After a recent run of bad luck in the 24H SERIES, Alfred Renauer believes Herberth Motorsport was “duly rewarded” with a commanding 1-2 finish at this past weekend’s Hankook 24H PORTIMAO. 

Heading into the third European round of this year’s 24H SERIES powered by Hankook, Herberth Motorsport had already secured 2nd overall at the season opener in Mugello and 4th one round later at Spa-Francorchamps, but was nevertheless left frustrated by time lost to an off-track moment in the Ardennes and a heavy hit against the tyre barriers that led to retirement in Dubai.

The 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion redressed the balance with authority in Portugal, however: the Bavarian team led outright for 23 of the completed 24 laps, with the #92 and #92 Porsche 992 GT3 Rs leading all but 55 of the completed 743 laps en-route to a 1-2 finish. 

“We couldn't be happier with the outcome of the race,” team principal Alfred Renauer explained in an official team statement. “In the previous races, we always lacked a bit of luck to take the win. So it's all the nicer now to see both crews celebrating on the podium. The team has worked extremely hard and has been duly rewarded.”

Herberth, winner of the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO in 2020, started the 2024 event as it meant to go on. From 2nd place on the grid, a fast-starting Ralf Bohn aboard the #91 Porsche 992 GT3 R leapfrogged polesitter Saintéloc Junior Teams’ Swen Herberger heading into turn one, and led the opening 10 laps thereafter. Teammate Robert Renauer meanwhile, celebrating his 50th start in the 24H SERIES at Portimão, made a similarly impressive start, jumping from 4th on the grid to 3rd by the end of the opening lap, and into the overall lead by lap 11. 

Both Herberth Porsches briefly lost the lead to the long-stopping Grove Racing after the opening hour, but sadly, the Australian team retired on safety grounds after a suspected fuel pump failure led to a small fire on the Mercedes during the ninth hour.

Though the #91 Porsche, driven by 2017 Overall GT Drivers’ ‘Continents’ champion Bohn, the returning Ian Loggie, and American teammates Scott Noble and Jason Hart, held the lead for most of the opening four hours, a brace of Code 60s, plus a rapid second stint by R. Renauer – partnered at Portimão by Vincent Kolb, Max Moritz, Felix Neuhofer and a double-duty Ralf Bohn – meant the #92 had jumped ahead by the sixth hour, and began pulling away during the night.  

Ironically, Herberth Motorsport only began to hit trouble in the closing stages of the race. 

The #91 Porsche made several precautionary pit stops during Noble’s closing stint – loose handling was eventually found to have been caused by a broken rear left wheel stud – while Moritz was forced to significantly reduce his pace aboard the #92 owing to, as Robert Renauer explained post-race to radiolemans.com, noises emanating from “the driveshaft or something in the suspension or the gearbox.” The unidentified gremlin, fittingly, allowed both Herberth Porsches and 3rd-placed Saintéloc Junior Team – which also lost 16 minutes in the garage to a clutch problem with only 90 minutes to go – to collect the chequered flag in a sporting, formation finish. 

Despite the late-race drama, Herberth Motorsport was able to secure its second 1-2 finish at the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO, with the #92, bizarrely, leading the #91 Porsche home as it did 2020. Herberth Motorsport’s first overall 24H SERIES win since 2021 has also propelled the Bavarian team to the top of both the overall GT3 and the GT3-AM Teams’ standings. 

Scott Noble was similarly overjoyed to take his maiden outright win in the 24H SERIES. 

“I had a lot of fun today,” Noble said after the race. “The track is extremely challenging and demanded a lot from us. What's more, endurance racing is still quite new to me, so I'm still learning a lot. But we have a great team and together we achieved a strong result with a class victory and 2nd place overall.”

Herberth Motorsport has since confirmed to CREVENTIC that its #91 Porsche 992 GT3 R will compete at the Hankook 12H MISANO on 5-6 June, with Bohn, Noble and Hart once again on driver detail.