Car Collection Motorsport ended a solid return to the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook with a top five finish overall at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA, the German team’s first CREVENTIC event with its new Porsche 992 GT3 R. 

The long-time Audi Sport customer bid farewell to Ingolstadt back in July after confirming receipt of the 992-generation Porsche GT3 R and two Porsche Cayman RS CS. The Hankook 24H BARCELONA also marked the team’s first entry with CREVENTIC not just with the new Porsche 992 (in a collaborative entry with Centri Porsche Ticino), and its first start since last year’s Hankoook 24H BARCELONA. 

Series debutant ‘Hash’ – also making his first GT3 race start – lined up alongside Ivan Jacoma, Alex Fontana and 2019 Overall TCE Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Yannick Mettler, the latter of whom was also making his first GT3 start in the 24H SERIES with Car Collection. Ironically, the team faced long-time customers Dr. Johannes Kirchhoff and Max Edelhoff on the Barcelona grid, the pair of whom now enter the tenured #34 Audi R8 with Land Motorsport. 

Though Car Collection Motorsport ultimately missed finishing on the GT3-Pro/Am podium, team principal Peter Schmidt was nevertheless quick to praise a job well done.

“It’s good that we were still able to compete in the 24H SERIES this year,” Schmidt explains. “It’s a really great series and we have a very positive history together. We can be very happy with the weekend, as we used our Porsche for the first time and our debutant ‘Hash’ also delivered a really good performance.”

An impressive run by Ivan Jacoma during qualifying saw the Car Collection Porsche claim pole in the GT3-P/A category and 4th on the overall grid, a position Alex Fontana held across the opening hour. Though the #23 Porsche could not quite keep pace with the leaders, the German team remained comfortably in the top six throughout the event, and held the final spot on the provisional GT3-Pro/Am podium until the ninth hour. Thereafter, a stellar stint by Pierre Kaffer saw the Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 leapfrog the Car Collection Porsche, though both teams would continue to trade the final GT3-Pro/Am podium spot for the remainder of the event. In the end, and after 24 hours of racing, Car Collection fell just under two minutes short of the class podium, but nevertheless impressed with a problem-free run to 5th overall. 

Tellingly, Car Collection Motorsport’s return has also sparked speculation that the 2019 Hankook 24H DUBAI winner could well return for a full 24H SERIES season in 2024, with the team itself even confirming in its pre-event preview it is “looking into the possibility of completing the entire season again next year.”