PERGUSA (11 October, 2020) – The GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (#36, Jordan Grogor / Frederic Fatien / Mathieu Jaminet / Robert Renauer) has claimed its first outright win in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook at the inaugural COPPA FLORIO 12H Sicily. Across in the TCE division, the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#112, Miklas Born / Fabian Danz / Constantin Kletzer) has secured its second consecutive Overall TCE Teams’ championship in the 24H SERIES Europe with victory.

The GPX Racing Porsche, which fittingly dons a Targa Florio-inspired Gulf Racing livery this weekend, finished part one of the COPPA FLORIO 12H Sicily at the head of the field, collecting the di Martino trophy in the process. The Emirati team thereafter drove a faultless race to complete 374 laps of the 4.983km Autodromo di Pergusa and take the overall win.

GPX Racing thus becomes the first team in close to three decades to take a win at the Coppa Florio, Edwards and Emilio de Villota having driven a Grid Team Lola-entered Lola T600 to victory in 1981, also at the Autodromo di Pergusa.

The CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster / Shane Lewis) was the highest placed GT3-AM competitor and has also finished 2nd overall in Sicily. The American team had a narrow escape at this morning’s restart after contact with the MP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (#19, Henk de Jong / Jaap van Lagen / Rik Breukers) heading into turn one, the impact spinning the CP Racing Mercedes in front of the entire field. Fortunately, both GT entries recovered and were able to continue.

MP Motorsport’s hunt for 2nd came to a close shortly afterwards though with shock absorber failure. The Dutch team nevertheless regrouped to finish 5th overall and 3rd in GT3-PRO. So strong was the Mercedes’ pace in fact, Jaap van Lagen, who also put MP Motorsport on outright pole on Friday afternoon, set the event’s fastest lap, a 1m 34.218s.

Behind CP Racing, the Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#88, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Hendrik Still) finished 2nd in GT3-AM and simultaneously rounds out the overall GT podium just ahead of the DINAMIC MOTORSPORT Porsche 911 GT3 R (#7, Roberto Pampanini / Mauro Calamia / Matteo Malucelli). The Italian team simultaneously secured a hard-earned 2nd in GT3-PRO.

Despite losing its rear wing inside the final five minutes, the DINAMIC MOTORSPORT Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo (#793, Amedeo Pampanini / Nicolas Sturzinger / Stefano Monaco) finished a well-earned 6th overall, just ahead of the sister Porsche 991-II Cup (#907, Simone Laquinta / Matteo Malucelli / Stefano Monaco / Roberto Pampanini). DINAMIC MOTORSPORT also secured the 991-class win after a scare in the closing stages of the event when the #907 Porsche lost almost half an hour in the pits.

The FULGENZI RACING Porsche 911-II Cup (#923, Jeroen Bleekemolen / Giosué Rizzuto / Walter Palazzo / Pablo Otero) finished a hard-fought 2nd in the 991 class, the Porsche having overcome two separate left rear punctures over the Autodromo’s unforgiving kerbs. Having led the category during the closing stages, the TEMPO S.R.L. Porsche 911-II Cup (#916, Giuseppe Nicolosi / Michele Merendino / Davide di Benedetto / Simone Patrinicola) lost significant time to a broken driveshaft, but recovered to finish 3rd in-class ahead of Fulgenzi Racing’s battle-scarred second 991 entrant (#917, Enrico Fulgenzi / Shintaro Akatsu / Gianluca Spata / Gianfranco Bronzini / Sandra van der Sloot).

Across in GT4, the PROsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (#401, Nico Verdonck / Rodrigue Gillion / Tom Heeren) took its second class win of the season after a strong run in Sicily. The result means that PROsport Racing now moves to the top of both the GT4-class and Overall GT Teams’ standings in the 24H SERIES Europe with just one round of the championship left to run.

The Team Avia Sorg Rennsport BMW M4 GT4 (#451, Alvaro Fontes / José Manuel de los Milagros / Sergio Paulet / Yannick Guerra Dorribo) collected 2nd in GT4 ahead of the Las Moras by Equipe Verschuur McLaren 570S GT4 (#409, Luc Braams / Liesette Braams / Maximiliaan Braams). Myriad mechanical problems meant the Dutch team was unable to complete the final hour of racing, but has still been classified 3rd in-class.  

After a typically metronomic run, the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#112, Miklas Born / Fabian Danz / Constantin Kletzer) has TCE victory at the COPPA FLORIO 12H Sicily, enough to secure the Overall TCE Teams’ championship in the 24H SERIES Europe for the second year in a row.

The Autorama Volkswagen benefited from late-race drama for its nearest rival – the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA TCR (#101, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers) – to collect the chequered flag on Saturday afternoon, and thereafter drove a flawless race to secure its third TCE division win of the season. Heading into the season finale at Circuit Zandvoort in November, Autorama Motorsport is also assured the Overall TCE Drivers crown in the 24H SERIES Europe, with Miklas Born now just a few points ahead of his nearest rivals, and teammates, Yannick Mettler and Roberto Ferri.

Despite near-constant balance and handling problems on Saturday, the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#188, James Kaye / Ricky Coomber / Marcus Menden) recovered to secure 2nd overall in the TCE division. The Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA TCR meanwhile endured a troubled race in Sicily, suffering collision damage and a broken wheel strut, but still managed to secure a hard-earned 3rd in TCE.

One round of the 2020 24H SERIES powered by Hankook now remains, and will take place at the Circuit Zandvoort on 13-14 November. The 12-hour event, open to GT and TCE entrants alike, will count towards both the 24H SERIES Europe and the 24H SERIES Continents, and also marks the first running of the Hankook 12H ZANDVOORT since 2016. Further information can be found HERE.