2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Europe’ champion Hofor-Racing has confirmed it will return to the 24H SERIES for the full European season in 2024, doing so with Nürburgring 24 Hours class winner, Max Partl. 

The Swiss team made its return to the 24H SERIES’ GT3 category in Barcelona last year after a three-year hiatus, securing 2nd in GT3-Am and radiolemans.com’s ‘Spirit of the Race’ award in the process. The #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 followed that up with three further entries this season at Mugello, Spa-Francorchamps and Barcelona, claiming GT3-Am podium finishes at two of them. On all four occasions, team owner Michael Kroll was joined on driver detail by daughter – and fellow 2017 Overall GT Drivers’ ‘Europe’ champion – Chantal Prinz, her husband Alexander, while Max Partl, a tenured 24H SERIES competitor, who made his first series start at Barcelona back in 2011, competed with the team at Barcelona (twice) and Spa. 

Hofor-Racing is now set to take on its longest 24H SERIES European campaign since 2018 next year with the returning Partl, again with its tenured #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Swiss team’s program with CREVENTIC will begin at January’s Hankook 24H DUBAI, marking its first start in the event’s GT3 category since 2019.

“We are happy to announce that young gun Max Partl will join our team for the [Hankook] 24H DUBAI and not only that, he will also be part of our driver lineup for the complete 24H SERIES European championship with our Mercedes-AMG GT3!” the team announced on its official Facebook page. “He drove already in 2023 with us and always performed really strongly, so we are happy to have him with us the whole year. Welcome Max!”

Partl, an SP3T class winner at this year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours, has taken multiple class podiums in the 24H SERIES with Bonk Motorsport, including TCR victory at the 2017 Hankook 12H MUGELLO. Prior to that, the German has also taken category wins at both Dubai and Barcelona, including CUP1 honours with Racingdivas by Las Moras in the UAE in 2015, and SP3 victory with Team Partl Motorsport in Catalunya in 2012.

Though not yet fully confirmed, CREVENTIC understands that team staples Michael Kroll, and Chantal and Alexander Prinz will partner Partl at the 24H SERIES’ 12-hour races in 2024 while 2009 24H DUBAI winner Carsten Tilke, who competed with Hofor-Racing at Mugello and Barcelona, will return for the 24-hour events in Dubai and Barcelona. This has not yet been fully confirmed, however. 

In collaboration with Bonk Motorsport, Hofor-Racing completed a part-campaign in the 2023 24H SERIES with a fighting 2nd place in the GT4 with its brand-new BMW M4 GT4. The sister Mercedes-AMG GT3 meanwhile endured a more troubled run in Barcelona: a sodden – and eventually called-off – qualifying dropped Kroll, Prinz and Prinz, Tilke, and first time teammate Manuel Rubow to 9th on the overall grid, and an early collision with the Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors Porsche ended up with the Mercedes in the gravel at turn 16.

Prolonged grip issues were further compounded when debris from a rear puncture ended up destroying much of the Mercedes’ rear bodywork and taillight cluster, requiring more repair time. In a grandstand finish, a heart-breaking propshaft failure bringing GT3-AM leader CP Racing’s event to an end just 90 minutes from home. Amazingly, Hofor-Racing ended up pushing its American rival off the GT3-Am podium altogether on the very last lap.