•    Father and son Peter and Nicolas Guelinckx lead in Italy after first 5.5hrs
•    HAAS RT Audi R8 heads five other GT3 cars on lead lap into overnight break
•    Red Camel-Jordans.nl and Mühlner Motorsport closely matched in 992
•    Dinamic Motorsport Maserati comfortable, despite drama, in GTX
•    Ligier of Not Only Motorsport leads TCE-TCX even after driveshaft issue
•    Part two of Michelin 12H MUGELLO begins on Sunday at 12.00 local time

Mugello, Italy (21 March 2026):
Six GT3 cars will go into tomorrow’s hotly anticipated concluding six and a half hours of the Michelin 12H MUGELLO on the all-important lead lap, after a very unpredictable and entertaining five and a half hours of action this afternoon at the sunny Italian track.

While the early running was pretty much a battle between the top two qualifiers, the GetSpeed Team PCX Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO and the Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, the expected order had been turned on its head by the end of part one of the encounter.

Moving to the front with a couple of hours to go, the HAAS RT Audi R8 of father and son Peter and Nicolas Guelinckx leads into the overnight cessation from ARC Bratislava’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO of fellow father and son, Miro and Adam Konopka, Zdeno Mikulasko and Gerhard Tweraser.

Herberth Motorsport’s No.91 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO, shared by Ralf Bohn, Rolf Ineichen and Alfred Renauer, holds third place from the Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 of Ryan Dalziel, Jake Hill, Oliver Bryant and Dwight Merriman. 

Sainteloc’s Audi, piloted by Pierre Kaffer, Elia Erhart, Stephane Tribaudini and Ernst Inderbitzin, and the Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi, shared by Vasily Vladykin, Florian Scholze, Alex Aka and Paul Scheushner, complete the top six runners with much more in store tomorrow.

Maro Engel made the early running from pole position in the No.28 GetSpeed Mercedes, fending off Sainteloc’s Kaffer at the start and building a fair gap as the first hour unfolded. After the initial round of pit-stops the Mercedes was 17 seconds to the good over the Audi, with Jordan Boisson having taken over from Engel and Tribaudini now at the wheel of the R8 for Sainteloc.

Manuel Lauck was third at the beginning in the Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO and although he did pressure Kaffer early on, he then began to slip back as he defended from a rapid Yannick Redant in the Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG. Likewise, Redant had Tortsen Kratz in HOFOR Racing’s GT3 AM leading Mercedes and Hill in the Era Motorsport Ferrari right behind him.

Hill quickly made his way past Kratz for fifth, impressing from ninth on the grid, and by lap 12 Redant’s pressure finally told on Lauck after running side-by-side for several corners. By the end of the first hour Hill had also passed Lauck, taking fourth. 

Ayrton Redant had taken over the No.93 Mercedes from his brother at this point and held third, with Bohn fourth for Herberth. Oliver Campos starred in the E2P Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, having taken over the car from Antonio Sainero at the first stop, and after claiming the GT3 AM lead in fifth he passed both Bohn and Redant to surge into the outright top three.

Moments later Tribaudini overtook Boisson for the race lead on the outside at Turn One and all then stayed fairly settled up to the first, very brief, Code 60 period in hour three which was required due to debris on the track. Some 20 minutes later, though, another Code 60 was needed.

Tribaudini took the chance to pit from the lead straight away, handing over the Audi to Inderbitzin, and was followed into the pits by Boisson who was replaced in the GetSpeed Mercedes by Patrick Charlaix. Meanwhile, Ineichen had taken over the No.91 Herberth Porsche and had made his way through to the head of the field from the Mercedes and Audi – although Ineichen pitted laps later.

With two and a half hours to run, E2P’s challenge was damaged due to a broken damper but the repair was swift – the squad losing around five laps. At roughly the same time, a spin into the gravel at Arrabbiata 2 for Ajith Kumar significantly delayed the No.93 Mercedes-AMG and led to a third Code 60. Another spin later on for the famous Tamil actor compounded their troubles.

Through the varying strategies and, latterly, more Code 60 periods, the order was shaken up quite significantly during the last couple of hours. HAAS RT and ARC Bratislava both took turns in the lead, with Herberth right there as well – Bohn completing two late fuel stops to brim the Porsche ahead of tomorrow’s action.

Martin Rump led 992 from the class pole at the start for Mühlner, but Red Camel-Jordans.nl racer Rik Breukers soon made his way to the head of the 992 field where he managed to put a couple of GT3 cars between himself and his rival. Yannick Mettler also managed to leapfrog Rump in the early laps to move into second in the No.910 Seblajoux Racing Porsche, leading 992 AM as well.

After an hour of action Breukers had a 10 second cushion over Mettler, with Rump third, and by the end of hour two Red Camel was still on top with Fabian Danz. He soon handed the No.909 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I) over to Luc Breukers, while Stephane Perrin brought the No.888 SebLajoux entry into contention to lead 992 AM. Igor Sorokin held third overall in the No.928 HRT Performance car.

Following strong stints from his team-mates Rump and Conrad Tox Leveau, Paul Meijer took his first race miles for Mühlner with just over a couple of hours to run and by that point of the race he led from Sorokin and Luc Breukers.

Into the final hour Red Camel held sway at the front again, with a clear lead over Rump, as the 992 AM lead and third in 992 overall was assumed by the QMMF by HRT Performance Porsche with Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi at the wheel. 

Rik Breukers returned to the driving seat of the Red Camel car with 45 minutes to run, taking on more fuel at the subsequent Code 60 as well and then making an additional stop to acquire new Michelin tyres in the closing minutes – thinking ahead to the start of Sunday’s action. At the interim flag Breukers was 12 seconds ahead of Rump for Mühlner, a fantastic battle expected tomorrow.

QMMF’s Al Khelaifi, Ahmed Al-Emadi and Faesal Al Yafei hold third place in 992 overnight, as well as the 992 AM lead, a lap ahead of the sister No.928 HRT Porsche of Sorokin, Steven Gambrell and Jonathan Kearney.

After brake issues in qualifying, the Vortex 2.0 was back to health for Saturday’s racing and Olivier Gomez managed to take the lead of GTX early on from Dinamic Motorsport’s Mauro Calamia in the Maserati MC20 GT2. Calamia, who was adjudged to have made a false start, hit back after a couple of laps to retake the lead and then moved well clear to also climb the overall order.

At the start of the third hour the Maserati, in the hands of Amedeo Pampanini, had a spin but no damage was done and he continued to lead comfortably. Half an hour later there was drama for the Vortex with Philippe Bonnel aboard, an excursion into the barriers triggering a Code 60 period. 

More trials and tribulations befell the Vortex squad with three quarters of an hour to run, a spin for Gomez into the gravel at Palagio leading to another Code 60. While everything seemed to be going against Vortex, in the final 20 minutes the Maserati was pitched into the gravel at Scarperia as a result of contact with a GT3 car. Even so, Dinamic leads GTX overnight on home soil by 17 laps.

Fellow Italian squad Not Only Motorsport, which took a clear TCE-TCX pole with its Ligier JS2 R, controlled the opening stages with Filippo Tornaghi dominating from the asBest Racing SEAT Leon Cup Racer of Pia Ohlsson.

It remained the case up until just before the final hour, when the Ligier was wheeled into the pit garage with a driveshaft problem. Losing the squad’s six lap advantage, the car did get back into the race before the finish with Alberto Antonucci just a lap adrift of Rafal Gieras in the asBest SEAT. The Ligier then managed to move back ahead of the SEAT before the end, opening a 17 second lead.

Following the overnight break in action, with all cars held in parc fermé conditions, the concluding part of this year’s Michelin 12H MUGELLO – the final six and a half hours – will begin at 12.00 local time tomorrow, Sunday, 22 March. Watch live at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube with links for the live stream and live timing available at www.24hseries.com