Herberth Takes 1-2 Finish in 24H Portimao

Herberth Motorsport took a dominant 1-2 finish to beat Sainteloc Racing to victory in the Hankook 24H Portimao.

Having gained the upper hand over its sister car during the night, the No. 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Max Moritz, Vincent Kolb, Felix Neuhofer, Robert Renauer and Ralf Bohn took victory by a margin of two laps.

The No. 91 Porsche, piloted by Scott Noble, Ralf Bohn, Jason Hart and Ian Loggie, finished second while Sainteloc Racing completed the overall podium as the last of the GT3 entries to make the end of the race.

That was despite a clutch issue plaguing the No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Michael Doppelmayr, Pierre Kaffer, Elia Erhart, Swen Herberger and Philippe Chatelet, requiring the team to bump-start the car during pitstops.

The remainder of the six-car GT3 field that took the start at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve failed to finish, falling foul to various reliability issues.

The No. 10 Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was the first to fall after fuel pump issues and a fire due to a fluid leak curtailed their run, with the No. 11 Hofor Racing Mercedes-AMG suffering gearbox issues that led to its retirement overnight.

Finally, the No. 90 E2P Racing Porsche of Pablo Burguera, Antonio Sainero and Alvaro Parente was struck by engine issues, although the car was still classified third in the GT3 Pro-Am class.

In GT4, Buggyra ZM Racing came out on top despite overcoming multiple wishbone failures, with Aliyyah Koloc, David Vrsecky, Adam Lacko and Jaroslav Janis picking up the lead in the final four hours.

This came as a result of a fuel pump issue for the No. 491 W Autosport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO of Thierry Chkondali, Marc Girard, Michel Sallenbach, Caryl Fritsche and Thomas Leal, which led for more than half the race but lost 50 minutes as a result of the problem and dropped to second.

GSR Motorsport, which had started from class pole with its No. 405 Ginetta G56 GT4, battled through fuel pressure issues and driveshaft and differential failures to round out the class podium.

RESULTS: Hankook 24H Portimao