Qualifying (July 15)
The Drivex Audi R8 LMS Ultra (#49, William Paul/Heine Bo Frederiksen/Zoltan Fekete/Dominik Fekete/Juan Cruz Alvarez) was fastest in the qualifying for the Hankook 24H CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD. Argentinean Juan Cruz Alvarez lapped the 5.842 kilometre circuit close to the French Riviera in 2:07.170 minutes and scored the position for the fifth round of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. The SPS automotive-performance Mercedes AMG GT3 (#27, Valentin Pierburg/Lance David Arnold/Alex Müller/Tom Onslow-Cole/Stéphane Kox) missed the pole position by just 0.083 seconds. The Massive Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (#55, Caspar Elgaard/Kristian Poulsen/Nicolai Sylvest/Roland Poulsen/Nicki Thiim) ended up in third spot with a total margin of 0.149 seconds. Six different car models made up the first six positions, anticipating an equal fight twice around the clock.
The first eleven cars were A6 cars. This weekend, they are divided into A6-Pro and A6-Am. Best Am car was the Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#33, Horst Felbermayr Jr./Peter Schmidt/Marc Basseng/Oliver Bender/Alexander Mattschull) in ninth position overall.
Jules Gounon took a clear lead in the SPX class in his Spark Motorsport Porsche 997 Cup (#94, Denis Francois/Ripert Hugues/Stephane Ortelli/Jules Gounon). Almost four seconds off, the Arrthea Sport Porsche 991 America (#45, Klaus Werner/Nanna Gøtsche/Martin Gøtsche/Henry Littig) went into second place. The remaining SPX car, the GPC Motorsport Vortex 1.0 (#209, Alexandre Coigny/Gino Forgione/David Iradj Alexander/Tom Dyer) did not take part.
Belgian Xavier Maassen drove the fastest 991 class car, the MRS GT Racing Porsche 991 Cup (#78, Charles Putman/Charles Espenlaub/Joe Foster/Xavier Maassen). The top three were completed by the two HRT Performance Porsche 991 Cup cars (#72, Kim André Hauschild/Gilles Petit/Oliver Freymuth/Gonzalo Huerta Moore/Andres Josephsohn and #73, Kim André Hauschild/Stephen Borness/Fabian Engel/JM Littman/Artem Soloviev).
Robert Nearn took the Red Camel-Jordans.nl MARC Mazda 3 V8 (#202, Rik Breukers/Ivo Breukers/Robert Nearn/Ryan McLeod) into the SP2 class lead. The Vortex V8 GC Automobile GC 10 V8 (#203, Lionel Amrouche/Nagy Kabaz/Jeremy Reymond/Mathieu Pontais) was second and the RWT Racing Team Chevrolet Corvette (#200, Gerd Beisel/Sven Barth/Joachim Kiesch/Ingolf de Clemente/Patrick Assenheimer) was third.
Quickest SP3 car was the Nova Race Ginetta G55 GT4 (#284, Luca Magnoni/Roberto Gentili/Michael Simpson/Eric Vaissiere). The two JR Motorsport BMW E90 M3 (#102, Martin Lanting/Bob Herber/Daan Meijer/Christoph Ulrich and #103, Eric vd Munckhof/Pieter van Soelen/Mark van der Aa/Koen Boegaerts) followed.
Rik Breukers set the pace in the TCR class in his Red Camel-Jordans.nl SEAT Leon Cup Racer (#303, Rik Breukers/Ivo Breukers/Robert Nearn). The 2015 overall champions, the Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing team followed in second position in their SEAT Leon Cup Racer (#1, Ramzi Moutran/Nabil Moutran/Sami Moutran/Phil Quaife). Third place went to the RS Connect SEAT Leon Cup Racer (#144, Lea Hodson/Jacob Hodson/Adam Jones/Gavin Jones).
At their home race, the two Team Altran Peugeot cars led the A3 class. Quickest was the Peugeot 208 GTi of the current championship leaders (#208, Guillaume Roman/Stéphane Ventaja/Mathieu Sentis/Stéphane Christinelli), followed by their teammates' identical Peugeot 208 GTi (#205, Francois Riaux/Thierry Boyer/Thierry Chkondali/Jérôme Ogay). Third A3 car was the Sorg Rennsport BMW M235i Racing Cup car (#151, Olivier Baron/Gérard Tremblay/Dominique Nury/Steven Palette).
Jacob Kristensen, brother of Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen, drove the Team K-Rejser Peugeot RCZ (#171, Jacob Kristensen/Jan Engelbrecht/Thomas Sørensen/Jens Mølgaard) into the A2 class lead. The Preptech UK Renault Clio Cup III (#167, Cody Hill/Andy Mollison/Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke/Thomas Butler) managed second spot ahead of the presenza.eu Racing Team Clio Renault Clio Cup IV (#112, Luigi Stanco/Stefan Tanner/Stephan Jäggi/Christian Dijkhof/Michel Schaap).
The race (July 16/17)
Having won the previous round of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook at Zandvoort, the Precote Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R (#911, Alfred Renauer/Robert Renauer/Daniel Alleman/Ralf Bohn) stroke again at the Hankook 24H CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD. The German squad took over the lead in the late Saturday afternoon and managed a trouble-free race from that point of time. With the impressive margin of 14 laps, Daniel Allemann crossed the finish line after having done 591 laps, covering a total distance of 3.452.62 kilometres on the 5.842 kilometre circuit at the French Riviera. Behind the dominant Porsche, the battle for the remaining podium places was open until the last stint. Finally, the Ram Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 (#30, Stuart Hall/Roald Goethe/Daniel Brown/Jamie Campbell-Walter) came home second. Third place was achieved by an A6-Am car, the Hofor-Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 (#10, Michael Kroll/Chantal Kroll/Roland Eggimann/Christiaan Frankenhout/Kenneth Heyer).
The first two teams, Precote Herberth Motorsport and Ram Racing, already occupied the best two positions in the Paul Ricard inaugural edition in 2015, but in reversed order. This year, the Porsche managed to do five laps more than the Mercedes had done last year.
The Porsche Lorient Racing Porsche 991 Cup (Philippe Polette/Frédéric Lelièvre/Pascal Gibon/Jean-Philippe Belloc) drove to a clear victory in the SP2 class, coming home in tenth position overall. The second Porsche Lorient Racing Porsche 991 Cup (#65, Jean-François Demorge/Alain Demorge/Gilles Blasco/Frédéric Ancel) finished on the podium as well, becoming third. 14 laps down on the winners, the Speedlover Porsche 991 Cup (#84, Pierre-Yves Paque/Philippe Richard/Mark Wallenwein/Carlos Rivas) scored second place.
The 991 class for Porsche Cup cars again proofed to be one of the most competitive. The HRT Performance Porsche 991 Cup (#73, Kim André Hauschild/Stephen Borness/Fabian Engel/JM Littman/Artem Soloviev) took the glory. Second was the B2F compétition Porsche 991 Cup (#35, Benoit Fretin/Bruno Fretin/Michel Mitieus/Pascal Colon), despite a five-lap-penalty for sending the Nova Race Ginetta G55 GT4 (#284, Luca Magnoni/Roberto Gentili/Michael Simpson/Eric Vaissiere) into the barriers on the Mistral Straight early in the race. The MSG Motorsport Porsche 991 Cup (#62, Rémi Terrail/Jose Manuel Balbiani/Meisam Taheri/Nico Rindlisbacher) went into third spot.
The Spark Motorsport Porsche 997 Cup (#94, Denis Francois/Hugues Ripert/Stephane Ortelli/Jules Gounon) took home the SPX class win.
Swedish team ALFAB Racing won the SP3 class in their Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport (#236, Erik Behrens/Daniel Roos/Anders Levin/Frederik Ros). Second was the JR Motorsport BMW E90 M3 (#103, Eric vd Munckhof/Pieter van Soelen/Mark van der Aa/Koen Bogaerts) ahead of the Team Africa Le Mans Ginetta G55 GT4 (#555, Sarel van der Merwe/Greg Mills/Nick Adcock/Terry Wilford/Jan Lammers).
The Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing SEAT Leon Cup Racer (#1, Ramzi Moutran/Nabil Moutran/Sami Moutran/Phil Quaife) won the TCR class after suffering from a puncture and suspension problems earlier on. The only other classified TCR car, the RS Connect SEAT Leon Cup Racer (#144, Lea Hodson/Jacob Hodson/Adam Jones/Gavin Jones) finished 49 laps down.
On home soil, the Team Altran Peugeot took a one-two win in the A3 class. The Peugeot 208 GTi (#205, Francois Riaux/Thierry Boyer/Thierry Chkondali/Jérôme Ogay) won ahead of their identical sister car (#208, Guillaume Roman/Stéphane Ventaja/Mathieu Sentis/Stéphane Christinelli), that lost time due to an early driveshaft problem. Third place went to the QSR BMW M235i Racing Cup (#148, Jimmy de Breucker/Luc Moortgat/Patrick Zeeuws/Rodrigue Gillion/Bart van Haeren).
The presenza.eu Racing Team Renault Clio Cup IV (#112, Luigi Stanco/Stefan Tanner/Stephan Jäggi/Christian Dijkhof/Michel Schaap) could keep the lead in the A2 class, finally winning ahead of the Preptech UK Renault Clio Cup III (#167, Cody Hill/Andy Mollison/Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke/Thomas Butler) and the Nilsson Motorsport Team Scantech Renault Clio RS III (#175, Tanja Nilsson/Rickard Nilsson/James Briody).
Podium
The winner
The night
The Mistral straight line
See you in Barcelona
(based on 24h series release)