Barcelona, Spain (28 September 2025):
Everything is to play for in terms of championship challenges and race success at the halfway point of the Michelin 24H BARCELONA, at midnight local time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II leading the way. 

While seven of the outright championship contenders are still running competitively, Red Ant Racing’s 2025 title bid is sadly over after the squad’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO had to retire after 92 laps due to failed suspension.

Pole starter Maro Engel made an expectedly good start to the final race of the season in the TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG to lead, with Klaus Bachler’s Proton Huber Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) seizing second from the Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Stephane Tribaudini. 

The Scuderia Praha and Into Africa Racing by Dragon Ferrari 296 GT3 entries, piloted by Josef Kral and Axcil Jefferies, each launched very well to climb into fourth and fifth as the Red Ant car, in the hands of Ayrton Redant, slipped to the tail of the top 10 during the early laps. 

Things were steady until the first Code 60 around 45 minutes in. Engel stayed out initially, while the majority pitted for fuel, but the leader pitted the next time around. Bachler was one of those who pitted straight away, and when the race went green he stopped again for tyres and to hand over the Porsche to Jorg Dreisow – a driver switch not permitted until the 50-minute mark had been reached.

As the order settled Engel led by five seconds from the HAAS RT Audi of Matisse Lismont, the HOFOR Racing Mercedes-AMG of Alexander Prinz and Redant’s Mercedes – all of whom were yet to make their first stops. Soon enough, a second Code 60 was required due to the E2P Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Pablo Burguera visiting the gravel, and so the top six all pitted for fuel.

Over the next couple of hours the order chopped and changed, including the unfortunate retirement for Red Ant Racing. GetSpeed’s Mercedes-AMG started to move into contention, as did the Audi R8 of Juta Racing, and with so many different strategies playing out the action was fascinating. 

At one quarter distance, six hours, light just began to fade with the lead held by Kral in the Praha Ferrari just ahead of Proton Huber’s Bachler, with the HAAS Audi continuing to impress in third with Nicolas Guelinckx. For the next few hours, as darkness well and truly arrived, those three entries, along with Juta’s Arunas Geciauskas, shared the lead positions and were also joined by HOFOR.

After 10 hours of action Audis locked-out the top three positions, Vasily Vladykin leading for Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport ahead of Juta’s Zhang Taqi and HAAS RT’s Ramez Azzam, and as the clock struck midnight Audi power was still on top – the No.69 Continental car with Alex Arkin Aka at the wheel.  

Second at the halfway point are Michelin 24H SERIES European Series points leaders Proton Huber, with Manuel Lauck driving, and the erstwhile leading HAAS RT Audi is third with Azzam. Three Audis fill the top four, Juta Racing’s Gavin Pickering at the wheel of the No.71. Engel is fifth for TFT with Torsten Kratz sixth for HOFOR Racing.

As a result of an accident in night practice on Friday, 26 September, which necessitated a change of chassis for the Ajith Kumar Racing by Red Ant team, the squad frustratingly lost its hard-earned pole position due to a five place grid penalty – as per championship regulations. Therefore, Red Camel-Jordans.nl began the race from 992 pole ahead of SebLajoux Racing and Muhlner Motorsport.

However, it was the HRT Performance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) which made the early running with James Kellet storming through from fourth to the class lead and pulling clear. Martin Rump was second initially for Muhlner, but Rik Breukers soon moved back ahead for Red Camel. At the first Code 60 Kellet stayed out and increased his lead of course over the chasing pack into hour two.

The leader pitted just after the hour mark, during a second Code 60, and he continued to push on for the next 30 minutes to open a comfortable advantage. Then pitting for fuel and tyres, the lead was picked up by Rump just ahead of the Red Camel car with Fabian Danz now driving. After negotiating some traffic, which had stymied Danz’s attempts to challenge, the latter took the lead on lap 50.

Through the various pit-stops Red Camel were consistently in the fight at the front along with Muhlner and HRT. At six hours Paul Meijer held the advantage for Muhlner and after handing over the car to Julian Hanses the No.921 remained out front, until Red Camel returned to the lead with Danz in hour eight.

At the 10 hour mark there was only half a second between Muhlner in the lead, with Valters Zviedris driving, and Rik Breukers in the Red Camel Porsche, But by midnight Muhlner had a lap in hand, Hanses driving, over Danz in the No.909 car with SebLajoux Racing’s Porsche another lap back.

Solenn Amrouche dominated the GTX class during the opening 45 minutes in the No.974 Vortex 2.0, well clear of her father Lionel in the sister No.701 car. Both pitted at their first opportunity and did so again early in hour two when another Code 60 was called – Solenn handing over to Yoann Olivar. 

The No.974 clearly had the edge and after the first quarter of the race was complete, the lead stood at around two laps. Gilles Courtois took the No.701 into the lead after eight hours, but was out of sequence in terms of stops and strategy, and so slipped back to second soon after. Trading the lead through the remaining stops, halfway through the race the No.701 had pulled three laps clear.

Champions-elect in GT4 Venture had an early issue with its Mercedes-AMG, the car seeming to lose pace, but the problem cleared and Matthew George mounted a strong recovery. Brandon Lee Oxley led from class pole in the NM Racing Mercedes and had a lead of close to 20 seconds within the first 15 minutes, but during the course of two Code 60s later in hour one George took over at the front.

During subsequent pit-stops for Venture and NM Racing, Team Sorg Rennsport was leading at the end of hour two with Damon Surzyshyn driving the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, but Venture soon returned to the lead with Owen Hizzy and then George as the team really got into its stride. 

Six and a half hours into the race, the No.488 Mercedes of NM Racing hit trouble with gearing woes and lost a significant amount of time – pretty well dropping out of contention. Venture, meanwhile, appear largely bulletproof at this stage and hold a major advantage of 13 laps at 12 hours.

Kevin Clarke led from pole in TCE-TCX for J-Mec Engineering, but the BMW M3 (E46) was soon passed by the No.111 AsBest Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982) which, in the hands of Conrad Tox Leveau, showed terrific pace. At the 45-minute mark, though, a brake line problem sent Leveau into the gravel at Turn 11 and caused the first Code 60, Clarke retaking the lead.

At the end of hour two the No.102 AsBest Racing Cupra TCR DSG ground to a halt at Turn Two with Pia Ohlsson at the wheel. Managing to get the car moving again Ohlsson continued, but around half an hour later the car stopped again – before firing back into life once more. J-Mec continued apace at the front and as others hit problems, the squad opened an advantage of 18 laps within five hours.

All seemed to be going like clockwork for the BMW but later in hour nine work was required linked to a throttle and steering issue. So large was their advantage the squad stayed in the lead for some time, even though in the pits, before the No.102 Cupra moved ahead. J-Mec returned to the race in hour 10, five laps down, but the car stopped on the out lap and was recovered to the pits.  

The Michelin 24H BARCELONA continues to a finish at 12.00 local time today, Sunday, 28 September. Follow Creventic Motorsports TV online via YouTube and the website www.24series.com