BARCELONA (10 September, 2022) – CP Racing currently leads a four-way fight for outright victory at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA after the opening four hours. 

The CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster / Shane Lewis) was just four seconds clear of the ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 (#1, Samantha Tan / Nick Wittmer / Bryson Morris / Steven Aghakhani) as the fourth hour ticked by, with the BMW M4 GT3 of 3rd-placed Poulsen Motorsport (#14, Roland Poulsen / Kristian Poulsen / Christoffer Nygaard / Alfred Nilsson) similarly within striking distance less than 90 seconds further back. 

Herberth Motorsport meanwhile (#91, Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Alfred Renauer / Robert Renauer / Jürgen Häring) lies 4th after four hours. The Porsche 911 GT3 R, already a three-time winner of the Hankook 24H BARCELONA, started the 2022 edition from pole position, holding the advantage into turn one and across the opening 37 laps, but slipped back shortly before the fourth hour began after a scheduled fuel stop. 

Reigning Overall GT Teams’ champion ST Racing makes its first start in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook this weekend since its victory earlier this year in Mugello, while Poulsen Motorsport, which also qualified 3rd, makes its first series outing since 2016.

Despite serving an extra pit stop owing to a problem on the front left corner, the Huber Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (#23, Jörg Dreisow / Alexander Schwarzer / Manuel Lauck / Wolfgang Triller / Marc Basseng) is running 5th ahead of the returning Hofor Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#11, Michael Kroll / Chantal Prinz / Alexander Prinz / Max Partl / Thomas Mühlenz) and the WTM Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 (#22, Georg Weiss / Leonard Weiss / Nicolas Varrone / Daniel Keilwitz / Indy Dontje). The latter started on the front row and was leading the event outright early on but a collision at turn 10 has since cost the German team two laps. 

After a conservative start to the 24-hour event, GT standings leader Phoenix Racing (#18, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Swen Herberger) is currently running 8th overall ahead of JUTA Racing (#71, Eimantas Navikauskas / Aurimas Jablonskis / Paul August / Lars Viljoen / Jonas Gelžinis). Both teams are running an Audi R8 LMS GT3 this weekend. 

The HRT Performance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (#929, Antti Buri / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Jim Rautiainen / Constantin Kletzer) rounds out the overall top 10 and currently leads the 992 category ahead of 992 Teams’ championship challenger, Red Ant Racing (#903, Ayrton Redant / Bert Redant / Yannick Redant / Sam Dejonghe). Despite losing its place on the grid to a qualifying discrepancy, the UAE’s Rabdan Motorsport (#977, Saif Alamer / Nikolai Gadetskii / Thierry Vermeulen / Enrico Fernando Fulgenz) rounds out the 992 category podium after four hours, and is running just 37 seconds behind 992-AM leader, Three Sixty Racing Team (#926, Marcio Mauro / JP Mauro / Alan Hellmeister / Lucas Salles / Nelson Monteiro). 

Red Camel-Jordans.nl Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (#909, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers / Rik Breukers / Fabian Danz), which qualified on 992 class pole position, had been leading the class until a leak in the brake fluid line led to a heavy impact against the tyre barriers at turn one. The Dutch team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is currently still being worked on in the garage. 

Across in 991, reigning category champion Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors (#955, Fabrizio Broggi / Sergiu Nicolae / Sabino de Castro) currently leads Spain’s E2P Racing (#910, Pablo Burguera / Manuel Cintrano / Jaime Garcia / Antonio Sainero / Javier Morcillo) on the Romanian-Italian team’s first start in the 24H SERIES since Mugello.

Leipert Motorsport (#710, Kerong Li / Jean-Francois Brunot / Gerhard Watzinger / Gregg Gorski / Brendon Leitch) has recovered from an incident on the opening lap to take the lead in GTX. The Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo was involved in a bizarre collision with GTX Teams’ championship rival RD Signs – Siauliai racing team (#720), also running a Huracán Super Trofeo this weekend, and the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of 992-AM polesitter Red Ant Racing (#904, Wim Spinoy / Kobe de Breucker / Jimmy de Breucker / Arnold Neveling) on the start-finish straight shortly after the green flag flew. The Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini was able to recover quickly from left rear suspension damage, but RD Signs and Red Ant Racing have already dropped to the tail of the field after significant time spent in the garage. 

Vortex V8 consequently runs 2nd in-class after four hours with its #702 Vortex 1.0 (Lionel Amrouche / Philippe Bonnel / Philippe Gruau / Nicolas Nobs / Francesc Gutierrez Agüi). The sister #701 (Arnaud Gomez / Olivier Gomez / Lucas Lasserre) had been running in the lead but has now lost several laps to a major oil leak. 

The AtlasBX Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 (#403, Steven Cho / Roelof Bruins / Jong Kyum Kim / Taekeun Yang / HA Tae Young) has moved to the head of the GT4 class after class polesitter Senkyr Motorsport (#444, Samuel Vetrak / Marian Biz / Petr Svantner / Ladislav Smucr / Richard Gonda) was served a 60-second penalty early on in the event. The BMW M4 GT4 was found at fault for a collision during Night Practice with event polesitter 
Herberth Motorsport. 

Wolf-Power Racing (#116, Jasmin Preisig / Ivars Vallers / Marlon Menden / Rob Huff) continues to lead a close battle for TCR honours ahead of class standings leader BBR (#158, Dechathorn Phuakkarawut / Kantadhee Kusiri / Kantasak Kusiri / Grant Supaphongs / Nattanid Leewattanavalagul). The Audi RS 3 LMS, which took its first TCE pole position of the season yesterday afternoon, held its position with 2012 World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff at the helm in the opening stages, briefly fell back during a Code 60-affected first round of scheduled pit stops, but has since established a one-lap lead. 

The AC Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS (#188, Stéphane Perrin / Mathieu Detry / Vincent Radermecker / Charles Dawson) currently holds 3rd ahead of BBR’s second entry (#159, Chariya Nuya / Sandy Stuvik / Munkong Sathienthirakul / Tanart Sathienthirakul / Pasarit Promsombat), with the CUPRA Leon Competición TCR on-course to take the European Championship in the TCR class. Spain’s RAIL EQUIP BY TOTCAR SPORT meanwhile (#123, Jorge Belloc Diaz / Jorge Belloc Ruiz / Álvaro Rodríguez Sastre / Alba Cano Ramirez) rounds out the category top five thus far with its CUPRA TCR. 

On its first 24H SERIES start of the season, 2019 Overall TCE Teams’ champion Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport (#332, Michael Mayer / Martin Kroll / Michael Bonk / Max Partl) holds the TC category lead with its BMW M2 CS Racing after the opening four hours. 

The 2022 Hankook 24H BARCELONA is set to run uninterrupted throughout the night around the 4.675km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya until the chequered flag is unfurled at 13.00 hrs local time on Sunday 11 September. Live streaming of the race in HD quality will be available on our official website and the 24H SERIES YouTube channel. Regular updates will be published on Twitter (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found HERE