Alongside the return of an orange (nope, not papaya) McLaren to the grid, other stories were gaining traction on the 51-strong grid at Barcelona. 2009 event winner SUNRED, dutifully sporting the #1 on its SEAT Leon Supercopa in the absence of 2011 event winner Schubert Motorsport, boasted future World Touring Car Championship race winner Pepe Oriola and his brother Jordi on driver detail. Having taken class pole by 2.5 seconds, WTCC mainstay SUNRED were clearly the pre-race favourites in A3T.

In A2, Germany’s ATM Motorsport was gearing up for its first international race with its Renault Clio III Cup, as indeed was future Overall GT Teams’ champion Sorg Rennsport, having entered BMWs in both the A5 and A4 category. Back in SP3, American driver Hal Prewitt, competing in a Cor Euser Racing-entered Lotus Evora GT4, was doing his best to raise awareness with a behind-the-scenes video for the Carolina Day School’s ‘What the World Doesn't Know About Dyslexia’ event in North Carolina.

Event staple Francesc Gutiérrez meanwhile was gunning for his fifth class win – the Barcelona native won outright in 1998 and 2008, and in-class in 2000 and 2011 – and was sharing Milan Competición’s Renault Clio Cup III in the A2 class with fellow two-time winner, Jordi Codony (2002 and 2003). Their teammate was then 11-time Women's World Trial Champion Laia Sanz, who was preparing for her second crack at the 24H BARCELONA… with a broken toe. A “person who really loves challenges,” the future Dakar Rally stand-out seemed unfazed by the prospect of wearing two different-sized race boots during the race.

Sadly, despite its heroics in qualifying and building a four-lap lead over the first eight hours, a steering issue at one-third distance meant early SP2 leader Las Moras Racing Team ended up dropping 15 laps behind eventual class winner, Bonk Motorsport. Deft strategic pitwork meant the Renault Mégane Trophy had recouped all but five of those lost laps to the Corvette C6 at the flag en-route to a hard-earned top five finish.

A long way back – 59 laps, in fact – a little French independent, GC Automobiles, recovered from an enormous shunt in Free Practice to take its first class podium with CREVENTIC. Five years later, the GC Automobiles would start competing with a bespoke lightweight sports car as ‘Vortex.’

Two laps ahead of the SP2 fight, ARC Bratislava ended up taking a controlled win in 997, aided, admittedly, by an overheating issue that sidelined the vibrant yellow Porsche’s nearest rival – Car Collection Motorsport – during the night.

Though it had missed out on overall victory with the Ferrari, Russian Bears Motorsport could at least celebrate A3T class victory with the sister SEAT Leon Supercopa, 27 laps – though, oddly, only two positions – clear of class runner-up, and future WTCC staple, Zengo Motorsport. A3T victory early on had looked set to go to ’09 event winner SUNRED, although a collision left the Spanish team with work to do during the opening hour. A second during the night, much to Pepe Oriola’s barely contained chagrin, left the SEAT too damaged to continue. 

Splitting the A3T top two in 7th place overall, a race-long fight for A2 class victory eventually went to the Besaplast Racing Team MINI Cooper S. Up until two-thirds distance, Schirra-Motoring looked to have the upper hand before, much like Lapidus Racing, the MINI’s turbocharger had to be replaced shortly before daybreak. 

Kuepperracing, with 2017 Overall GT Drivers’ champions Michael and Chantal Kroll, and Roland Eggimann onboard for only their second 24H SERIES start, took an unchallenged win in A4 following early race retirements for YMOR Racing and Sorg Rennsport. The latter, having already completed a full engine change on its BMW 130i before an irreparable fuel flow issue forced the plug to be pulled early, could at least celebrate 2nd in A5 with its BMW Z4M Coupe behind class victor Motionsport. Brutally, a drivetrain issue ended up dropping the class-leading Frank Nöhring-Gambler-Racing BMW to 3rd, 28 laps adrift, with just one hour left on the clock. 

A close fight for SP3 victory was eventually decided in Partl Motorsport’s favour when Bonk Motorsport lost nine laps following a trip into the gravel on Sunday morning. Gearbox issues for Hal Prewitt’s Lotus though meant Bonk Motorsport’s BMW M3 did at least recover to finish 2nd. 

Remarkably, Partl Motorsport’s SP3 win meant SIX different class winners finished in the overall top 10 at Barcelona, a feat that would not be repeated in the 24H SERIES until 2020.

The most high-profile on-track collision though was between Lapidus Racing and 4PET by Las Moras Racing (see main story). Though the McLaren managed to continue with only minor damage, the 4PET BMW 123D had to be extricated from the gravel trap and lost almost 45 minutes with busted suspension, effectively handing what had been a remarkably close fight for D1 victory to Blackmotorsport. 

Sadly, an early on-track collision meant Laia Sanz was also forced to retire from the event, though she didn’t have to wait too long for redemption: one week after her Barcelona adventure, Sanz was in France securing her 12th Women's World Trial title; two years later, Sanz and Francesc Gutierrez made 24H BARCELONA history by becoming the first, two-driver line-up to take a class win – Sanz’ second, Gutierrez’ fifth – at the event.