•    Bold race from Mercedes-AMG squad HOFOR Racing delivers outright win 
•    Swiss team victorious in GT3-AM, Germany’s GetSpeed Team PCX wins GT3 PRO-AM
•    GetSpeed Team PCX lead Michelin 24H SERIES European Series standings after Rd3
•    First 992 victory of campaign for Red Camel-Jordans.nl, HRT Performance win 992-AM
•    Vortex, Circuit Toys and asBest Racing claim GTX, GT4 and TCE-TCX success respectively

 HOFOR RACING MIT PERFEKTER STRATEGIE ZUM SIEG AUF CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD

Paul Ricard, France (7 June 2026):
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO squad HOFOR Racing secured a truly sensational outright victory in a thrilling Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD this afternoon, the team of Torsten Kratz, Maximilian Partl, Alexander Prinz and Michael Kroll celebrating a deserved triumph of strategy over outright speed.

Quietly going about their business during the first six hours on Saturday, HOFOR importantly ended the first part of the race as one of only two cars on the lead lap – second to the Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO. 

In part two today, fellow Mercedes-AMG outfit GetSpeed Team PCX Racing looked to be in control with drivers Benjamin Paque, Jordan Boisson, Patrick Charlaix and Maro Engel. Two late Code 60 periods, though, played into the hands of HOFOR with a brilliant final stint from Kratz enabling the No.11 Mercedes-AMG to make it to the chequered flag without needing a late fuel top-up.

“I think, for sure, the last Code 60s helped us out – but the stress level in our pit box was 2,000 percent, I aged 20 years in the last 10 minutes!”, said an emotional Prinz, “It’s unbelievable, so great for the guys who worked so hard. Michael, the strategist, he made a perfect job during the race. The only thing is Chantal [Prinz] and the kids are missing [this weekend], but the victory is for them.”

As well as outright success, HOFOR also wins the GT3-AM class while GetSpeed Team PCX took the GT3 PRO-AM victory in second overall – just over half a minute shy of the overall win – and tops the standings. Sainteloc Junior Team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, shared by Pierre Kaffer, Stephane Tribaudini, Elia Erhart and Michael Doppelmayr, completed the overall podium on the lead lap.

Red Camel-Jordans.nl enjoyed its first 992 victory of the Michelin 24H SERIES European Series season with Fabian Danz, Ivo Breukers and his sons Luc and Rik emerging a minute clear of championship leaders Mühlner Motorsport and the trio of Martin Rump, Conrad Tox Leveau and Joshua Bednarski.

In 992-AM, HRT Performance’s line-up of James Kellett, Steven Gambrell, Igor Sorokin and Jonathan Kearney took class spoils with fourth overall in 992. Meanwhile, GTX was won by Vortex’s Philippe Bonnel, Julien Boillot and Alexandre De Bernardinis and GT4 victory was taken by the Circuit Toys Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Johan de Rouw, Olivier Huez, Hugo Poppe and Norbert Dekker.

TCE-TCX was a total race of attrition with the super-fast Ligier JS2 R of Not Only Motorsport and the SEAT Leon Cup Racer of asBest Racing both encountering a series of dramas. The former had much more trouble, including a car fire late on, and so Pia Ohlsson, Steven Teirlinck and Rafal Gieras won.

Engel started on pole on Saturday in the No.28 GetSpeed Team PCX and led away as expected, as Erhart in the Sainteloc Audi passed Kobe de Breucker in the Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes to take second. Jake Hill, in the new Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, stormed from eighth into fifth.

At the front, Engel gradually built his lead as Hill continued his charge up the order. Into third within just 13 laps, the Ferrari soon passed the Audi for second. Engel’s first stop came after 75 minutes, his advantage had been 18 seconds, and Hill, Erhart and de Breucker all followed his lead into pitlane.

Constantin Dressler stayed at the wheel of the Proton Competition Porsche at his first stop and led when the order shook out. Paque was now installed in place of Engel, running second, with Steve Jans third in the GT3-AM leading GetSpeed Team JR286 Mercedes.

As the opening hours passed the sister Mercedes-AMGs remained in the lead fight, while HOFOR had been steadily making progress. With just an hour of Saturday’s action to go, Partl was second overall and in the GT3-AM lead and he ended on the lead lap behind Manuel Lauck in the Porsche. Boisson had led for GetSpeed Team PCX, but took a late pit-stop as did Ryan Dalziel in the Ferrari.

Joel Sturm started part two on Sunday in the Porsche and held the lead, as Engel climbed from fourth to third straight away. There was misfortune for Jans in the JR286 car though when a left-rear puncture, and bodywork damage after contact, sent him plummeting down the order. 

Engel pressured Kratz in the second placed HOFOR Mercedes, swiftly unlapping himself, and Hill followed through in the Ferrari. Sturm was reeled in by an absolutely flying Engel, the Porsche with much less fuel onboard having not made a late stop before the end of Saturday’s action, and just nine minutes into Sunday’s racing Sturm pitted. 

Punching in fastest lap after fastest lap, Engel was now fully unlapped and started to eat into the overall lead of the HOFOR Mercedes. Half an hour in, Kratz made the team’s first stop and so Engel was into outright first place. 

GetSpeed Team PCX and HOFOR traded the lead through the subsequent hours, and the outcome seemed destined to be determined by strategy and fuel. Paque pitted from the lead with just under 90 minutes to run, handing over to Engel, but only taking fresh tyres – no fuel. HOFOR pitted soon after and appeared to be gambling on fuel saving to the finish. 

Engel pitted with 50 minutes to go to take on fuel and rejoined in fourth, then gaining ground hand over fist, but two late Code 60 periods put the ball firmly in HOFOR’s court with Kratz able to seal a super victory. Yannick Redant did pass Kaffer for third with 12 minutes to run, but had to make a late stop and dropped to fifth behind the Ferrari of Hill, Dalziel, Oliver Bryant and Dwight Merriman.

Rump took the early lead for Mühlner on Saturday when the pole qualifying Red Camel Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I) was crowded out at the start, Rik Breukers elbowed to fourth. He rapidly fought back though and within 15 minutes was second, before relentlessly pressuring Rump and taking the lead.

Towards the end of the first half hour, Ghanim Al Ali took the 992-AM lead for QMMF by HRT Performance from Gambrell in the No.928 HRT car. The hopes of the Qatari squad were swiftly dashed though when contact from another 992 Porsche led to left-rear damage.

Unsurprisingly, both Red Camel and Mühlner maintained their positions at the head of the 992 battle through the pit-stop cycles and the No.928 squad continued to run very strongly as well, with the Orchid Racing Team car also in the mix. After late pit-stops before the end of part one, Mühlner led from the 992-AM class No.910 Chazel Technologie Course Porsche, with Red Camel third.

Kellett took the start of part two in the No.928 and scorched into the lead in no time. Rump was second with Rik Breukers third, and an almighty battle ensued between those two with the Mühlner driver defending hard from the No.909. Swarming all over the No.921, Breukers eventually managed to craft a great pass but Rump didn’t drop away and kept him honest.

As the part two action continued to unfold, the main players all stayed in contention and although the lead was traded numerous times during the pit-stops it looked set to be another battle to the finish between Mühlner and Red Camel. 

With an hour to go Antoine Leclerc held the lead for Orchid, but he and team-mates Alexandre Mottet and Loic Villiger had to ultimately settle for third at the flag. Red Camel’s strategy and pace won out with Rik Breukers taking the finish in the No.909 some 57 seconds clear of Mühlner.

French squad Vortex didn’t have any other competition in the GTX class this weekend at its home race, but the team of Bonnel, Boillot and De Bernardinis still applied the same tenacity and spirit as any other round of the Michelin 24H SERIES to come home 26th overall in their Vortex 2.0.

In GT4, the Toyota GR Supra of Circuit Toys similarly had the class to itself but competed strongly in the overall battles. The quartet of de Rouw, Dekker, Poppe and Huez won the class in 28th position overall after 12 hours of action. 

Not Only Motorsport’s Ligier looked set to potentially dominate TCE-TCX, and the car rocketed into the distance in class from pole on Saturday in the hands of Tornaghi. But on only lap two, the Ligier slowed to a halt before getting going again sometime later. It again ground to a halt only a short while after when the issue was identified as being an oil sensor linked to running temperature.

Losing many laps in the process, this enabled asBest’s SEAT Leon to lead the class but by the end of the first six hours only a single lap separated the squads. On Sunday, Tornaghi and Rocchio were able to show the Ligier’s pace and opened a big advantage, but more problems arose – including the car fire in the last half hour – so asBest won the class by 16 laps with Ohlsson, Teirlinck and Gieras. 

Following the high drama of round three of the European Series, there are only four weeks to wait until the championship’s first ever visit to the Nürburgring GP track in Germany – the Michelin 12H NÜRBURGRING taking place across 3/4/5 July.