Following on from a commanding run last time out in Portugal – both in the 6H Qualifying Race and the Hankook 12H ESTORIL itself – WTM by Rinaldi Racing led the opening stages of the 2023 Hankook 24H BARCELONA and was already opening a sizeable lead before “a problem with the gearbox first occurred,” a gremlin that ultimately caused the #22 Ferrari 296 GT3 to retire before half distance. This marks the fourth retirement from six outings for WTM Racing at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA, many of which have also been gearbox-related.

“This is of course not the result we were hoping for,” team owner Georg Weiss explained post-race. “Unfortunately, apart from the overall victory last year, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was not favorable to us, even though we were always very [competitive]… Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about that. Rinaldi Racing prepared the car perfectly and we had very good pace. Things like that happen in motorsport. We'll analyze it closely with Ferrari. Still, it's annoying.”

“It seems as if the ‘Barcelona curse’ of previous years has caught up with us again,” Leonard Weiss continues. “This year we had bad luck on this route in the [European Le Mans Series] and now we also had a technical defect. We are all very disappointed. 

“The problem occurred for the first time on Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, we tried to fight our way back to the front. Unfortunately, the error occurred again during the night and it no longer made sense to continue. We had a perfectly prepared car from Rinaldi Racing and excellent pace from the start. We certainly could have been in contention for the overall victory. It's a shame, but unfortunately that's how it is sometimes in motorsport.”

WTM Racing’s Estoril pace was on point when the green flag dropped. From the third row, a fast-starting Jochen Krumbach – who teamed with Georg and Leo Weiss, Torsten Kratz and Isaac Tutumlu Lopez in Catalunya – getting the jump on polesitter IMSA LS Group Performance down the inside of turn three to take the lead. After his opening two-hour stint, Krumbach had already increased his lead to more than 90 seconds over the rest of the field. 

“We worked meticulously all week to understand the new Hankook tires and find a good setup for the race. We absolutely succeeded,” Krumbach continued. “I was able to take the lead right from the start and continually pull away from the field. That's when I knew I think we have a fast and consistent car and can win the race. It hurts all the more to end up empty-handed. That's Racing!”

The first of several setbacks however occurred during Leonard Weiss’ first stint when the #22 Ferrari spun at turn three. Forced to wait for a gap in the traffic, Weiss was met by the ignominious sight of the IMSA LS Group Porsche swooping back through turn three to retake the lead as the Ferrari rejoined the track. A few laps later, matters devolved even further when Weiss was hit by the late-braking NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT2 into turn one. The indent left the Ferrari with right rear bodywork damage and the Mercedes in the gravel. Adding insult to injury, WTM Racing was penalized 60 seconds for inadvertently passing a car under Code 60.

Just over an hour later, during Torsten Kratz’ first stint, the Ferrari was in the pits once again with an electrical issue related to the gearbox. 25 minutes worth of repairs ended up dropping WTM to 29th place, 11 laps down on the leader.

Impressively, the Ferrari had recovered to 12th place overall and 3rd in GT3-Am by hour 10 – now nine laps behind – when gearbox issues struck once again. Unable to find “no permanent solution,” the decision was made to retire the Ferrari from the event altogether, the latest addition to the team’s event “curse.”

“Unfortunately we weren't lucky because we had an electronic problem with the gearbox,” explains Isaac Tutumlu Lopez, who made his first 24H SERIES start since 2018 at Barcelona. “That's a real shame because the car was a real rocket. And we were also doing very well in terms of driving. As we showed at the start of the race… we were able to win here. Then the problem came. This is racing, we had to park the car. Nevertheless, I had a very good time and really enjoyed the atmosphere at WTM. I felt very comfortable and hope to drive for WTM Racing again. I'm looking forward to a future together.”

“Barcelona somehow doesn't like us this year,” Torsten Kratz explains. “Bad luck in the ELMS at the beginning of the year and now in the 24-hour race. We had an extremely strong package with which we would certainly have been able to fight for overall victory. But sometimes it's just not meant to be. It's an incredible shame for the whole team, who showed so much commitment. That's the painful side of our sport. Nevertheless, I'm very grateful that I was able to be there.”