The 1985 1000 km Spa was the seventh round of the 1985 World Endurance Championship. It took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on September 1, 1985. In the first half of the race the two leading drivers collided, which resulted in the death of defending Drivers Champion Stefan Bellof. The race organisers ended the race early, thus allowing the Martini Racing Lancia of drivers Mauro Baldi, Bob Wollek, and Riccardo Patrese to win their only victory of the year. It was also the last victory scored by the Lancia LC2.
Bellof accident The 1000 km of Spa was held only three weeks after Manfred Winkelhock was killed in an accident at the series' previous round, the 1000 km of Mosport. Halfway through the race, defending Drivers Champion Stefan Bellof in the Brun Motorsport Porsche 956 was battling for the race lead with 1982 and 1983 Drivers Champion Jacky Ickx in the Rothmans Porsche 962C. Ickx led Bellof out of the La Source hairpin and down the front stretch into the Eau Rouge corner, starting the 78th lap of the race. Both drivers had only just been handed their cars from their teammates during a pit stop five laps earlier.
Entering the left kink at the bottom of the hill, Bellof moved to the left of Ickx in an attempt to set up a pass for the immediate right-hander up the hill. Bellof's right front came into contact with Ickx's left rear, and both drivers spun up to the left up the hill, impacting the barriers. Ickx's car hit the wall on the right rear side, while Bellof went straight into the barriers, breaking through and hitting a secondary wall. Bellof's Porsche caught fire moments after the wreck. Ickx, able to climb from his car, attempted to aid safety workers in helping Bellof. During the caution period, members of the Brun team also arrived to aid in the rescue.
Although the fire was extinguished and the driver extracted from the wreckage within forty minutes, Stefan Bellof was pronounced dead only ten minutes later after he had reached the track hospital, although it was believed that he had actually died on impact. Out of respect for Bellof, the race organisers chose to end the event earlier than planned. The entire incident was recorded on an in-car camera that Ickx's 962C was carrying. Even after the accident, the camera continued to work, and was pointed in the direction of Bellof's wreckage.
Official results Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 90% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).
Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps Engine 1 C1 5 Martini Racing Mauro Baldi Bob Wollek Riccardo Patrese Lancia LC2 122 Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8 2 C1 2 Rothmans Porsche Hans-Joachim Stuck Derek Bell Porsche 956 122 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 3 C1 7 Joest Racing Klaus Ludwig Paolo Barilla Porsche 956B 121 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 4 C1 4 Martini Racing Riccardo Patrese Alessandro Nannini Lancia LC2 121 Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8 5 C1 51 TWR Jaguar Martin Brundle Mike Thackwell Jaguar XJR-6 120 Jaguar 6.0 L V12 6 C1 8 Joest Racing Volker Weidler "John Winter" Marc Duez Porsche 956 120 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 7 C1 34 Cosmik Racing Christian Danner Costas Los March 84G 114 Porsche Type-956 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 8 C1 26 Obermaier Racing Team Jürgen Lässig Jesús Pareja Hervé Regout Porsche 956 113 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 9 C2 70 Spice Engineering Gordon Spice Ray Bellm Spice-Tiga GC85 112 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8 10 C1 24 Cheetah Automobiles Switzerland Bernard de Dryver Pierre Dieudonné Claude Bourgoignie Cheetah G604 110 Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3 L V8 11 C1 10 Porsche Kremer Racing Kees Kroesemeijer Marc Surer Porsche 956 108 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 12 C2 74 Gebhardt Motorsport Stanley Dickens Frank Jelinski John Graham Gebhardt JC853 108 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8 13 C2 90 Jens Winther Denmark Jens Winther David Mercer URD C83 108 BMW M88 3.5 L I6 14 C2 79 Ecurie Ecosse Mike Wilds David Leslie Ecosse C285 99 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8 15 C2 82 Grifo Autoracing Pasquale Barberio Maurizio Gellini Alba AR3 98 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8 16 C2 88 Ark Racing David Andrews Max Payne Chris Ashmore Ceekar 83J 94 Ford Cosworth BDX 2.0 L I4 17 C2 95 Roland Bassaler Roland Bassaler Dominique Lacaud Gérard Tremblay Sauber SHS C6 94 BMW M88 3.5 L I6 18 C2 105 Jens Nakjaer Jens Nakjaer Holger Knudsen Nakjaer 91 BMW 3.2 L I6 19 C2 98 Roy Baker Promotions Paul Smith Mike Kimpton Tiga GC285 88 Ford Cosworth BDT 1.8 L Turbo I4 20 GTX 160 Victor Racing Team "Victor" Toni Palma Luigi Taverna Porsche 935 ? 87 Porsche Type-930 3.1 L Turbo Flat-6 21 C1 13 Primagaz Team Cougar Henri Pescarolo Yves Courage Cougar C12S 87 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Flat-6 22NC B 158 Dieter Oster Jürgen Hammelmann Jean-Paul Libert Marco Micangeli BMW M1 71 BMW M88 3.5 L I6 23NC C2 93 Automobiles Louis Descartes Louis Descartes Jacques Heuclin ALD 01 63 BMW M88 3.5 L I6 24DNF C2 80 Carma F.F. Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto Almo Coppelli Alba AR6 95 Carma FF 1.9 L Turbo I4 25DNF C1 1 Rothmans Porsche Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx Porsche 962C 77 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 26DNF C1 19 Brun Motorsport Stefan Bellof Thierry Boutsen Porsche 956B 77 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 27DNF C1 18 Brun Motorsport Oscar Larrauri Massimo Sigala Porsche 956 70 Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 28DNF C2 99 Roy Baker Promotions Jeremy Rossiter Thorkild Thyrring Tiga GC284 53 Ford Cosworth BDT 1.8 L Turbo I4 29DNF C2 97 Strandell Motors Anders Olofsson Tryggve Gronvall Strandell 85 38 Porsche Type-934 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6 30DNF C2 100 John Barlett Racing Richard Jones Kenneth Leim Max Cohen-Olivar Chevron B62 33 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8 31DNF C1 66 EMKA Productions Ltd. Tiff Needell Steve O'Rourke James Weaver EMKA C83 19 Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3 L V8 32DNF C1 52 TWR Jaguar Hans Heyer Jean-Louis Schlesser Jaguar XJR-6 14 Jaguar 6.0 L V12 33DNF C2 107 Jean-Claude Ferrarin Jean-Claude Ferrarin Lucien Rossiaud Isolia 001 1 BMW M12 2.0 L I4 DNS C1 14 Richard Lloyd Racing Jonathan Palmer David Hobbs Porsche 956 GTi - Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 DNQ B 156 Raymond Touroul Raymond Touroul Thierry Perrier Philippe Dermagne Porsche 911SC - Porsche 3.0 L Flat-6
Statistics Pole Position - #4 Martini Racing - 2:05.91 Fastest Lap - #1 Rothmans Porsche - 2:10.73 Average Speed - 169.335 km/h
References