Kessel Racing has taken its second straight Gulf 12 Hours in dominant fashion, after a faultless performance from the #11 Ferrari 488 GT3 of Davide Rigon, Michael Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini in Part 2 of the race.
The trio, who were unchallenged from the restart of the race, crossed the line 80 seconds ahead of the #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari. Matt Griffin, Rob Barff and Nic Minassian couldn’t match the winners for pace again in Part 2, after gradually falling back from the winners in the daylight hours.
Coming home third was the third Pro GT entry in the race from GP Extreme. Stuart Hall, Jordan Groger and Nicky Pastorelli ended up falling off the lead lap early in Part 2 and spent the much of the remainder of the race swapping positions with the Optimum Motorsport Audi R8.
The R8 suffered from suspension issues in the 10th hour that halted its chances of a podium and the Pro Am class win. In the end, The Renault completed 301 laps, two less than the winners.
After Optimum’s major problem, the Pro Am trophy went the way of AF Corse’s #51 488 GT3, which crossed the line four laps clear of the Audi. Andrea Rizzoli Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr ran a steady race, benefiting greatly from Optimum’s issues.
Another team that was on course for a dominant class win was Herberth Motorsport. Unfortunately though, after a controlling run through Part 2, Robert Renauer, Daniel Allemann and Ralf Bohn had a troubled run to the flag in their Porsche 991 GT3 R.
Inheriting the Gentlemen class lead after Herberth’s various issues was the #77 Kessel Racing 458, which took the flag three laps clear of Optimum and seven ahead of the team’s sister #80 458.
Further down the order from the GT class winners, the #5 Graff Ligier JS P3 took the Prototype category honours, finishing seventh overall, but four laps ahead of the first of the United Autosports entries the #23 of Richard Meins, Shaun Lynn and Alex Lynn.
It looked as if Graff’s two cars would battle it out for the class lead until the checkered flag, finishing close to each other in the first part of the race, but the #24 retired with suspension issues after 206 tours of the circuit.
As a result, United completed the podium, but with its cars a distant 10th and 15th overall.
The GTX class meanwhile, was just as spread out, with all six entrants finishing on different laps. Taking the flag first was the #50 Scuderia Villorba Corse Maserati MC GT4, with the Dragon and Brookspeed Porsche Caymans making up the class podium.
