•    Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 holds off strong challenge from Herberth Porsche
•    Pierre Kaffer, Elia Erhart, Stephane Tribaudini, Ernst Inderbitzin win by 5.7s
•    Audi back on top in Michelin 12H MUGELLO for first time since 2023 season
•    ARC Bratislava Lamborghini victorious in GT3 AM and on outright podium
•    Class winners – Mühlner 992, QMMF 992 AM, Vortex GTX, asBest TCE-TCX

 BRILLANTER SIEG IN MUGELLO FÜR SAINTÉLOC AUDI NACH SPANNENDEM FINALE

Mugello, Italy (22 March 2026):
Sainteloc Junior Team got its 2026 Michelin 24H SERIES European Series campaign off to the perfect start on Sunday evening with a magnificent victory in the Michelin 12H MUGELLO – the squad’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II winning the two-part race by under six seconds after a nail-biting final half hour.

Pierre Kaffer, who shared the No.18 Audi with Elia Erhart, Stephane Tribaudini and Ernst Inderbitzin, had to save fuel significantly during the closing laps, while Herberth Motorsport’s Ralf Bohn closed in rapidly at the wheel of the No.91 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO. In the end Kaffer was able to judge things to perfection, taking the first Audi victory at the event since 2023.

“The last stint overall was very exciting for us because we were really tight with the fuel, I had to save a lot of fuel”, reflected Kaffer, “There were two Code 60s, which played for us, and in the end my tyres were cold so I had to bring them up to heat. The last couple of laps was quite exciting because with the traffic and everything, you can be lucky or losing in the traffic. 

“It was a great battle with Ralf [Bohn] and also the Herberth guys, that’s how racing should be. I think we put on a great show for the Creventic series. It’s really nice how this series is improving over the last couple of years, we are really happy to be part of it.” 

Second place for Bohn, Rolf Ineichen and Alfred Renauer was a great result, and third on the overall podium – along with GT3 AM victory – went to a richly deserving ARC Bratislava line-up of Miro and Adam Konopka, Gerhard Tweraser and Zdeno Mikulasko in their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO.

Mühlner Motorsport’s Paul Meijer, Conrad Tox Leveau and Martin Rump won a race-long battle with regular 992 rivals Red Camel-Jordans.nl, and the 992 AM win was earned by Qatari squad QMMF by HRT Performance and drivers Ahmed Al-Emadi, Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi and Faesal Al Yafei. 

Both the GTX and TCE-TCX classes were real races of attrition. The Vortex team of Philippe Bonnel and brothers Arnaud and Olivier Gomez earned victory in GTX, despite a number of troubles along the way, while asBest Racing’s Pia Ohlsson, Thomas Alpiger and Rafal Gieras won TCE-TCX in their SEAT Leon Cup Racer.

GetSpeed Team PCX Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, with Maro Engel at the wheel, made the most of pole position to lead at the beginning of Saturday’s five and a half hour portion of the race, fending off Kaffer in the Sainteloc Audi.  

Yannick Redant was very quick early on in the Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG, harrying the Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO of Manuel Lauck, and 12 laps into the encounter Redant moved ahead. Just behind, Jake Hill also starred in the Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 and, from ninth on the grid, sliced his way through to fourth before the end of hour one.

Tribaudini took over the Sainteloc car at the first driver change and he was able to catch and pass the GetSpeed Mercedes, then piloted by Jordan Boisson, early in the second hour. The order was then shaken up by two Code 60 periods, after which Ineichen led in the No.91 Herberth Porsche.

E2P Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 also impressed, Oliver Campos fighting for the outright podium, but in hour three a broken damper and enforced repair cost five laps. Ajith RedAnt Racing’s bid was also dimmed after a couple of unfortunate spins for Ajith Kumar.

Into the last couple of hours on Saturday both the HAAS RT Audi R8 of Peter and Nicolas Guelinckx and the ARC Bratislava Lamborghini had worked their way right into contention, and at the interim chequered flag on Saturday evening they were first and second, with Herberth third, Era fourth and then the Audis of Sainteloc and Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport all on the lead lap.

Sunday’s six and a half hours of action began with Hill scorching into the lead from Tweraser in the Lamborghini and Erhart in the Sainteloc Audi, but race officials weren’t happy with the start and six drivers, including Hill, Erhart and Ineichen, received time penalties.

As the order changed through the varying pit-stops, the very real hopes of overnight leaders HAAS RT were dealt a hammer blow. Having led on Sunday by the two-hour mark, steering repairs were required and the team fell out of contention as a result. 

With three and a half hours to go skies darkened and rain did begin to fall, although not enough to necessitate treaded Michelins – even though the track was slippery for a while. As the precipitation cleared, so the battle for victory heated up and as light faded Kaffer led but with Bohn closing in. 

Reducing the gap from half a minute to 10 seconds before a late Code 60, Bohn continued his pursuit when the action resumed as Kaffer coaxed his Audi. Able to respond and keep the Porsche at bay, Kaffer secured a superb win from the No.91 car with the ARC Lamborghini a fantastic third. 

Continental’s Alex Aka had muscled his Audi R8 into the top three, and GT3 AM lead, a short while before the conclusion but a late pit-stop resulted in fourth overall for Aka, Florian Scholze, Vasily Vladykin and Paul Scheuschner. Engel, Boisson, Benjamin Paque and Patrick Charlaix battled back from a troublesome second half of the race to take fifth in their Mercedes – Engel taking fastest lap.

Pole in 992 was taken by Mühlner Motorsport and the No.921 car was started on Saturday by Rump, although he was soon passed by Red Camel’s Rik Breukers. Rump was then edged back to third by SebLajoux Racing’s Yannick Mettler in the No.910 Porsche as a great battle quickly developed.

Red Camel had the advantage through the first couple of hours, Rik Breukers, Fabian Danz and Luc Breukers all taking turns behind the wheel of the No.909, and the No.888 SebLajoux car of Stephane Perrin and the No.928 HRT Performance Porsche of Igor Sorokin started to come into contention.

With two hours to go on day one Meijer made his first appearance, after strong stints from Rump and Leveau and he performed impeccably as usual. Two late stops were made by Rik Breukers, for fuel at a Code 60 and then a second stop for fresh Michelins in the closing minutes, and after that Red Camel led at the interim flag from Mühlner. QMMF by HRT were third, leading 992 AM.

Ivo Breukers took the start on Sunday for Red Camel and maintained the class lead for the first half hour, while Meijer in the No.921 Porsche held second but was one of the drivers to be handed a 10 second time penalty linked to the race start. After the initial pit-stops, Meijer moved into the lead of 992 and was engaged in a fantastic close battle with Rik Breukers, now in the No.909. 

Breukers took the opportunity to pit under the second of Sunday’s Code 60s, just over an hour into the action, while Meijer continued to circulate and as the hours counted down the Red Camel entry did look to be solidifying its victory challenge. 

The lead was traded several times, as strategies and fuel stops played out, but with an hour to go Meijer was in the box seat for Mühlner. In the end, the Belgian squad took the win a lap clear of Dutch team Red Camel while an impressive couple of days for QMMF by HRT delivered a very well deserved 992 AM win, and third overall in 992, for Qatari trio Al-Emadi, Al Khelaifi and Al Yafei.

Mauro Calamia started the race from GTX pole on Saturday in the Dinamic Motorsport Maserati MC20 GT2 and although initially passed by Olivier Gomez in the Vortex 2.0, Calamia soon hit back and started to climb the overall order with impressive pace. 

There were dramas for both cars but the majority were experienced by Vortex. That said, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Dinamic with the Maserati knocked into the gravel by a GT3 car with 20 minutes to go. Even so, the Italian team held a 17 lap lead going into Sunday’s concluding part of the race. 

Vortex had to pit at the end of the first lap on day two in order to replace the rear wing, which had been damaged late-on during Saturday’s action – the team unable to touch the car overnight due to parc ferme conditions. 

With four hours to go, Amedeo Pampanini stopped the Maserati on track with a drivetrain issue and their challenge was run. Fuel spilling from the filler cap of the Vortex in the final hour did give cause for concern, but the problem was swiftly rectified after a short pit visit and the win was ultimately taken.

Similarly to the GTX battle, the TCE-TCX class was also a race of attrition. The dominant pole position qualifying Ligier JS2 R of Not Only Motorsport controlled everything for the bulk of Saturday’s action, but had to be wheeled into the garage with an hour to run due to a driveshaft problem. 

With nothing to separate the Ligier and the asBest Racing SEAT Leon Cup Racer going into Sunday’s racing, the former sprinted away at the beginning of part two but encountered more troubles after drawing to a halt on track within the first hour. Ohlsson swept past in the SEAT, but soon enough she had to pull off the circuit with mechanical dramas. 

Things had swung in the favour of asBest with just over three hours to go, with Alpiger leading by nine laps, and although an unscheduled stop was needed in the final 120 minutes to rectify a broken wheel hub, the SEAT ultimately secured a clear TCE-TCX win.

Round two of the season, the Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, will take place on 17/18/19 April at the Ardennes track.