•    First race of 2025 Michelin 24H SERIES European Series mere days away
•    Driver line-ups almost complete for eagerly awaited Michelin 12H MUGELLO
•    Top quality grid certain to deliver fantastic endurance racing action in Italy
•    Watch the opening event, over two days, at Creventic Motorsports TV  

Gennep, Netherlands (Saturday, 15 March 2025):

Round one of the new Michelin 24H SERIES European Series, the Michelin 12H MUGELLO, is set to get the season off to an outstanding start in Italy next weekend, 22/23 March, with a tremendous entry ready to provide the very best in endurance competition during the two-part race.

In the GT3 class, where at least 16 cars will be battling for supremacy, reigning Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy GT3-AM Champion team and former GT Teams’ European Champion squad HOFOR Racing will be in action. 

The Swiss team fields Michael Kroll, his daughter Chantal Prinz and her husband Alexander Prinz, plus family friend Maximilian Partl in its Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Mugello will mark the squad’s first time running the latest EVO version of the car. 

Also challenging with Mercedes-AMG will be Italy’s MP Racing and its family line-up of sisters Corinna and Manuela Gostner, brother David and the siblings’ father Thomas. Malaysian team Viper Niza Racing has confirmed Douglas Khoo, Dominic Ang and Melvin Moh for its Mercedes-AMG while America’s Heart of Racing by SPS has entered Ian James, Gray Newell and Hannah Grisham.

The most numerous marque on the GT3 grid in Mugello will be Ferrari, with homegrown squad Pellin Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO to be piloted by Thor Haugen and Paolo Ruberti and the team’s Ferrari 296 GT3 will be raced by Lisa Clark and Kyle Marcelli.

David Fumanelli, Marco Frezza, Marco Talarico, Alessandro Cutrera and L.M.D.V will team-up in Swiss squad CCC Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3, last year’s pole-qualifier in Mugello. America’s Era Motorsport, meanwhile, has entered Kyle Tilley, Dwight Merriman and British Touring Car Champion Jake Hill in its Ferrari.

Czech squad Scuderia Praha, winner of the 12H MUGELLO in 2017, will challenge in its Ferrari 296 GT3 with father and son, Miroslav and Matus Vyboh, joined by Josef Kral. Belgian brothers Ayrton and Yannick Redant are joined at Red Ant Racing by Kenneth Heyer and Kobe de Breucker with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.

Two Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II entries are set for round one of the European season with Lithuania’s Juta Racing confirming Arunas Geciauskas, Tim Muller and Nicola Michelon, while British team Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport’s challenge will be mounted by Vasily Vladykin, Andrey Solukovtsev and David Pogosyan.

Germany’s Proton Huber Competition brings Porsche factory driver Klaus Bachler, Manuel Lauck and Jörg Dreisow for its Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), while Italy’s MANAMAURI ENERGY BY EBIMOTORS fields Fabrizio Broggi, Sabino de Castro and Sergiu Nicolae in its Porsche. 

Slovakian Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO team ARC Bratislava will run team boss Miro Konopka, Zdeno Mikulasko, Gerhard Tweraser and Jiatong Liang, while Spanish outfit E2P Racing brings Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Oliver Campos with its Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO. 

Always certain to deliver fabulous action, the 992 class for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) cars will be every bit as entertaining as GT3 with the Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy 992 runner-up squad Red Camel-Jordans.nl heading the entry – the Dutch team fielding brothers Rik and Luc Breukers, their father Ivo, and Fabian Danz.

Global film star, Tamil actor Ajith Kumar, will be partnered by Fabian Duffieux and Mathieu Detry in the eponymous Ajith Kumar Racing by BKR car – entered under the Indian flag, the Porsche is run by Dutch squad Bas Koeten Racing. Denmark’s Holmgaard Motorsport, meanwhile, challenges with brothers Magnus and Jonas Holmgaard, Martin Vedel Mortensen and Patrick Steen Rasmussen.

France’s SebLajoux Racing has the eponymous Sebasitan Lajoux partnered by Nigel Bailly, Stephane Perrin and Paul Meijer in its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992). Notably, this car is equipped with a hybrid system which means Bailly, who is a paraplegic driver, can manage the accelerator and brakes with his upper body, while his team-mates can utilise the car’s regular configuration of pedals.

Home interest comes from Italy’s Ebimotors with quartet Paolo Venerosi, Paolo Gnemmi, Davide Roda and Riccardo Pera. Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jonsson and Philip Hamprecht team-up at Germany’s RPM Racing, with fellow German outfit HRT Performance on the grid with Sergey Titarenko, Victor Titarenko and Alexey Denisov. 

Belgium’s Muhlner Motorsport has confirmed Martin Rump and Valters Zviedris, with MDM Motorsport – a third squad from The Netherlands – featuring two-time World Touring Car Championship Independents Trophy Champion and 2023 TCR Europe Touring Car Series Champion Tom Coronel. He will be partnered by Jan Jaap van Roon and Hjelte Hoffner. 

Lithuania’s Porsche Baltic has confirmed it will run Audrius Piktys, Robertas Kupcikas and Tautvydas Rudokas, while Spain’s Escuderia Faraon fields Pablo Bras Silvero, Pedro Miguel Lourinho Bras and Fernando Gonzalez Gonzalez.

Italian interest in the GT4 class comes courtesy of Lotus PB Racing, with its Lotus Emira GT4 making its debut with Creventic. The Lotus will be piloted in the Michelin 12H MUGELLO by Stefano d’Aste, Massimiliano Schiavone, Massimo Abbati and famous YouTuber Alberto Naska, who has one million subscribers on YouTube.

Venture’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 is confirmed but the driver line-up for the British squad will be revealed within the coming days, while the venerable CWS Engineering team is back with boss Colin White and as-yet unconfirmed team-mates.

German squads CCS Racing and SRS Team Sorg Rennsport each field a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. While the latter is yet to confirm its driver line-up, CCS Racing has entered father and son Jim Gebhardt and Nikolas Gebhardt.

In GTX, Australia’s 111 racing – winners of the class title in the Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy on the squad’s debut in the Creventic category in January – will begin their challenge for European series glory with drivers Darren Currie and Grant Donaldson. 

Also entered into GTX are two cars from French team Vortex V8, one to be shared by Vortex owners Arnaud Gomez and Olivier Gomez and the other to be piloted by Lionel Amrouche, Cyril Calmon and Philippe Bonnel. Britain’s J-Mec Engineering, meanwhile, has confirmed James Collins and Kevin Clark will race its BMW M3 E46 in the TCE-TCX class.

Mugello’s on-track action starts on Wednesday, 19 March, and Thursday, 20 March, with Creventic Track Days. Testing will follow on Friday, 21 March, with qualifying from 15.00 local time – three sessions for GT4, GTX and TCE-TCX, three for 992 and three more for GT3.

Part one of the Michelin 12H MUGELLO will commence at 11.00 local time, a duration of seven hours, on Saturday, 22 March. Part two, the remaining five hours, will start at 09.30 local time on Sunday, 23 March. Watch qualifying and racing live at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube.