It's been a few years since I went to the Catalunya circuit for the 24 hours of Barcelona organized by Creventy as part of the 24 hours’ series powered by Hankook.
About forty speedsters were present this weekend of September 15 – 17.
If the Friday morning tests were disrupted by intermittent rain, the same was not true for qualifying which did not go to the end of Q1.
A torrential rain and limited visibility made the track impassable forced the race management to prematurely end the first official session, and to cancel the Q2 and Q3.
Consequently, the GT grid for the 24th edition of the Hankook 24H Barcelona, final of the 2023 European season of the 24H Series powered by Hankook, will be based solely on the times achieved during Q1, itself truncated.
At the top of the qualification sheet is the IMSA LS Group Performance Porsche 911 GT 3 R (992) #76 driven by Julien Andlauer/Grégory Guilvert/Simon Tirman/Laurent Hurgon who completed a lap in 2'03'875, when the fastest lap, in the race, of the same crew was 1:43.406.
The race, which took place in milder weather, saw the poleman win almost from start to finish, taking the lead after a long duel against the new GT3 Teams Haas RT champions and the triple winners of the Herberth Motorsport event.
The winners completed 725 laps of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, the record of the Creventic era, with 29 laps more than the previous record.
Despite leadership that spanned 479 laps, IMSA Performance was unable to rest on its laurels, falling short of its runner-up, the #2 Haas RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II driven by Miika Panu/Mathieu Detry/Max Hofer/Gavin Pickering/Kris Cools, under the checkered flag by only 97 seconds.
This second place overall was enough to secure the Antigua team the GT3 Teams title in their first full season of motor racing.
The podium was completed by Porsche 911 GT3 R Herberth Motorsport #91, Ralf Bohn/Daniel Allemann/Robert Renauer/Alfred Renauer/Patrick Kolb.
The Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II Land Motorsport, #34 Johannes Kirchhoff/Ingo Vogler/Tim Vogler/Max Edelhoff/Wiggo Dalmo, takes its first victory of the season in the GT3-AM category - and 6th overall.
Juta Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II #72 Aurimas Jablonskis/Vytenis Gulbinas/Audrius Navickas/Leonardas Dirzys/Algirdas Gelžinis, finished 2nd in the category. The small step of the box returning, in the final loop, to the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Hofor-Racing, #11 Michael Kroll/Chantal Prinz/Alexander Prinz/Carsten Tilke/Manuel Rubow.
In 992, a constant fight for victory between RedAnt Racing, #903 AyrtonRedant/Yannick Redant/Kobe de Breucker/Huub van Eijndhoven, and Red Camel-Jordans.nl, #909 Ivo Breukers/Rik Breukers/Luc Breukers/Fabian Danz, lasted until the end of the Catalan event, with the Dutch team finally winning by 26”7 after 24 hours of racing.
The Romanian-Italian team, Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors, #955 Sergiu Nicolae/Sabino de Castro/Papi Cosimo, took a good 3rd place in the class.
For the GTX class the KTM GTX-Bow Razoon - More Than Racing, #714 Daniel Drexel/Christian Loimayr/Artur Chwist/Dominik Olbert, took a hard-fought victory.
The MARC II V8 VDS Racing Adventures, #758 Raphaël van der Straten Ponthoz/Nathan Vanspringel/José Close/Nicolas Hermans, which saw its right rear wheel come off on the track, finished second ahead of the Vortex V8, #701 Lionel Amrouche/Philippe Bonnel/Miguel Moiola/Lucas Sugliano.
Fourth victory in GT4 during this 2024 season for Atlas BX Motorsports, Mercedes-AMG GT4 #403 Steven Cho/Roelof Bruins/Jongkyum Kim/Taekeun Yang/Donggi Noh, the South Korean team advances under the finishing gantry the BMW M4 GT4, #431 of Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport, Martin Kroll/Maximilian Partl/Michael Mayer/Michael Bonk/Felix Partl.
3rd, 1:35.692s behind the runners-up, for its first full season, the Czech team Buggyra Racing, #416 Aliyyah Koloc/David Vršecký/Adam Lacko/Jaroslav Janis/Jaromir Jirik, finished on the podium in the GT4 category all the 24H Series races in which she took part.
Wolf-Power Racing, #121 Jasmin Preisig/Ivars Vallers/Roberto Ferri/Miklas Born, three-time TCE Teams champion, took a highly anticipated first victory for its Audi RS 3 LMS TCR in Barcelona.
Holmgaard Motorsport, Cupra Leon Competición TCR #102 Magnus Holmgaard/Jonas Holmgaard/Roy Edland/Tom Cloet/Michael Sallenbach, finished second in class, enough for the Danish team to win the Teams TCR championship.
These 24 hours of Barcelona end the European season of the 24 hours series powered by Hankook.
Support races
Alpine Elf Europa Cup
Race 1
1 : Lorens Lecertua #11
2 : Enzo Geraci #136
3 : Tim Merieux #21
Race 2
1 : Lorens Lecertua #11
2 : Tim Merieux #21
3 : Enzo Geraci #136
Porsche Sprint Challenge France
The Porsche Sprint Challenge France is an FFSA (French Motorsport Federation) national championship dedicated to amateur drivers behind the wheel of Porsche 992, 991, 997-2 GT3 Cup or GT3 R.
All meetings are organized on a Friday and a Saturday, with Friday being devoted to training with more than 4 hours of track time as well as qualifying practices at the end of the day.
Each competition meeting consists of two 30-minute races, with one qualifying event per race.
Race 1
1 : Grégory Rasse Porsche 992 #2
2 : Jordan Boisson Porsche 992 #6
3 : Olivier Rabot Porsche R #4
Race 2
1 : Cyril Caillo Porsche 992 #44
2 : Grégory Rasse Porsche 992 #2
3 : Olivier Rabot Porsche R #4
Based on Creventic 24H Series powered by Hankook press report.