Text: Janos Wimpffen
MONTMELO (6 September, 2015) –The #2 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of HP Racing won the 24H BARCELONA. Germany’s Bernd Schneider and Reinhold Renger along with Austrians Hari Proczyk and Reinhard Kofler as well as American Sean Johnston completed 662 laps of 4.665 kilometer circuit located a short distance from the Catalonian capital. The HP Racing team suffered a late race scare when the bonnet came loose and needed makeshift repairs. Another Mercedes finished second, the #10 car of Hofor Racing driven by Michael Kroll, Chantal Kroll, Roland Eggimann, Kenneth Heyer and Christiaan Frankenhout. Chantal Kroll’s success made her the recipient of the 2015 Ladies Cup, one of several championships decided in the first season of the FIA sanctioned International Endurance Series.
Another Mercedes finished third, the #30 car of Ram Racing (Onslow-Cole / Jäger / White / Bleekemolen). They led almost one-third of the race until suffering steering problems during the night. While results remain unofficial, Ram Racing’s third place does assure them of capturing the A6 class Team Championship.
The all-Porsche 997 class was won by French team Ruffier Racing in the #17 991 Cup. Drivers Paul Lafargue, Dimitri Enjalbert, Gabriel Abergel, and Patrice Lafargue fought off several very competitive teams. Second was the #56 Classica Motors by RMS Porsche (Feller / Nicolaidis / Piergiovanni / Spirgi) and in third place was the #54 Drivex 991 Cup with a lineup of Brazilian stock car drivers (D. Schneider / Farah / Azevedo / Ambrosio / Mauricio). Ruffier Racing’s victory hands them the 997 team championship.
The SP2 class of specially prepared endurance cars was won by the #66 ARC Bratislava Porsche 997 Cup S driven by Miro Konopka, Matej Konopka, Zdeno Mikulasko, and Miro Hornak. The winners persevered in a see-saw battle that saw most of the cars in the class lead at one stage or another. Second was the #164 GC Automobile GC 10 V-8 9 (Amrouche / Varutti / Gaillard / Calmon) and third in SP2 was the #91 MARC Cars Australia MARC-Ford Focus V8 (Kassulke / Gersekowski / Kaye / McLeod).
The GT4 based SP3 class was won the #43 APO Sport Porsche 997 Cup GT4 driven by James May, Alex Osborne, and Paul May. Second place was the #160 Cor Euser Racing Lotus Evora (Euser /Prewitt / Delnoij). Both the Lotus and Porsche had a stirring recovery after earlier problems. Third was the #178 CWS 4x4 Ginetta G55 (White / Thomas / Hughes).
The all-Lamborghini SPX class was won the by the #22 Leipert Motorsport Huracan of Isaac Tutmulu Lopez, Mikko Eskelinen, Vadim Gitlin, Ulrik Roland Pedersen, and Marcel Leipert. Second was the #13 Sportec Motorsport Huracan (Krebs / Ditzler / Barth / Salikhov). Their teammates, car #21, were next (Lenz / Pampanini / Pavlovic / Stürzinger)
The A2 class of small touring cars was won by the #119 Milan Competition Peugeot RCZ of Denis Gibaud, Carlos Antnes Tavares, Jeroe Maudet, and Jean-Louis Dauger. Second was the #99 RKC / TGM Honda Civic (T. Gannon / W. Gannon / Coomber / Bentley / Fredriksen) and third was the #108 au2parts/DK Racing Event Renault Clio (Nielsen / Nyboe / Klitgard / Soderhamn / Rytter). The #115 Team K-Reijser Peugeot RCZ led the class for over 20 hours until a heartbreaking late race mechanical problem.
The A3T class was won by the #95 Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing Seat Leon Cup Racer which also won the class team championship. Drivers were Ramzi Moutran, Sami Moutran, Nabil Moutran, and Phil Quaife. Second was the #25 KH7-Monlau Seat Leon Cup Raer (Gutierrez / Sanz) and third the #208 Team Altran Peugeot 208 GTi (Roman / Carlsen / Holmgaard / Rosta).
The #146 Saxon Motorsport BMW 135d GTR took the A5 class win for drivers Nick Barrow, Tom Barrow, Jamie Morrow, and Dave Robinson. Second was the #79 DUWO Racing BMW M235i Racing Cup (Dumont / Faber / Engljähringer / Aronov / Pereira). Disabled Swiss driver Gustav Engljähringer accrued points for his usual class, CUP1, clinching that championship. Third in A5 was the #84 Intersport Racing BMW (Radcliffe Hayes / Lindsay / Clarke).
Drivers Igoris Ivanovas, Martynas Giknius, Kestutis Vilkas, and Sigitas Ambrazevicius won the D1 diesel class in the #137 Kaukas Volkswagen Golf. Second was the #139 RCM Motorsport Seat Leon TDI (Csuti / Nagy / Elekfy / Kismarty-Gábor). Third in class was the #141 TTC Racing Volkswagen Golf TDI (Schilliger / Kempf / Kresnik)
There were no major incidents and thirteen brief Code 60 neutralizations to collect stranded cars and scattered debris. The race was run in cool and dry conditions.
The 24H SERIES powered by Hankook now moves on to its final round at the Brno Autodrom in the Czech Republic for the Hankook 12H EPILOG BRNO on 9-10 October..
