Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO squad GetSpeed Team JR286 claimed its maiden outright Michelin 24H Series European Series victory at the inaugural 12H Nürburgring, a perfect result for the American-linked squad on Independence Day weekend.
Really coming into their own during the concluding six hours of the race today, the #286 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO team of US drivers Tanner Harvey, Patrick Liddy and Jonathan Hirshberg, plus Luxembourger Steve Jans, secured the overall win and GT3-AM victory by a full lap to move into the championship lead with only one round to go.
“Honestly, I was freaking out”, Harvey said post-race. “I didn’t want to screw-up my entire team, so I tried to go slow, keep it on the track and not make any mistakes because Steve, Patrick and Jon made sure the car was in perfect condition the entire race for us to win. It’s a big deal because it’s the 250th anniversary of America, we wanted to celebrate!”
GetSpeed Team PCX Racing’s Mikaël Grenier lined up on pole on Saturday in the #28 Mercedes-AMG and maintained the lead at the start, as Joel Sturm in the #73 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) sliced into second at Turn 2, past Pierre Kaffer in the #18 Saintéloc Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II. The early action was sensational, with nothing to separate Grenier, Sturm, Up2Race’s Tim Heinemann, Kaffer and the #81 Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Jake Hill.
More like a sprint than an endurance race, the close battling continued, but as the end of the second hour neared, disaster struck for the #28 when Jordan Boisson lost control and speared into the pit-straight barriers at a Code 60 restart. Somehow, the team limited repairs to a loss of only eight laps.
Another leading Mercedes-AMG hit trouble four hours in when Ajith Kumar went into the barriers at Turn 3 in the #93 Ajith RedAnt Racing entry, causing another Code 60.
Manuel Lauck led for Proton at the time from the #65 Viper Niza Racing Mercedes-AMG of Melvin Moh and Heinemann’s co-driver Fabio Grosse in the #88 Porsche of debuting squad Up2Race. Due to a team miscommunication, Lauck ended up pitting twice in quick order ahead of hour six and so Grosse took the lead.
Around the same time, the race fell under Code 60 due to a stricken car. Then, with 40 minutes to go in part one, red flags were flown due to a heavy collision into the Turn 1 barriers for Joshua Bednarski in the 992 class leading #921 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I).
Overnight, Up2Race led a GT3 Porsche one-two from Proton with Viper Niza third and, importantly, on the lead lap. ARC Bratislava had progressed impressively to fourth with its #44 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO, ahead of Juta Racing’s Audi and the GetSpeed Team JR286 Mercedes-AMG.
Much cooler weather was in evidence for Sunday’s six hours. Grosse and Sturm made even starts, but the latter was tenacious on the outside into Turn One and able to grab the lead for Proton Competition. Alex Aka too was very impressive in the #69 Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi, surging from seventh to fourth on the road.
Within minutes the first signs of predicted rain were in the air, but it was midway through the second hour when the first genuine shower arrived. Heinemann revelled in the conditions on slicks and moved to the lead ahead of Ang’s Mercedes-AMG, but no sooner had the rain arrived it cleared again. ARC Bratislava’s challenge was then damaged after a new rear wing was required.
More rain briefly appeared later, nothing to cause too much concern, and through the closing hours the Team JR286 bid looked increasingly solid. The #286 Mercedes-AMG claimed the lead when the #88 Porsche pitted in the 10th hour, establishing a comfortable margin and ultimately cruising to the win by over a lap, as behind the battle for second provided premium entertainment.
Up2Race managed to see off Viper Niza Racing by a mere 0.4 seconds at the chequered flag, with Grosse somehow managing to keep the Porsche ahead on 53-lap-old tyres to celebrate a star debut result with team-mates Heinemann and Oleksiy Kikireshko.
Dominic Ang tried everything on his fresh Michelin rubber during the closing minutes, but third overall still marks a brilliant outright podium for Ang, Moh and Douglas Khoo.
The PRO-AM class win, in fourth overall, went to the #73 Porsche piloted by Lauck, Jörg Dreisow, Constantin Dressler and Sturm, with the #69 Audi of Aka, Vasily Vladykin, Miguel Maria Garcia and Paul Scheuschner finishing fifth.
Era Motorsport’s podium chances disappeared with around three hours to go, when its #81 Ferrari was collected by a 992 class entry and sustained suspension damage. HAAS RT’s first race with BMW, meanwhile, ended in early retirement after an off for Nicolas Guelinckx at Schumacher S.
GetSpeed Team JR286 has moved into a 10-point GT3 championship lead over the #18 Audi, which finished sixth, with the #11 HOFOR Racing Mercedes-AMG a further four points back in third. A tight GT3 pack sees the top eight entries covered by only 34 points, with 60 still up for grabs.
In seventh overall, Red Camel-Jordans.nl took 992 class victory, the team’s second in succession, to move to the top of the 992 championship with brothers Luc and Rik Breukers, their father Ivo, and Fabian Danz. HRT Performance’s James Kellett, Steven Gambrell, Jonathan Kearney and Igor Sorokin won 992-AM.
Just like GT3, the action in 992 during the first hour on Saturday was tremendous, with nothing to choose between Mühlner’s #921 Porsche, the #928 HRT Performance car and the #909 Red Camel-Jordans.nl Porsche. Mühlner’s Martin Rump led off class pole from Kellett and Rik Breukers, but a small error from the leader on lap four enabled Kellett to nip past.
Over the first three hours the lead was traded by that trio, but halfway through hour four Bednarski was tagged by the #90 E2P Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO. Following a pit visit, he rejoined in fifth but returned to the head of 992 through the next pit-stop cycles, before retiring following his concerning high-speed crash at Turn 1, which brought the opening part of the race to an early conclusion.
Thankfully emerging safely, Bednarski received additional checks at the hospital, but the squad’s bid for a third win this season was over, and with it came a significant blow to their title aspirations, with the Belgian squad now 24 points behind Red Camel-Jordans.nl.
Red Camel started Sunday at the head of the field with three other cars on the lead lap, the #910 Seblajoux Racing car, the #928 HRT Porsche and the #920 Chazel Technologie Course entry. At the end of the first hour, there was high drama for Red Camel in the pit lane when the right rear wheel didn’t attach correctly, and Danz didn’t hear the warnings as he pulled away – his radio not yet plugged in.
Rival teams showed great camaraderie by helping out, and normal service was resumed. Thereafter, all went smoothly for Red Camel, who claimed a hard-earned victory. Second and the 992-AM win was taken by the consistently strong HRT, with third overall in 992 going to impressive #920 Chazel Technologie Course trio Antoni de Barn, Jean-Paul Dominichi and Jean-Mathieu Leandri.
Gino Rocchio, Filippo Tornaghi and Nathan Huet topped TCE-TCX in Not Only Motorsport’s #114 Ligier JS2 R, its rapid Ligier JS2 R a late entry to the event and proving to be the class of the field. Storming into a strong early lead on Saturday, perhaps surprisingly, its cushion was only one lap when racing was halted on Saturday afternoon.
There were several scares late in Sunday’s action when the car stopped on track with gremlins, but each time the Ligier fired back into life and the team won by four laps. asBest Racing’s #111 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982) took a strong second place with drivers Cesar Fonseca, Silas Passos and Alexandre Dante.
The win has moved Not Only Motorsport into the TCE-TCX championship lead, only four points ahead of the #102 asBest Racing Cupra, which finished third.
GTX was won by KEO Racing’s debuting Ligier JS2 RS of Adrian Kunzle and Kevin Madsen, and GT4 victory went to Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4 EVO (G82) of Michael Bonk, Martin Kroll, Claudia Hürtgen and her son Elia Weiss.
Both classes were contested as single-car affairs, with Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport performing strongly throughout the 12 hours, whilst KEO Racing lost many laps on Saturday as a result of some gearing and electrical issues, but the car started Sunday’s action from pitlane and happily took the finish.
Only one race now remains in the 2026 Michelin 24H SERIES European Series, the 24H Barcelona from 18th to 20th September 2026.
Images courtesy of Racingpixels
