GENNEP (11 February, 2022) – With six weeks to go before the eighth running of the event, more than 50 entries from over 35 different teams and representing 16 different nations have already been registered for the 2022 Hankook 12H MUGELLO. 

The Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello has hosted a round of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook every year bar one since 2014, and opens CREVENTIC’s European season for the seventh time on 25-26-27 March. Unsurprisingly, one of the most tenured and characterful events on the 24H SERIES calendar has already garnered significant interest.

Ole Dörlemann, CREVENTIC sporting coordinator: “The Hankook 12H MUGELLO is one of the 24H SERIES’ most tenured and characterful European events, and it’s great to see how enthusiastic our competitors are once again for this year’s race. Teams and drivers are travelling from all over the world to experience Tuscany with us. Our expanding live stream network will provide fuller coverage than ever before, and we have some very exciting support races in-place featuring some very hungry, up and coming young drivers. We’re confident fans of the 24H SERIES will not want to miss out European season opener.”

Ahead of the European season opener, almost a dozen teams have already confirmed entries for a full 2022 campaign in the 24H SERIES. Sainteloc Racing (#26), which competed at the Hankook 24H DUBAI for a second time in 2022 with its Audi R8 LMS, returns to the top tier GT3 class, and, like 24H SERIES staple and fellow Audi runner Car Collection Motorsport (#34), starts its full European season campaign in Mugello.

Fresh from its recent class win at the Hankook 6H ABU DHABI, Huber Racing (#924) will compete season-long for the first time in the 24H SERIES with at least one 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the ‘992’ class. Fellow series stalwart Holmgaard Motorsport (#102) made its long-awaited return at the season-opening Hankook 24H DUBAI, and will be looking to claim a maiden category podium across a full campaign in 2022 with its Volkswagen Golf GTI. 2019 TCE Junior Cup champions Magnus and Jonas Holmgaard will be joined for the full campaign by Roy Edland and Martin Vedel.

Among Holmgaard’s fiercest rivals in the hotly-contested TCR class will be Thailand’s BBR (#159), which took outright TCE victory at the Dubai Autodrome in January, and Overall TCE Teams’ championship runner-up, AC Motorsport (#188). Stéphane Perrin will start his seventh consecutive European season in the 24H SERIES with the Belgian team in Mugello.

Britain’s CWS Engineering headlines a diverse TCX class, having entered its established Ginetta G55 (#278) as well as the brand-new V8-powered G56 GT4 (#478). A fight for victory that’s also set to feature the CUPRA DSG of Denmark’s Sally Racing (#219), the BMW M2 CS Racing of The Netherlands’ Munckhof Racing (#210), the 982-gen Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS of Switzerland’s Porsche Basel Racing Team (#224), and the Ligier JS2 R of France’s SK Racing (#215). The latter in particular will be one to watch, as Ligiers took class wins both in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Among the biggest names to watch in TCE will be Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport. The Swiss-German collaboration returns to the TC class with a three-car BMW M2 CS Racing line-up, three years after the team took GT4 class honours and four after securing a commanding overall championship win in the TCE division. 

2021 Overall GT Teams’ championship contender Vortex V8 (#701), a regular competitor with CREVENTIC for close to a decade, has confirmed at least one its eponymous, lightweight sports cars for each of the remaining rounds of the year. In fact, the French independent carmaker could compete in Mugello with up to three Vortex 1.0s. Team staple Philippe Bonnel will once again race with Vortex in 2022.

Reigning Overall GT Teams’ champion ST Racing (#1), from Canada, continues its title defence in Mugello with its brand-new BMW M4 GT3, while 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Herberth Motorsport (#91) will be looking to put a tough round in Dubai behind it at the Hankook 12H MUGELLO. An event team principals Alfred and Robert Renauer, Daniel Allemann and Ralf Bohn have won three times outright.

Having been in contention for victory in Dubai, Barwell Motorsport (#77), winner of the Hankook 24H BARCELONA in 2019, is also expected to be among the frontrunners in Tuscany with its Lamborghini Huracán GT3. 

Italy’s MP Racing (#58) meanwhile, for which Gostner father, son and daughters Thomas, David, Corinna and Manuela will once again compete, has registered a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Mugello. As indeed has 24H SERIES fan favourite CP Racing (#85), for which 2018 Overall GT Drivers’ champions Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub and Joe Foster will race in Mugello.

After finishing an impressive 2nd overall in Abu Dhabi, JR Motorsport (#2) returns to action in Italy with the outgoing BMW M6 GT3. Earl Bamber Motorsport (#61), the eponymous outfit of the former Porsche Supercup champion, makes its return to the 24H SERIES for the first time since Dubai 2020 with a Porsche 991 GT3 R. 

Lamborghini are set to be well represented in GTX, with former Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Leipert Motorsport (#710) and Lithuania’s Siauliai - RD Signs racing team (#720) having each registered a Huracán Super Trofeo. Audrius Butkevicius, Nicola Michelon and Paulius Paskevicius, who took GTX class victory together last year in Hungary, will team together in Mugello with RD Signs, while Jean-Francois Brunot and Kereong Li will complete the full season with Leipert.

Fresh from an impressive series debut in Abu Dhabi, at which the Dutch team led by team principal and driver Nico Pronk battled for the outright lead, Saalocin by KoxRacing (#748) returns to 24H SERIES action with its KTM X-BOW GTX. 9und11 Racing meanwhile (#719), a class winner at last year’s Hankook 12H HOCKENHEIMRING, steps up to GTX with its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR.

2020 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Europe’ champion PROsport Racing (#401) leads the provisional GT4 line-up with its Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, while the car that won the ‘Continents’ title that year – the BMW M4 GT4 – will be represented on the grid by Team ACP - Tanger Associates (#421) from the United States of America. 

The Orchid Racing Team (#417) returns for the first time since 2019, the Swiss team having entered a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR in GT4 for at least Alexandre Mottet and Antonio Garton. A sister 991-II Cup (#917) will contest the ‘991’ class with Laurent Misbach, Loic and Frank Villiger, and Fabio Spirgi. 

Like Orchid, Valluga (#405), which finished 4th in-class on its series debut in Abu Dhabi, has entered a 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR in GT4 for Bradley Ellis, and Leo and Rhea Loucas.

Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors (#955) took the first of an eventual four class wins last year in Mugello en-route to the ‘991’ title, and will be looking to do so again in 2022 with Fabrizio Broggi, Sergiu Nicolae, and Sabino de Castro.

Among the Romanian-Italian team’s biggest rivals will be former class champion Speedlover (#978) – the Belgian team will also bring a 992-generation Porsche to Tuscany (#979) – and Portugal’s P21Motorsport (#921), the latter of which made its series debut in Abu Dhabi. Spain’s E2P Racing, another series newcomer, is set to compete in ‘991’ with compatriots Pablo Burguera, Manuel Cintrano and Javier Morcillo on driver detail.

Multi-time 991-class champion Porsche Lorient Racing makes the step across to ‘992’ with two brand-new, latest generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cups (#911 and #912). The French team is also one of three outfits to enter multiple cars in the 992 class alongside series regular HRT Performance (#928 and #929), and Red Ant Racing (#903 and #904), the latter of which came close to winning its class in Dubai. 

Following a collaborative effort with RABDAN Racing in the UAE, ID Racing (#944) runs solo in Mugello, while Belgium’s Q1-Trackracing (#901) makes its 24H SERIES debut in Mugello. 

Following Free Practice and Qualifying on Friday 25 March, the green flag for the Hankook 12H MUGELLO will be flown on Saturday 26 March. After CREVENTIC’s now traditional overnight intervention, the final 6.5 hours of racing will continue on Sunday 26 March. 

As always, live coverage of each qualifying session and the race proper will be readily available on the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel, complete with commentary from radiolemans.com. With more expansive coverage available in 2022, live broadcast partners for the Hankook 12H MUGELLO will be announced during the week of the event. 

The 12-hour main event in Mugello will also be supported by the Formula X Italian Series, with races across five different disciplines – including FX1, FX2, and FX Pro single seaters, Thunder prototypes, and ATCC touring cars – set to take place across the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All race action will be streamed live, and together with the 24H SERIES, up to 200 cars will be prepared in the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello paddock.

Further details on the event can be found HERE.