ST Racing was denied a seemingly nailed-on class win at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA, firstly by a punctured radiator early on and later by a loss of power with less than an hour of the race remaining.

Samantha Tan Racing, which made a one-off return to the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook in Barcelona after a two-year hiatus, was leading GT4 with a comfortable three-lap advantage after eight hours when a punctured radiator to drop the team five laps down. Having fought back into the lead during the night, the ST Racing BWM M4 GT4 hit further trouble less than an hour from home when the BMW suffered suspected fuel feed problems, delays that ultimately dropped the 2021 Overall GT Teams’ champion to 2nd in-class at the flag. 

“The [Hankook] 24H BARCELONA was an emotional rollercoaster, filled with moments of pure exhilaration and heartbreaking disappointment,” Samantha Tan explains. “We started from the front row, and after just six hours, we had built a commanding three-lap lead thanks to our strong stints.

“But racing can be cruel. A stone pierced our intercooler, forcing us into the garage. Our crew was incredible, fixing the issue in just 20 minutes, but by the time we were back on-track, we were five laps down on the leader. Still, we refused to give up.”

Coming into the race, ST Racing – which lined up 2021 Overall GT Drivers’ champions Samantha Tan and Jon Miller alongside BMW works driver Neil Verhagen, 2023/2024 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy GT4 runner-up Fabian Duffieux, and Indy 500 favourite Pippa Mann – qualified 2nd in-class, though a strong opening stint by Verhagen – which included the fastest GT4 lap of the event (1m 51.200s) – meant the #428 ‘G82’ BMW M4 GT4 was up into the lead by the end of the first hour. Fast and consistent pace thereafter from Verhagen, Tan, Duffieux and Mann meant that, approaching the sixth hour, the Canadian team was already three laps ahead of nearest rival Lionspeed GP. 

Towards the end of Duffieux’s second stint however, the BMW was back in the garage, a stone having pierced its radiator. Just under 20 minutes were lost affecting repairs, and Pippa Mann eventually returned to the track 5th in-class and five laps down on new leader Lionspeed GP. 

Impressively, Miller and Verhagen had recouped four of those five laps by two-thirds distance and was back up to 2nd in-class. With six hours left to go, ST Racing was back in the lead (aided admittedly by a headlight issue for Lionspeed GP) and one-lap ahead.

With less than an hour remaining however, Tan ground to a halt on the exit of turn three when the BMW lost power and entered limp home mode, suspected to be caused by a fuel pump issue. The BMW M Motorsport brand ambassador was forced to stop and reset the BMW three times before finally getting back up to speed again, by which point the Venture Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT4 had swept through to take the GT4 lead. 

Though the pair were split by little more than a car’s length for the remaining 45 minutes of the 24-hour event, Tan was unable to repass Venture’s Matthew George, and the Mercedes-AMG led the BMW across the line by just 1.011 seconds to record a shock GT4 win (the gap was later amplified to 6.011 seconds by a five second time penalty for ST Racing following a Code 60 caution infringement). 

This sadly is not the first time ST Racing has been denied a seemingly easy win at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA by mechanical problems. The Canadian team, which took GT4 class victory in 2021, held a one-lap advantage after 13 hours at the 2022, only to retire shortly afterwards with engine failure on its BMW M4 GT3.

“I gave everything I had, fighting to the very last moment, crossing the line just one second behind,” Samantha continues. “One second… after 24 hours. P2 doesn’t feel like enough. It doesn't even begin to reflect the relentless drive that went into this 24H race.”

“I am heartbroken,” team manager Kenneth Tan expresses. “We had P1 in the bag with less than an hour to go. But the gremlins in our car decided the outcome.

“I am very proud of our team having executed the strategy to perfection,” Kenneth Tan continues. “The result says otherwise but it was purely caused by things totally out of our control. The whole team; the drivers, the crew, the engineers, mechanics, everyone, executed everything extremely well.

“In the end, finishing a 24-hour race is an achievement and we are proud of that and a podium finish is even better.”

While disappointed, team namesake Samantha Tan was quick to praise not only the performance of her team and teammates but also the “tireless work and support” throughout the Catalan event.

“Through it all, I couldn’t be prouder—of myself, my teammates, and our incredible crew. We fought with everything we had. Thank you all for your tireless work and support — let this be motivation for the next one.”

Following its 24H SERIES return in Barcelona, ST Racing has expressed an interest in competing at the 20th edition of the Michelin 24H DUBAI on 10-11-12 January.