PORTIMAO (11 May, 2024) – Herberth Motorsport currently leads the 2024 Hankook 24H PORTIMAO after the opening four hours.

The Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R (#91, Scott Noble / Ralf Bohn / Jason Hart / Ian Loggie) got the jump on the pole-sitting Saintéloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#18, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Swen Herberger / Philippe Chatelet) at the green flag and quickly took the lead heading into turn one. A monster two-hour stint by Ralf Bohn thereafter meant the #91 Porsche was comfortably among the frontrunners across the opening stages, and, after four hours, the 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion has now pulled a lap clear of the rest of the field. 

The sister Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R (#92, Max Moritz / Vincent Kolb / Felix Neuhofer / Robert Renauer / Ralf Bohn) made a similarly impressive start from the second row of the grid, and even took the overall lead on lap 11. The Porsche was forced to pit shortly afterwards however with a slow puncture, though the Bavarian team has already recovered to 3rd overall behind the Saintéloc Junior Team.

Having already taken outright victory at the event in 2020, Herberth Motorsport could become only the second team to win the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO overall more than once since 2017. 

The E2P Racing Porsche 991.2 GT3 R (#90, Pablo Burguera / Antonio Sainero / Álvaro Parente) currently lies 3rd in GT3-Pro/Am and 6th overall. The Spanish team is one of six different cars to lead the event outright during the opening four hours. 

Grove Racing (#10, Stephen Grove / Brenton Grove / Matthew Payne / Garth Tander) was just 1.6 seconds behind the E2P Racing Porsche after the first four hours. The Australian team, having qualified 3rd overall, fought its way into the overall lead during the second hour, and has currently led more laps than any other team bar Herberth Motorsport. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 lost crucial time in the refueling station however during its first fuel stop. 

The Hofor Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#11, Michael Kroll / Chantal Prinz / Alexander Prinz / Maximilian Partl / Kenneth Heyer) currently rounds out the overall top 10. The Swiss team, which finished 3rd overall – and secured the 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Europe’ championship – at the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO in 2017, ran as high as 2nd overall during a fighting opening stint, but dropped back when a camber adjustment plate worked itself loose.

992 polesitter Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#909, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers / Rik Breukers / Fabian Danz) continues to lead the 992 class, and has pulled one lap clear of 992 standings leader Red Ant Racing (#903, Ayrton Redant / Yannick Redant / Kobe de Breucker / Lucas Van Eijndhoven). Impressively, the leading two Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars were running 4th and 5th overall after the first four hours. 

Red Ant Racing’s sister Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#904, Brent Verheyen / Peter Guelinckx / Michiel Haverans / Kris Cools) is running 4th in 992 – and 9th overall – after a hectic start to the event. The #904 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup was nudged into a spin by the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche – for which the Bavarian team was handed a 10-second penalty – and later came perilously close to tagging the barriers at turn five after suffering anti-lock braking issues.

The HRT Performance Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#967, Nicolas Stürzinger / Amedeo Pampanini / Linus Diener / Stefano Monaco / Kim André Hauschild), running 8th overall after four hours, thus leads the fight for the final 992 rostrum spot.

SebLajoux Racing by DUWO Racing (#908, Eric Mouez / Solenn Amrouche / Miguel Moiola / Lauris Nauroy / Gary Terclavers) currently leads in 992-AM following an earlier incident for RPM Racing (#907, Tracy Krohn / Niclas Jönsson / Philip Hamprecht / Patrick Huisman). The reigning 992-Am Teams’ champion was battling MRS GT Racing (#988, Marco Müller / Shaun Thong / Will Langhorne / Terence Tse / Ricardo Costa) for the 992-Am lead only for the pair to collide, and spin, at turn seven. RPM Racing was summarily handed a 10-second penalty for causing the collision, and lost further time to a punctured radiator, but is still running 4th in 992-AM. Ironically, one place behind MRS GT-Racing. 

Holmgaard Motorsport (#902, Magnus Holmgaard / Martin Vedel Mortensen / Jonas Holmgaard / Stéphane Perrin) rounds out the 992 field so far. The Danish team had been running in the top five, but replacing the left rear wheel hub has cost the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup close to 40 minutes in the pits. 

A seemingly flawless run in the lead of GT4 for GSR Motorsport (#405, Ernesta Globytė / Rokas Kvedaras / Mindaugas Liatukas / Egidijus Gelūnas / Aras Kvedaras) came to an abrupt end when the Ginetta G56 GT4 pulled into the pits, just moments before the fourth hour ticked by, with fuel pressure problems. 

GT4 standings leader Buggyra ZM Racing (#416, Aliyyah Koloc / David Vršecký / Adam Lacko / Jaroslav Janis) has now taken the class lead. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 has been run close during the opening stages by the W Autosport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO (#491, Thierry Chkondali / Marc Girard / Michel Sallenbach / Caryl Fritsché / Thomas Leal), with the lead swapping intermittently between them

Sadly, having already lost more than two hours in the pits, GT4 title contender Lionspeed GP (#424, José Garcia / Patric Niederhauser / Patrick Kolb / Dennis Bohn) has been forced to withdraw its Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport from the event.

Finally, the Vortex V8 Vortex 2.0 (#701, Lionel Amrouche / Philippe Bonnel / Gilles Courtois / Lucas Sugliano) and the PR-V Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#125, Christian Gloz / Hervé Houdré / Alain Remi / Flavien Remi) lead the GTX and TCE categories respectively after clean runs so far.

Though several local yellows were called, no Code 60 caution periods were thrown during the opening four hours of the 2024 Hankook 24H PORTIMAO.

The 2024 Hankook 24H PORTIMAO is scheduled to run uninterrupted throughout the night until the chequered flag is flown at 12.00 hrs local time, tomorrow, Sunday 12 May. The action will be live with commentary from radiolemans.com on the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel. Regular updates will also be published on X (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found HERE