weekend. We have raced nearly 50 weekends or 50 different races now with the Mustang. So you learn and progress from event to event, from track to track. That is definitely helping a lot because you get more confident. We took a few steps and the evo package for the car helps, for sure. I think also on the setup side, we found a few tweaks and tricks. It's easier to come to a track that you already know, which now mainly is the case, because last year everything was new to us—at least with the new product. It's easier to go there and know what is expected of you. The evo is a new version of the car but in general, a massive pro program also comes with a massive chance to learn a lot and to improve from event to event. This is what we are taking from the program and this is also why it is so important to have guys like Arjun and Finn as a part of multiple team programs. They are also the connecting dots between the topics we learn from event to event. Arjun is doing all the programs more or less that HRT is doing— apart from GT Masters which runs parallel to DTM. He's doing Nordschleife, GT World Challenge and DTM with us. That gives us a boost and the chance to learn a lot to progress event-to-event, and to take the learnings from each series to the next and backwards.”
HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND THE WINNING FORMULA OF SPA, BUT ALSO ARE STILL IN A FAIRLY NEW PROGRAM?
“GT World Challenge in general, and especially 24-hour races, are something very special. In the end, you never know. You need a portion of luck to succeed there. What happened in Monza was very unfortunate and a clear statement of how humble you always need to be. I mean you can start every race from first to third position, but not make it to the first corner—without any fault of your own. This is the case with the more hours you run in the 24 Hours of Spa. It really is the biggest GT3 race on the planet with more than 60 cars on the grid. There will be things that are out of our control. Between the oil spill in the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring, this past weekend at Monza and the kangaroo in Bathurst, we hope that we’ve eaten up all the bad luck now to have a solid 24 Hours of Spa. You always have to be humble, stay on the ground and it's not only about your own performance but it's also about what happens around you with all the weather, strategy, and competitors with technical gremlins. We're just trying to be as prepared as possible to make a new attempt. We would have been on the podium last time with the Silver Cup car, but 20 minutes to the end of the race a stone from the gravel trap made it ‘game over.’ I honestly don’t embrace 24-hour races as much because they are so out of our control. But it's still a big challenge and as a team principal, you always like to control everything. You're sometimes more of a passenger in the moment. You can only be as prepared as possible and take it from there. That's what we are doing. There are just so many variables, and you can’t control all of them.”
HOW REASSURED ARE YOU BY THE EVO PACKAGE FOR THE MUSTANG GT3?
“It's still early. You have to understand that it gives you more variables, especially for the suspension. It gives you a bit more downforce on the front. You need to rebalance everything and find out what works best. It’s different with every track. It doesn’t hurt that we’re doing so many events, but we’re very much focused on the Pirelli tire. We’ve learned a lot, but like I said, it’s early times. We should be well-prepared for Spa, nevertheless.”
WITH AN EXPANDED ROLE IN HAUPT RACING TEAM, DO YOU SEE THE TEAM CONTINUING TO PROGRESS ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH FORD RACING?
“Hopefully, yes. It's early in our relationship with Ford. It's just the second year we are in now and it's not even half of the season. Examples of growth include being able to do IGTC (Intercontinental GT Challenge) in Bathurst with the backing of Ford. That is something we’d like to continue, and there are still other series out there that interest us like the whole ACO ecosystem where we have yet to compete with Ford. That is definitely interesting to us for the future. In the end, our growth is somewhat limited because you can only do so much. It’s also about evaluating what’s best for the team, Ford and our relationship after each year, and taking it from there.”
HOW MUCH DO TIRES FACTOR INTO RACE STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE?
“Coming into these upcoming events now, full summer temperatures are to be expected—especially Lausitzring. This will be a crucial topic to understand. We struggled a bit with high temperatures in Zandvoort, though we understand a bit more about what caused it. Lausitzring is not a track built for the Mustang or the Mustang built for the track. It’s very narrow, especially in the back area. We’ll see where it takes us. We should definitely be strong at Spa. We ran within the top-five before being taken out of the race last year. Finn and the guys were on the podium, and I think they would have finished in second if it wasn’t for the stone. If…if…if… but it comes back to the topic of motorsports. You only get a result once you finish. Once we are able to finish the race with no technical issues or accidents, then we should look for a good result.”
HOW CHALLENGING IS RACE AND CAR PREPARATION FOR CONSECUTIVE EVENTS IN DIFFERENT SERIES?
“You grow with your tasks and with what you are planning for the season. We are well prepared for this challenge. We have the structure to make this happen. But of course, things like what happened in Spa (last year) and in Monza two weeks ago puts us on the back foot—we just built two new cars completely. Maybe two or three weeks later it wouldn't have been an issue but in a time when we have parallel events, it can really catch you on the cold feet. You have to show resilience. Motorsport can be that cruel and you just have to take it from there. The more you think you suffer from it, the more negative energy you have. You just need to work as a team, pull everything together and make it happen. This is how we are working, and this is how we are tackling the challenges. In general, we are well structured. We have a great home base at the Nürburgring. We have everything it takes to have a quick turnaround. We will master this challenge.”
HOW IMPORTANT ARE TEST DAYS TO FURTHER UNDERSTAND AND DEVELOP THE EVO?
“We are racing so often. It's good to have test days but in the end, you learn from a race weekend even more because everyone is showing their true performance. GT World Challenge testing was a bit weird with so many red flags and adverse weather. The learning you can get from that is limited, but it was overall a good test where we did learn a lot. We showed some good results, performance and we were able to translate that into Monza.”
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING THE ADAC RAVENOL 24h NÜRBURGRING AND CROWDSTRIKE 24 HOURS OF SPA MORE SEPARATED IN THIS YEAR’S RACE CALENDAR?
“I mean there are pros and cons for every situation. There has not been much time off the track—just two weekends since Monza and we were also testing with DTM the weekend after. We were also still running GT Open one of the weekends. So it's not really weekends ‘off’ you know? For GT World Challenge and the DTM, we have had a few weeks less of events. You take it as it comes and certainly these two guys (Arjun Maini and Finn Wiebelhaus) have made it a nice challenge for us to get the cars together for Spa. All of this needs planning for parts, the mechanics and all the setup. It's a challenge, but we embrace it.”
HOW SPECIAL WOULD WINNING THE 24 HOURS OF SPA BE?
“We want to be competitive and we want to win races. Of course, it would make us proud. Every piece of performance you can show makes you proud, and especially now, it's always a first in the history of Ford and the Mustang GT3. Getting the pole position in Monza was one of those magic moments when you can look back and say, ‘Hey, we have achieved another milestone’—like winning the class in last year’s 24h Nürburgring or the first championship title for the Ford Mustang GT3 achieved by Finn and Salman (Owega) in GT Masters. These are times you can look back and be proud of, and it motivates you to push further. It would be great to achieve a result for the team and for Ford. Ford has been winning these races, especially in the 1970s with the Capri and the Escort models. For me, there is also a bit of a motivation behind it. In 1972, my grand uncle won the race and he just passed away last week. That would just be a nice story because he was also the guy who was responsible for how I ended up in motorsport. It would be a mega story not only for this side of the topic, but also especially for the team and for Ford. It’s such a long race, so everything needs to fit together, otherwise we won't win the 24-hour.”
MAINI – WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT COMPETING IN THIS YEAR’S EDITION OF THE CROWDSTRIKE 24 HOURS OF SPA?
“I am very excited, coming from a pole position in the same championship. We've shown that we've improved the car and that's something that you of course get excited about, especially going into such an amazing race. I enjoy endurance racing a lot, especially 24 hours races. It’s such a historic track. We already had quite a good pace last year in the race. So with the evo package, we are definitely looking forward to finding some solid pace and fighting at the front. It's an exciting part of the season, because there are quite a lot of races the next few weekends with DTM and the 24 Hours of Spa.”
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS ON THE EVO PACKAGE OF THE FORD MUSTANG GT3?
“There are definitely a lot of areas where you feel the difference—like the downforce, the changes on the suspension and the brakes. It’s all a matter of putting it together at every track. We’ve seen at some preseason tests that we were extremely fast where the car was in the window and everything was working really well. The potential is there with the new evo package. It’s just trying to make it work with each track. There are a lot of tracks in DTM and limited testing during the season, so it may not be possible to start the weekend with the car already in the window. That is going to be the main challenge of the year. But we saw the potential with pole position at Monza—it’s such a strong grid. We’ve shown pace in other places as well. It’s going to be a learning year, but we have a solid base and team. I’m sure we’ll have some solid results.”
WILL SPA FAVOR THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EVO PACKAGE ON THE MUSTANG GT3?
“I think the base was already quite strong last year to be honest. We are optimistic. We had a good test. It's very difficult to know where we are because of how these tests go in GT events. We felt quite comfortable and confident in the test from what we saw. It's going to depend. Things can change so quickly, especially with the Pirelli tires as well—finding the optimum working window is critical, and any variance can impact lap times. We have all the tools we need. We just need to find the absolute right performance, timing and strategy. It should hopefully be a strong event.”
HOW HAVE YOU USED THE TIME IN-BETWEEN THE ADAC RAVENOL 24h NÜRBURGRING AND CROWDSTRIKE 24 HOURS OF SPA?
“We did have some races in between so it's been quite busy this year. It's a lot more concentrated at this part of the year with all the events. I had my first sort of weekend or ‘week off’ this past week. I spend a lot of time with the guys and engineers, preparing and coming up with ideas. I have spoken to Clément [Fay], my engineer, quite a lot this year—I think even more than my family. It’s a cool time because you always have an idea of how you can improve the car, and being able to share ideas and discussions with Finn as well. That’s been a great relationship this year. Even though we compete against one another in DTM, we have a very strong working relationship to move us forward. Finn, as a young driver, brings a new perspective and this is always quite good. It's a fresh view of things.”
WHAT MAKES THE CHALLENGE OF THE 24 HOURS OF SPA ALLURING TO YOU AS A DRIVER?
“I find it very intense. It’s 70-plus GT3 cars. Nürburgring at some point in the night can especially get intense, but you can find yourself in a rhythm. You pass much slower cars in traffic, which is easier to navigate. When you come across traffic at Spa, it’s usually the same category of car which makes it much harder to pass. It can be quite intense. In your modern day 24-hour race, every car is so reliable to where everyone is flat-out from the beginning. I find Spa to be a very challenging race, especially when you’re fighting in the Pro class. You don’t have the luxury of a wave-by, and if you lose that lap, it’s gone. You need to try your best not to lose time because you don’t know what will happen. You need that cushion to be able to do the pit-stop and not lose the lap. It’s very intense, and you’re always pushing flat-out from the beginning. When you go into the night, it’s something very special.”
WIEBELHAUS – WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THIS YEAR’S 24 HOURS OF SPA?
“Last year was my first 24 Hours of Spa and it was amazing. It is such a special event. It was a pleasure to race there, and I'm really looking forward to racing there again this year with the Mustang. We're having good pace this year with the evo package of the Ford Mustang GT3 in the GT World Challenge. So, I think we have a good package to fight for some good spots.”
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS ON THE EVO PACKAGE OF THE FORD MUSTANG GT3?
“You don’t feel a big difference while driving, to be honest. At high speed, for sure, we have a good upgrade with more aero in the front. That's for sure helping. Then with the kinematic change, we also in general gain performance in the corners and as well with the brakes. In general, it has improved nearly everywhere. So we can be quite happy. It’ll be quite difficult to get it in the right window—especially with the new DTM tire. It's a new parameter we have to understand to get it into the right window. There are plenty of things we have to learn, but once we find that sweet spot, we should be there.”
HOW HAS WORKING WITH EDUARDO COSETENG AND MAXIME OOSTEN BEEN THIS YEAR, AND WHAT DOES MAX REIS BRING TO THE TABLE FOR SPA?
“I've got along quite well with both of my teammates, Eduardo and Maxime. We were strong in Paul Ricard and Monza until the race, so I think we can be quite happy. We are quite equal on pace, and it’s been a nice working atmosphere. We are all young, ambitious and want to compete at the highest level. I’ve known Max (Reis) for more than two years now… even longer from when I was racing with him as my teammate in F4. We've known each other quite well and that's a good point because in the 24-hour, you need to trust your teammate and work together to achieve a good result. To have a nice team atmosphere is the key.”
FROM WINNING THE ADAC GT MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROAD TO DTM IN 2025, TO BECOMING A FORD RACING DRIVER DEVELOPMENT TEAM MEMBER NOW, HAS THIS BEEN A DREAM SCENARIO FOR YOU?
“The last year has been mega. With HRT and support from Ford Racing, I was able to win GT Masters and now it's kind of a dream to race in DTM. Two years ago I was driving GT Masters, looking up to the big guys like Arjun. It's been amazing to work with him. The way we did it as a team was quite fast. HRT supported me well along the way and Ford since 2025. I'm really thankful that they supported me all the way up to DTM. It still doesn’t feel real for me at the moment, because it’s been my dream over the last two years. Now I'm living my dream, so it's still unreal.”
WHAT MAKES THE CHALLENGE OF THE 24 HOURS OF SPA ALLURING TO YOU AS A DRIVER?
“It's a super intense race. It's basically a 24-hour sprint race. So, like Arjun said, you fight for every centimeter on the track. It’s 70 cars in the same category, so it's always a mess out there. It's basically just surviving for the first couple of hours and then having a good car and good package for the last hours to fight. There are so many things that play a big role. Between the weather, the track itself is challenging and then at night you get tired—especially for the Pro car, which has three drivers on it. Then you have all the adrenaline. So for sure it's a tough race, but for me it's one of the best races you can do.”
