Barcelona, Spain (26 September 2025):
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO squad TFT Racing largely controlled qualifying for this weekend’s Michelin 24H BARCELONA with drivers Jordan Boisson, Benjamin Paque and Maro Engel producing a series of masterful performances to seal outright pole position for the finale of the 2025 Michelin 24H SERIES.

Ending the three GT3 qualifying periods almost half a second clear on average times, the French team – which also features Patrick Charlaix for the twice-round-the-clock race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – looks in great form and with a very quick car and line-up. 

“It’s a great job from the whole team”, said Engel, whose 1m40.622 seconds lap in Q3 ensured the overall and GT3 PRO-AM pole, “The team gave us a good car and obviously my two team-mates teed it up nicely and, actually, I had the easy job to be honest. In this format of qualifying it’s interesting, when you’re doing your segment on a used tyre it’s lively! I’m very happy to start from pole.”

Sharing the front-row is Sainteloc Junior Team with its Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, a very evenly matched trio of Stephane Tribaudini, Elia Erhart and Pierre Kaffer delivering an average of 1m41.581 seconds compared to the 1m41.101 seconds of TFT Racing. Less than 0.2 seconds covered the three Sainteloc drivers, who will be joined for the race by Ernst Inderbitzin and Michael Doppelmayr.

Championship leaders going into the fifth and final round of the season, Proton Huber Competition, start third in the No.73 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), Klaus Bachler’s 1m41.304 seconds time in the third session the standout. He is joined by Constantin Dressler, Manuel Lauck and Jorg Dreisow.

HOFOR Racing starts on GT3-AM pole in sixth overall, a very competitive showing from Alexander Prinz, Torsten Kratz and Maximilian Partl in the No.11 Mercedes-AMG. Chantal Prinz and her father Michael Kroll will partner the trio for the race. 

History was made by Ajith Kumar Racing by Red Ant with a maiden outright 992 class pole, as well as the 992-AM pole, courtesy Huub van Ejindhoven, Cameron McLeod and Gregory Servais in the No.901 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992). Tamil actor Ajith Kumar and Ralph Poppelaars join for the race.

In GT4, Spain’s own NM Racing eased to a clear pole with its Mercedes AMG-GT4 piloted by Jorge Belloc Ruiz, Manel Lao Cornago and Brandon Lee Oxley. GTX was a straight fight between the Vortex V8 entries, the No.974 of Olivier Gomez, Solenn Amrouche and Arnaud Tsamere dominant. 

Making a welcome return, the TCE-TCX class features five cars this weekend and J-Mec Engineering did the business in qualifying to seal class pole position by over three seconds on average times, Oliver Smith, Steven Cheetham and Kevin Clarke sharing qualifying duties in the BMW M3 (E46).

Less than 0.5 seconds covered the top seven at the conclusion of the first of the GT3 sessions, amplifying the competitiveness of the entry. Alexander Prinz was in the mix throughout, and although slipping out of the top three into the latter stages, he hit back to take provisional pole.

Second in session was Scuderia Praha’s Dennis Waszek, a couple of tenths shy in the GT3-AM class Ferrari 296 GT3, while Sainteloc’s Audi was third in the hands of Tribaudini. The series leading Proton Porsche elected to enter the session later than the rest, with Dressler ending seventh.

Paque put the TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG on top early in session two, a time of 1m41.884s just a few hundredths shy of team-mate Boisson from Q1, but then Josef Kral shot to the top of the times for Praha with a lap of 1m41.326s. Paque, though, responded with a session best 1m40.857s. 

That’s how Q2 ended at the top, TFT from Praha, with Erhart taking Sainteloc within 0.3 seconds of provisional pole. Fourth, and still leading the GT3-AM contenders, was the HOFOR car with Kratz at the wheel – just a fraction ahead of the Red Ant Racing Mercedes of Kobe de Breucker and the E2P Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO of Antonio Sainero.

Everything was to play for in Q3 and that man Engel didn’t leave much on the table, delivering a lap of 1m40.622 seconds late on to seal the poles. Kaffer ensured the front row for Sainteloc, with a great effort from Bachler lifting Proton Huber to third ahead of Red Ant’s Loek Hartog. 

Martin Rump set the early pace for Muhlner Motorsport in the opening qualifying session and on his second flyer produced a time of 1m44.698 seconds to stay on top. Electing to save tyre life and pit with half the session remaining, Rump ended a healthy 0.6 seconds clear. 

Second in Q1 was the Ajith Kumar Racing Porsche of Servais, quickest in 992-AM, while Fabian Duffieux was third, second in 992-AM, for SebLajoux Racing, and Fabian Danz fourth overall in 992 for Red Camel-Jordans.nl.

Julian Hanses continued where Rump had started for Muhlner and in Q2 his time of 1m45.446 seconds ensured the No.921 Porsche was a slightly reduced 0.4 seconds clear with one session left. Mcleod kept the Ajith Kumar car second, top in 992-AM, with a time of 1m45.488 seconds. 

Although having an early flyer disallowed due to track limits, Rik Breukers hit back with the quickest time of Q2 – a lap of 1m45.345 seconds – so Red Camel finished the session third but six tenths away from Muhlner. Mathieu Detry, meanwhile, ended Q2 fourth for SebLajoux Racing.

With very little in it, session three was always going to be a nail-biter and van Ejindhoven had the responsibility for the Ajith Kumar squad. Delivering the first 992 pole for the team, only a single tenth of a second covered the times of all three drivers to showcase the consistency of performance. 

Red Camel’s Luc Breukers was spectacular as he tried to close the gap, but had to settle for second, with Paul Meijer sealing third for SebLajoux Racing only seventh hundredths shy of Red Camel. Muhlner ended up fourth with Valters Zviedris, less than another tenth back, while James Kellet starred for HRT Performance with a searing time of 1m44.884 seconds – the team ending fifth. 

Vortex V8 racer Gomez dominated GTX in Q1, concluding the run just shy of four seconds faster than Cyril Calmon in the sister Vortex 2.0 car – and Gomez was actually faster than the 992 class Porsches which also shared the session. 

Solenn Amrouche took over the pace-setting No.974 Vortex, several seconds faster than Phillippe Bonnel in the No.701 in session two, and Tsamere took Q3 for the provisional pole sitters and went on to wrap-up actual GTX pole by three seconds on average times.

Damon Surzyshyn looked to be heading for the fastest time in GT4 midway through session one in the No.427 Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, but he was bettered by the NM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 piloted by Belloc Ruiz – who opened a gap of 0.7 seconds.

The No.488 Mercedes remained on top in session two in the hands of Cornago, with the gap more than doubled on average times, and in the third run Oxley maintained the level of performance to take a terrific GT4 pole by a full two seconds. Team Sorg Rennsport lines-up second, with Surzyshyn, Marc Girard, Jordan Mougenot, Thierry Chkondali and Michel Sallenbach. 

Venture’s championship leading Mercedes-AMG GT4, shared this weekend by father and son Neville and Christopher Jones, Matthew George and newcomer Owen Hizzy, will line-up third in GT4 for the season finale. 

There seemed to be little doubt of a deserved TCE-TCX pole position for J-Mec Engineering as the squad ably topped all three qualifying sessions. With an average time of 1m54.953 seconds, the BMW M3 (E46) qualified by Smith, Cheetham and Clarke dominated. 

AsBest Racing starts from second in class with its No.102 Cupra TCR DSG, qualified by Junichi Umemoto Pia Ohlsson and Sebastian Schemmann. They will be partnered by Rafal Gieras in the race itself. Third and fourth were the twin Honda Civic Type R (FL5) entries of THRW Honda Racing – the No.124 of Scot Nicol, Todd Chiappino, Lawrence Hwang and Jeremy Lucas the quicker of the two. 

The final race of the 2025 season, the Michelin 24H BARCELONA, will get underway at 12.00 local time on Saturday, 27 September. Watch the action live at Creventic Motorsports TV via YouTube or through www.24hseries.com