Team GP Elite has secured its first 24H Series overall win at Mugello after a race-long battle with event record holder Herberth Motorsport. In doing so it became the first Dutch team to win a 24H Series race outright, fittingly, since V8 Racing won the Hankook 12H Mugello in 2016.
The team’s #32 Porsche 992 GT3 R of Lucas Groeneveld, Jesse van Kuijk, Daan van Kuijk and Max van Splunteren held a strong position after the first half of the 12-hour race on Saturday. It took this morning’s restart line astern with the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R on the front row, and the overall lead would swap repeatedly between the pair across the opening laps.
In the cooler temperatures though, the Dutch team began to stretch its legs, and, after the first two hours had elapsed, had pulled two laps clear of its Bavarian rival.
A late-race heavy rain shower threatened to upend proceedings as teams juggled wet and dry tyres. Ultimately though, Team GP Elite managed to hold its advantage to the end. Lucas Groeneveld collected the chequered flag, and Team GP Elite completed 327 laps of the 5.246km Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello en route to victory.
“We’re super happy!” Max van Splunteren explained after the race. “We were unlucky to start yesterday with a puncture, which was pretty tough. But the guys did a great job and the team, of course, they did a perfect job throughout the entire race with some good pit stops.
“It’s a shame we had so much rain in the end, and that we couldn’t do some more running, but all in all, it was a very nice race.”
When asked for his comments, teammate Daan van Kuijk, who completed all of his running on Saturday, joked: “I’m happy I got to do my stints yesterday!”
Three-time Hankook 12H Mugello winner Herberth Motorsport meanwhile took its first overall podium of the 2024 season in 2nd after strong drives from Ralf Bohn, Scott Noble and Jason Hart, securing GT3-Am victory in the process.
Two laps further back, the #85 CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO bested the pole-sitting BOEM by Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 to finish third, despite a late charge from the Ferrari. The American team and Kessel Racing – the event’s overall pole-sitter, which also secured the GT3-Pro/Am class win – were split by just less than a lap at the flag.
After a quiet run, the #14 Poulsen Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 rounded out the overall top five and sealed the final GT3-Am rostrum spot
Meanwhile, the #903 Porsche from Red Ant Racing, driven by Ayrton Redant, Yannick Redant and Kobe de Breucker sealed its first 992 class win of the season after a flawless run. The second Red Ant Racing Porsche started the day second in class, but had to be content with eighth in ‘992’ after a collision with the Lionspeed GP Porsche resulted in a broken steering arm.
The battle for second in class was a contest between the Orchid Racing Team and Centri Porsche Ticino. The former came out on top, albeit by just over 90 seconds, after a scorching stint, mid-afternoon, by 2016 FIA World Endurance Champion Romain Dumas, and despite a transponder-related delay on Saturday.
This means that both Dumas and teammate, nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb finished on the class podium on their respective 24H Series debuts.
Early transmission issues on Saturday meant the #701 Vortex V8 started the day more than 40 laps down on GTX rival 9und11 Racing. Impressively, the French team, which ran its older ‘1.0’ model this weekend, finished just four laps down after a broken hose and resultant coolant issues cost the 9und11 Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup MR more than two hours in the pits. The German team lost further time during the penultimate hour with an off into the tyre barriers.
And finally, after holding a comfortable lead in GT4, the #432 Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 saw its race fall apart two-thirds into the race after a rear axle failure. The 50-plus minute pit stop ended up dropping the former GT4 Teams’ champion to third in class
The battered Lionspeed GP Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, having already lost time to front-end damage after contact with the MP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, briefly assumed the lead. The German team would, however, lose this moments later to a left rear puncture.
Ultimately, despite dropping back with a power loss issue on Saturday, the #416 Buggyra ZM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Aliyyah Koloc, David Vršecký and Adam Lacko came through to take its first GT4 class win of the season.
The 24H Series season continues next month with the Hankook 12H Spa-Francorchamps on 19-20-21 April.
Image courtesy of 24H Series
