HOFOR Mercedes-AMG Racing secured outright victory in the 12H Paul Ricard, with the team of Torsten Kratz, Maximilian Partl, Alexander Prinz and Michael Kroll triumphing through strategy over outright speed aboard the #11 AMG GT3 EVO.
Recent Nürburgring 24 Hours winner Maro Engel started on pole on Saturday in the #28 GetSpeed Team PCX AMG and led away as expected, as behind Jake Hill in the #81 Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO climbed from eighth to second.
Engel’s advantage stood at 18 seconds when he pitted for the first time after 75 minutes, but Constantin Dressler led when the order shook out after the first round of pit stops after staying at the wheel of the #73 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2). As the opening hours passed, the pair of GetSpeed Mercedes-AMGs, Engel’s #28 and the #286 GetSpeed Team JR286 entry, remained in the lead fight, while HOFOR was steadily making progress.
With just an hour of Saturday’s action to go, Partl was second overall and in the GT3-AM lead, and he ended the opening day as one of only two runners on the lead lap, behind Manuel Lauck in the #73 Porsche. Jordan Boisson had led for GetSpeed Team PCX, but took a late pit-stop as did Ryan Dalziel in the #81 Ferrari.
Joel Sturm started part two on Sunday in the Porsche and held the lead. Further back, there was misfortune for Steve Jans in the JR286 AMG, as a left-rear puncture, and bodywork damage after contact, sent him plummeting down the order.
Just nine minutes into Sunday’s racing Sturm pitted for fuel, handing the lead to Kratz, who in turn gave the lead to Engel by pitting half an hour in.
GetSpeed Team PCX and HOFOR traded the lead through the subsequent hours, and the outcome seemed destined to be determined by strategy and fuel. GetSpeed’s Benjamin Paque pitted from the lead with just under 90 minutes to run, handing over to Engel and taking fresh tyres but no fuel. HOFOR pitted soon after and appeared to be gambling on fuel saving to the finish.
Engel pitted with 50 minutes to go to take on fuel and rejoined in fourth, and was gaining ground hand over fist, but two late Code 60 periods put the ball firmly in HOFOR’s court with Kratz able to seal a superb victory.
“I think, for sure, the last Code 60s helped us out – but the stress level in our pit box was 2,000 percent, I aged 20 years in the last 10 minutes!” said Prinz.
“It’s unbelievable, so great for the guys who worked so hard. Michael, the strategist, he made a perfect job during the race. The only thing is Chantal [Prinz] and the kids are missing [this weekend], but the victory is for them.”
As well as outright success, HOFOR also won the GT3-Am class, while GetSpeed Team PCX took the GT3 Pro-Am victory in second overall, just over half a minute shy of the overall win, with Engel, Boisson, Paque and Patrick Charlaix, and now leads the GT3 championship.
Sainteloc Junior Team’s #18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, shared by Pierre Kaffer, Stephane Tribaudini, Elia Erhart and Michael Doppelmayr, completed the overall podium on the lead lap.
Ajith RedAnt Racing’s Yannick Redant had passed Kaffer for third with 12 minutes to run, but had to make a late stop aboard the #93 Mercedes-AMG and dropped to fifth behind the #81 Ferrari of Hill, Dalziel, Oliver Bryant and Dwight Merriman.
Red Camel-Jordans.nl enjoyed its first 992 victory of the season, with Fabian Danz, Ivo Breukers and his sons Luc and Rik finishing a minute clear of championship leaders Mühlner Motorsport and the #921 Porsche trio of Martin Rump, Conrad Tox Leveau and Joshua Bednarski.
Rump took the early lead for Mühlner on Saturday when pole sitter Rik Breukers was crowded out at the start. The Red Camel-Jordans.nl racer rapidly fought back though and within 15 minutes was second, before relentlessly pressuring Rump and taking the lead.
Both Red Camel and Mühlner maintained their positions at the head of the 992 battle through the pit-stop cycles, and after late pit-stops before the end of part one, Mühlner led from the 992-Am class #910 Chazel Technologie Course Porsche, with Red Camel third.
James Kellett took the start of part two in the #928 HRT Porsche and scorched into the lead, as behind an almighty battle ensued between Rump and Rik Breukers, with the Mühlner driver defending hard from the #909. Swarming all over the #921, Breukers eventually managed to craft a great pass but Rump didn’t drop away and kept him honest.
As the part two action continued to unfold, the main players all stayed in contention and although the lead was traded numerous times during the pit-stops it looked set to be another battle to the finish between Mühlner and Red Camel.
Red Camel’s strategy and pace eventually won out with Rik Breukers taking the finish in the #909, some 57 seconds clear of Mühlner.
In 992-Am, HRT Performance’s line-up of Kellett, Steven Gambrell, Igor Sorokin and Jonathan Kearney took class spoils with fourth overall in 992.
GTX was won by Vortex’s Philippe Bonnel, Julien Boillot and Alexandre De Bernardinis, whilst GT4 victory was taken by the Circuit Toys Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Johan de Rouw, Olivier Huez, Hugo Poppe and Norbert Dekker.
TCE-TCX was a total race of attrition with the Ligier JS2 R of Not Only Motorsport and the SEAT Leon Cup Racer of asBest Racing both encountering a series of dramas, with the latter entry of Pia Ohlsson, Steven Teirlinck and Rafal Gieras emerging on top.
Not Only Motorsport’s Ligier looked set to potentially dominate, and the car rocketed into the distance in class from pole on Saturday. But on only lap two, the Ligier slowed to a halt before getting going again sometime later. It again ground to a halt only a short while after when the issue was identified as being an oil sensor linked to running temperature.
Losing many laps in the process, this enabled asBest’s SEAT Leon to lead the class but by the end of the first six hours only a single lap separated the squads. On Sunday, the Ligier opened a big advantage, but more problems arose, including a car fire in the last half hour, enabling asBest to win the class by 16 laps.
The next round of the 24H Series European Series will be the championship’s maiden visit to the Nürburgring, with the Michelin 12H Nürburgring taking place across 3rd to 5th July 2026.
Images courtesy of Racingpixels
