Layout of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (1981-1993, 1995–2003)

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.^[1]

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.^[1][2] Bellof's Porsche caught fire moments after the wreck.^[3] 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,^[3] although it was believed that he had actually died on impact.^[2] 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.^[3]

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	M	122
					Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
2	C1	2	Rothmans Porsche	Hans-Joachim Stuck Derek Bell	Porsche 956	D	122
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
3	C1	7	Joest Racing	Klaus Ludwig Paolo Barilla	Porsche 956B	D	121
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
4	C1	4	Martini Racing	Riccardo Patrese Alessandro Nannini	Lancia LC2	M	121
					Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8
5	C1	51	TWR Jaguar	Martin Brundle Mike Thackwell	Jaguar XJR-6	D	120
					Jaguar 6.0 L V12
6	C1	8	Joest Racing	Volker Weidler "John Winter" Marc Duez	Porsche 956	D	120
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
7	C1	34	Cosmik Racing	Christian Danner Costas Los	March 84G	Y	114
					Porsche Type-956 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
8	C1	26	Obermaier Racing Team	Jürgen Lässig Jesús Pareja Hervé Regout	Porsche 956	G	113
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
9	C2	70	Spice Engineering	Gordon Spice Ray Bellm	Spice-Tiga GC85	A	112
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
10	C1	24	Cheetah Automobiles Switzerland	Bernard de Dryver Pierre Dieudonné Claude Bourgoignie	Cheetah G604	D	110
					Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3 L V8
11	C1	10	Porsche Kremer Racing	Kees Kroesemeijer Marc Surer	Porsche 956	G	108
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
12	C2	74	Gebhardt Motorsport	Stanley Dickens Frank Jelinski John Graham	Gebhardt JC853	A	108
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
13	C2	90	Jens Winther Denmark	Jens Winther David Mercer	URD C83	A	108
					BMW M88 3.5 L I6
14	C2	79	Ecurie Ecosse	Mike Wilds David Leslie	Ecosse C285	A	99
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8
15	C2	82	Grifo Autoracing	Pasquale Barberio Maurizio Gellini	Alba AR3	D	98
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
16	C2	88	Ark Racing	David Andrews Max Payne Chris Ashmore	Ceekar 83J	A	94
					Ford Cosworth BDX 2.0 L I4
17	C2	95	Roland Bassaler	Roland Bassaler Dominique Lacaud Gérard Tremblay	Sauber SHS C6	A	94
					BMW M88 3.5 L I6
18	C2	105	Jens Nakjaer	Jens Nakjaer Holger Knudsen	Nakjaer	A	91
					BMW 3.2 L I6
19	C2	98	Roy Baker Promotions	Paul Smith Mike Kimpton	Tiga GC285	A	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	M	87
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Flat-6
22 NC	B	158	Dieter Oster	Jürgen Hammelmann Jean-Paul Libert Marco Micangeli	BMW M1	D	71
					BMW M88 3.5 L I6
23 NC	C2	93	Automobiles Louis Descartes	Louis Descartes Jacques Heuclin	ALD 01	A	63
					BMW M88 3.5 L I6
24 DNF	C2	80	Carma F.F.	Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto Almo Coppelli	Alba AR6	A	95
					Carma FF 1.9 L Turbo I4
25 DNF	C1	1	Rothmans Porsche	Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx	Porsche 962C	D	77
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
26 DNF	C1	19	Brun Motorsport	Stefan Bellof Thierry Boutsen	Porsche 956B	D	77
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
27 DNF	C1	18	Brun Motorsport	Oscar Larrauri Massimo Sigala	Porsche 956	D	70
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
28 DNF	C2	99	Roy Baker Promotions	Jeremy Rossiter Thorkild Thyrring	Tiga GC284	A	53
					Ford Cosworth BDT 1.8 L Turbo I4
29 DNF	C2	97	Strandell Motors	Anders Olofsson Tryggve Gronvall	Strandell 85	A	38
					Porsche Type-934 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6
30 DNF	C2	100	John Barlett Racing	Richard Jones Kenneth Leim Max Cohen-Olivar	Chevron B62	A	33
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8
31 DNF	C1	66	EMKA Productions Ltd.	Tiff Needell Steve O'Rourke James Weaver	EMKA C83	D	19
					Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3 L V8
32 DNF	C1	52	TWR Jaguar	Hans Heyer Jean-Louis Schlesser	Jaguar XJR-6	D	14
					Jaguar 6.0 L V12
33 DNF	C2	107	Jean-Claude Ferrarin	Jean-Claude Ferrarin Lucien Rossiaud	Isolia 001	A	1
					BMW M12 2.0 L I4
DNS	C1	14	Richard Lloyd Racing	Jonathan Palmer David Hobbs	Porsche 956 GTi	G	-
					Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6
DNQ	B	156	Raymond Touroul	Raymond Touroul Thierry Perrier Philippe Dermagne	Porsche 911SC	P	-
					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