SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (20 April, 2024) – Herberth Motorsport currently leads the 2024 Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS after the opening five hours. And, despite very changeable conditions at Spa this afternoon, the 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion will be joined by five other GT3 cars on the lead lap for tomorrow’s restart. 

Heavy rain overnight and into the early morning meant a wet race was declared ahead of the green flag flying. While the track quickly began to dry after two hours of running, intermittent showers and even a brief-but-heavy hailstorm meant grip remained at a premium throughout the afternoon.  

In the end, meticulous pit work and a stellar drive saw the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R (#91, Ralf Bohn / Scott Noble / Jason Hart) lead 62 of the 94 laps completed thus far this weekend. So close is the competition however, Ralf Bohn collected the chequered flag for ‘part one’ just over 37 seconds clear of the rest of the field. 

“Well under these conditions, this is a very special race at Spa,” Ralf Bohn explained to radiolemans.com’s Diana Binks. “The first part was easier, as we always had the rain, so there was no change from dry to wet conditions. But… we ran on wet tyres at the end, and in-between we had slicks, so there was a lot of changes involved!

“Spa is always challenging. This is not an easy track under these conditions especially, and the competition is also very good, so let’s see what will happen tomorrow.”

After the event’s traditional ‘overnight intervention,’ the final seven hours of the Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS will be completed tomorrow, Sunday 21 April.

Having opted for a long stint with very worn tyres during the closing stages, RD Signs – Siauliai racing team (#69, Audrius Butkevicius / Nicola Michelon / Paulius Paskevicius) will take tomorrow’s restart from the front row, the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 having worked its way through the field from 11th on this morning’s grid. 

After an early gamble to pit under Code 60 did not pay off, the Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#34, Dr. Johannes Kirchhoff / Tim Vogler / Wiggo Dalmo / Max Edelhoff) and the CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster / Shane Lewis) have worked their way back through the field, and will start ‘part two’ tomorrow nose-to-tail in 3rd and 5th respectively.

The first of two Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II’s competing this weekend (#12, ‘Hash’ / Alex Fontana / Ivan Jacoma / Yannick Mettler) is sandwiched between Land Motorsport and CP Racing. The #12 Porsche vaulted from 3rd on the grid into the lead on the opening lap this morning, and at one stage was almost 10 seconds clear of the rest of the field. The German team later lost time in the refueling area, and further ground with two on-track spins. 

Car Collection’s sister entry (#80, Antares Au / Jonathan Hui / Kevin Tse) rounds out the overall top 10. The Audi, which started on provisional pole, slipped away from the frontrunners entirely during the opening stages, and was lucky to survive a glancing blow from its sister entry on the opening lap, but recovered to finish just 8 seconds behind the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of 9th-placed Haas RT (#1, Gregory Servais / Xavier Knauf / Tim Müller).

A suspected collision between Simpson Motorsport and GDL Racing at La Source with just over 15 minutes to go proved crucial for the E2P Racing (#90, Pablo Burguera / Antonio Sainero / Álvaro Parente). The Spanish team, having run very long on fuel, slowly worked its way up to 3rd overall heading into the closing, despite momentarily losing power at Les Combes. When a Code 60 was thrown to recover Simpson Motorsport and GDL Racing, the #90 Porsche 991.2 GT3 R was able to pit for fuel, resume 6th overall, and, consequently, will be the last team to take tomorrow’s restart on the lead lap.  

The Juta Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#71, Lukas Sundahl / Lars Viljoen / Arunas Geciauskas / Sigitas Ambrazevicius) worked its way up from 10th on the grid, led outright for three laps, and will line-up 7th on tomorrow’s grid. A late-race fuel stop unfortunately pushed 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Europe’ champion Hofor Racing (#11, Michael Kroll / Chantal Prinz / Alexander Prinz / Maximilian Partl / Kenneth Heyer) off the lead lap in the closing moments of ‘part one.’ Even so, the Mercedes-AMG GT3, which recovered from a moment in the gravel at Blanchimont, will restart 8th overall.   

Last year’s outright winner Saintéloc Junior Team (#18, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Ernst Inderbitzin) lies 15th heading into the overnight intervention, despite starting from the very back of the grid. During a rapid stint mid-afternoon, Pierre Kaffer posted the fastest lap of the event so far – a 2m 23.266s – and was the only driver to dip below the 2m 24s mark. 

One place further ahead of Saintéloc, the EBM Porsche 992 GT3 R (#84, Adrian D'Silva / Shae Davies / Martin Rump) lies 14th, despite starting 42nd.

Front row starter ARC Bratislava (#44, Miro Konopka / Zdeno Mikulasko / Anton Kiaba / Mateo Llarena) has dropped to 18th in the changeable conditions. A fighting start saw the Slovakian team close down and pass Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 for the overall lead as the rain began to dissipate, but multiple tyre changes in the changeable conditions means the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO is now four laps behind the overall leader. 

Sadly, the Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (#5, Nicolò Rosi / Andrew Gilbert / Fran Rueda / Fons Scheltema) was the first confirmed retirement in GT3 after a heavy off at Eau Rouge. Fortunately, Nicolò Rosi walked away unscathed. 

Red Ant Racing is currently 1st and 2nd in 992, albeit by just seven seconds over current 992-Am class leader Hans Weijs Motorsport. 

The lead in 992 has repeatedly swapped between the Belgian team’s two entries and the Hans Weijs Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#972, Ralph Poppelaars / Mark van Eldik / Edwin Schilt / Paul Meijer) throughout the afternoon. A rapid final stint means the Red Ant Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#903, Ayrton Redant / Yannick Redant / Julius Adomavičius), which had started on 992 class pole, had pulled 50 seconds clear of its sister entry (#904, Brent Verheyen  / Peter Guelinckx / Michiel Haverans) and a further seven seconds ahead of its Dutch rival when the chequered flag was unfurled. All three will take tomorrow’s restart on the same lap. 

The fight for the remaining 992-Am podium positions will be equally as hard-fought. Reigning 992-Am Teams’ champion RPM Racing (#907, Tracy Krohn / Niclas Jönsson / Philip Hamprecht) is currently 4th in 992 and 2nd in 992-Am, but will restart on the same lap as HRT Performance (#967, Nicolas Stürzinger / Amedeo Pampanini / Linus Diener / Kim André Hauschild) and SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#927, Heiko Eichenberg / Patrik Grütter / Bernhard Wagner). 

Early class leader Neuhofer Rennsport (#985, Markus Neuhofer / Felix Neuhofer / Manuel Zlof) has dropped to 12th in 992-Am after a late trip into the gravel at Pouhon. Issues similarly befell both Bas Koeten Racing Porsches. The Dutch team’s NKPP Racing entry (#992, Gijs Bessem / Harry Hilders) lost considerable time to the leaders when a trip through the gravel ruptured the Porsche’s radiator. The standalone Bas Koeten Racing Porsche meanwhile (#925, Bob Herber / Marcel Van Berlo) was briefly stranded on the wet grass at Pouhon and is now 7th in 992-Am.

The 9und11 Racing Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup MR (#719, Georg Goder / Ralf Oehme / Tim Scheerbrarth / Martin Schlüter) currently leads GTX after a stellar run in the changeable conditions. The lead had been held early on by Team CMR (#795, Lawrence Tomlinson / Freddie Tomlinson / Michael Simpson), but, in a bizarre incident, the French team lost 38 minutes in the pits when the Ginetta G56 Cup lost its right rear wheel heading onto the Kemmel Straight. Nevertheless, Team CMR is still running 3rd in-class. 

The Ginetta is currently sandwiched between the Vortex V8 ‘2.0’s. The first (#702, Arnaud Gomez / Olivier Gomez  / Lucas Sugliano) made a clean get-away from pole and retained its advantage in the early going only to grind to a halt with electrical issues 40 minutes later. The second entry (#701, Lionel Amrouche / Philippe Bonnel / Gilles Courtois) lost time with several spins, but is still running 2nd in-class after five hours. 

Across in GT4, the Lionspeed GP Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (#424, José Garcia / Daniel Miller / Patrick Kolb / Dennis Bohn) has pulled one lap clear of the Buggyra ZM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 (#416, Aliyyah Koloc / David Vršecký / Adam Lacko) heading into the overnight intervention. 

The German team’s nearest rival was on course to be the Simpson Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (#438, Charlie Robertson / Ravi Ramyead / Vasily Vladykin) before the British team’s collision with the GDL Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#969, Mark Smith / Dallas Carroll / Matt Kehoe). The incident, ironically, has promoted the BMW M4 GT4 of Belgium’s Hamofa Motorsport (#419, Rob Verhoeven / Kris Verhoeven / Mark Verhoeven) onto the final rostrum spot, provisionally, in GT4.

GT4 polesitter ALFAB Racing (#400, Erik Behrens / Daniel Roos) was hindered by fuel feed issues during the early stages of the event, and the McLaren Artura GT4 has now dropped to 5th in-class.

Finally, the SRS Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (#127, Henning Eschweiler / Heinz Jürgen Kroner / Benito Tagle / Christoph Krombach) currently leads CWS Engineering (#178, Colin White / Daniel Morris). The British team, TCE’s long-time class leader, at one stage had pulled two laps clear of its rivals, but dropped back when the Ginetta G55 suffered power steering failure. The HY Racing Porsche Cayman GTS (#169, Brice Pineau / Jacques Derenne / Bruno Barbaro / ‘Brody’) rounds out the TCE podium thus far.

The 2024 Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS is scheduled to restart tomorrow – Sunday 21 April – at 10.50 hrs. The final seven hours will run uninterrupted until the chequered flag is flown at 17.50 hrs. The action will be live with commentary from radiolemans.com on the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel. Regular updates will also be published on X (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found HERE