MISANO (6 July, 2024) – The Saintéloc Junior Team currently leads Hofor Racing six hours into the 2024 Hankook 12H MISANO, an event that has already struck down several of the GT3 frontrunners.  

The Saintéloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#18, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Swen Herberger) made a strong start to the Hankook 12H MISANO, moving from 4th on the grid to 3rd on the opening lap. Ironically, despite serving a 10-second penalty for a false start, the French team leapfrogged to the front of the field during the opening round of pit stops, and, following a rapid double stint by Pierre Kaffer, quickly pulled more than a minute clear of the rest of the field. 

Despite the blistering Adriatic temperatures, which is taking its toll on both drivers and machines alike, Saintéloc has remained in contention for the win ever since. 

The Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R (#91, Scott Noble / Ralf Bohn / Jason Hart) looked set to take the fight to Saintéloc. The Bavarian team, which qualified on the front row, took the overall lead during the fifth hour only to suffer an unfortunate collision with the SebLajoux Racing by DUWO Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup shortly afterwards. The #91 Porsche lost more than an hour in the pits as the team repaired a broken steering arm. 

Polesitter PTT by Schnitzelalm Racing (#74, Martin Kaczmarski / Mateusz Lisowski / Jay Mo Härtling) made an impressive start to its 24H SERIES debut, holding the advantage into turn one and, at one stage, pulling nearly 30 seconds clear during its opening stint. Despite losing time to its rivals during the first round of pit stops, the Polish team was running 2nd overall when the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO ground to a halt – several times – shortly before half-distance owing to a broken fuel pump.

The E2P Racing Porsche 991.2 GT3 R (#90, Pablo Burguera / Antonio Sainero / Álvaro Parente) was hunting down the Saintéloc Junior Team on the cusp of half-distance, only to lose time to a spin at turn five, and, shortly after that, an incident in the refueling area. Damage sustained means the Spanish team, which was also handed a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release, has now dropped out of the top 10.

The above issues mean the Hofor Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#11, Michael Kroll / Chantal Prinz / Alexander Prinz / Maximilian Partl / Kenneth Heyer), which kept itself comfortably in podium contention from the early going, is running 2nd overall after six hours, and on top in the GT3-AM class. After a quiet run, the Juta Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#71, Arunas Geciauskas / Leonardas Dirzys / Justas Jonušis / Simas Juodvirsis) is now 3rd ahead of the RD Signs – Siauliai racing team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (#69, Audrius Butkevicius / Nicola Michelon / Paulius Paskevicius / Tim Müller).

Aston Martin’s Vantage AMR GT3 EVO is 6th overall, and 5th in the GT3 class, after six hours on its series debut with Prime Speed Sport (#42, Heremana Malmezac / Liam Talbot / Earl Bamber). Driven by 2017 World Endurance Champion Earl Bamber, the New Zealand team has fought back from two punctures and two separate on-track brushes, one of which earned Prime Speed Sport a 30-second time penalty. 

The Haas RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#1, Marcel Zalloua / Sergio Pires / Theo Koundouris), runner-up earlier this year at Spa-Francorchamps, has dropped to 16th overall after an early collision with the Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#34, Dr. Johannes Kirchhoff / Elmar Grimm / Stefan Wieninger). Ironically, the 2009 24H DUBAI race winner is just two laps further back in 17th. 

BOEM by Kessel Racing (#8, L. M.D.V / Alessandro Cutrera / David Fumanelli / Marco Frezza) is the only confirmed retirement from the event so far. The Ferrari 296 GT3 worked its way up to 2nd overall in the opening stages, and was running comfortably in the top eight within striking distance of the podium contenders, only for a flash fire during refueling to cause irreparable damage to the Ferrari’s engine.  

An incredible run so far for the RPM Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#907, Tracy Krohn / Niclas Jönsson / Philip Hamprecht) means the 992-AM class leader heads both 992-Am and the overall 992 category after the opening six hours. So metronomic is the pace of the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, the German team was running 5th overall after six hours. 

Red Ant Racing’s #904 (Brent Verheyen / Peter Guelinckx / Michiel Haverans) had been leading the class until a rear left puncture dropped the Belgian team back to 2nd. Shortly before half-distance, the Porsche, suffering high water temperature, was brought in to the pits to replace a drive belt.

By contrast, the sister Red Ant Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#903, Ayrton Redant / Yannick Redant / Kobe de Breucker), which leads the 992 Teams’ standings after taking three consecutive class wins, has fallen to the tail of the field. The 992 polesitter lost drive very early on to an unknown electrical issue in the drivetrain, but is continuing its race as preparation for both the Zolder 24 Hours and the 24H SERIES’ Hankook 24H BARCELONA European finale. 

A similar, undiscovered issue in the powertrain similarly felled long-time rival Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#909, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers / Rik Breukers / Fabian Danz) on the way to grid. Ultimately, the Dutch team was unable to start the race at all. 

Despite its collision with Herberth Motorsport, SebLajoux Racing by DUWO Racing (#908, Philippe Polette / Gilles Blasco / Jean-François Demorge / Benjamin Roy) is still 4th in 992, but was ruled at fault for the collision and has been handed a 30-second penalty. 

The Orchid Racing Team (#917, Alexandre Mottet / Laurent Misbach / Antonio Garzon / Jeremy Brodard) was running comfortably in the 992 top four during the opening four hours, but has since slipped back to 5th after an on-track collision (more on that in 
a second).  

Series staple MRS GT Racing (#988, Silvain Pastoris / Rolando Saca / Mantas Janavicius) had hauled its way into 2nd in-class at one-third distance, but an ABS issue, a power steering problem, and an on-track brush with the Saintéloc Junior Team Audi means the German team lost more than 90 minutes in the pits.

GT4 Teams’ standings leader Buggyra ZM Racing (#416, Aliyyah Koloc / David Vršecký / Adam Lacko) currently leads its class at half-distance, though the Mercedes-AMG GT4 has been aided by numerous on-track incidents for its closest competitors.

GT4 polesitter StreetArt Racing (#407, Jahid Fazal-Karim / Pascal Bachmann / Julien Darras) managed to hold its lead at the very start of the race, but dropped three laps behind after suffering punctures on the front and rear corners. This follows a suspension issue that befell the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 yesterday.  

The Hamofa Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 meanwhile (#419, Rob Verhoeven / Kris Verhoeven / Mark Verhoeven) was well in contention for the lead in GT4 early on, despite losing time to a puncture of its own. The Belgian team has sadly fallen out of contention following a heavy collision with the Orchid Racing Team Porsche during the fourth hour. The incident brought out the first of only two Code 60s this afternoon so far, and landed Hamofa Motorsport with a 30-second time penalty for causing the collision. 

Series debutant SR Motorsport (Type 982) (#111, Michael Sander / Wilhelm Kühne / Tim Neuser) currently leads the way in TCE. The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS is now eight laps clear of the CWS Engineering Ginetta G55 (#178, Colin White / Daniel Morris), which lost time early on to a fractured pipe in its power steering system. The British team was also handed a 10-second time penalty shortly after the start when Daniel Morris inadvertently brought the Ginetta to the grid without his race gloves!