PORTIMAO (13 June, 2020) – Heading into the fifth hour, Herberth Motorsport currently holds 1st and 2nd overall at the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO after an accident side-lined the team’s nearest GT3 rival, HTP Winward Motorsport.

The HTP Winward Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#84, Bryce Ward / Russell Ward / Indy Dontje / Philip Ellis) had started from pole position, and despite slipping to 2nd place in the early stages, was well within striking distance of the lead after the second round of pit stops. Shortly before the third hour however, the Mercedes made heavy contact with the barriers at turn 13, bringing out the first of only two Code 60 caution periods so far this afternoon.

Bryce Ward fortunately emerged unscathed from the impact, but the AMG GT3 has yet to return to the track.

This means the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R (#91, Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Robert Renauer / Alfred Renauer) now holds a one-lap lead over its sister entry (#92, Tim Müller / Taki Konstantinou / Jürgen Häring / Michael Joos / Marco Seefried). The Bavarian team will be keen to kick off its A6-Am class championship defence with a strong result at the 24H SERIES Europe season opener.

Behind the GT3 duo, the Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 991-II Cup (#921, Moritz Kranz / Carlos Vieira / Tom Cloet / Jeroen Bleekemolen) is the highest of the 991 class runners after an impressive opening stint, and also rounds out the overall top three in the GT division.

After several extended visits to the pitlane to fix a suspected handling issue, the Belgian team’s nearest rival – the Speed Lover Porsche 991-II Cup (#978, Dominique Bastien / Gavin Pickering / Olivier Dons / Eric Mouez) – is still in the garage.

Mühlner Motorsport’s sister entry, the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 (#421, Axel Sartingen / Daniel Schwerfeld / Thorsten Jung / Daniel Bohr / Moritz Kranz), also leads the Cayman class and rounds out the overall top 10 after four hours of racing. The Veloso Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 CS (#408, Pedro Marreiros / Paulo Pinheiro / José Costa / Jean-Roch Piat / Mariano Pires) had held the top spot in-class in the early stages but has since dropped the tail of the field after suffering a rear left puncture.

Finally, the PROsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (#401, Rodrigue Gillion / Nico Verdonck / Tom Heeren / Constantin Schöll) leads the way in the GT4 class and is running 8th overall. The Parkalgar Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT4 meanwhile (#412, André Antunes / Alvaro Ramos / Fred Blok / Joaquim Penteado / José Monroy), which held the lead in the opening stages of the race, has since dropped back to 2nd in-class and 11th overall.

PORTIMAO (13 June, 2020) – Like Herberth Motorsport, Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing holds a 1-2 lead in the TCE division after the first four hours of the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO.

Now on a different pit strategy than its nearest rivals, the reigning Overall TCE Teams champion has leapt to the front of the division heading into the fifth hour at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The #112 Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#112, Roberto Ferri / Miklas Born / Antti Buri / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Yannick Mettler), which won its class at last year’s event, now runs ahead of the sister #1 Golf GTi (Jérôme Ogay / Jasmin Preisig / Yannick Mettler / Christoph Lenz / Stefan Tanner).

Such is the performance of the TCE division so far, that both Autorama VWs find themselves in the overall top five.

Further back, the Comtoyou team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS (#117, Tom Coronel / Nicolas Baert / Nathanael Berthon) and the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA TCR (#101, Rik Breukers / Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers) lie 3rd and 4th respectively in-class, 6th and 7th overall. The pair enjoyed a sensational battle for the TCE lead during the first three hours, during which they were rarely split by more than a second, and after four hours, were separated by less than 10 seconds.

After a strong opening stint, time lost to replace its steering wheel means the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#188, Stephane Perrin / Michael Blanchemain / Christophe Hamon / Hannes Morin) now lies 5th in-class and 9th overall, just ahead of the CODE Racing Development Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR SEQ (#124, Thierry Chkondali / Philippe Baffoun / Thierry Boyer / Bruno Derossi / Quentin Giordano). The latter lost almost 20 minutes to a suspected loose wishbone during its first pit stop. 

The Hankook 24H PORTIMAO will run uninterrupted throughout the night at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve until the chequered flag is flown at 12.00 hrs local time on Sunday. Live streaming in HD quality with commentary by radiolemans.com is available on our official website, as well as the 24H SERIES YouTube channel. Regular updates will be published on Twitter (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found at www.24hseries.com.