Connect with us

24H Series

HAAS RT Leads Audi 1-2 to Win 12H Mugello

Audi squad secures first victory in GT3 racing at Mugello…

Photo: 24H Series

HAAS RT took its maiden victory in international sports car racing by winning the Hankook 12H Mugello, leading home Sainteloc Junior Team to secure a 1-2 finish for Audi.

The No. 21 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II driven by Stephane Perrin, Mathieu Detry and Frederic Vervisch finished two laps ahead of the No. 26 car of Erwan Bastard and Paul Evrard.

The Antiguan-flagged squad, based out of Belgium, won the race in only its third appearance after it had made its debut in the Hankook 24H Dubai last January.

The result follows after Perrin and Detry had already taken the team’s first podium teaming with Maxime Soulet in a twelve-hour contest at Abu Dhabi that took place a week after the Dubai season opener.

The No. 21 Audi led the pack to the green flag on Sunday after it was classified in first place during the overnight intervention and led over half the laps in the race.

The No. 27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo piloted by Ian James, Roman de Angelis and Gray Newell completed the overall podium and captured GT3 Am class honors in the process, bouncing back from a trip through the gravel early on.

A race of attrition meant that the No. 955 Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors Porsche 992 GT3 Cup finished fourth overall, ahead of the No. 11 HOFOR-Racing Mercedes of Michael Kroll, Chantal Prinz, Alexander Prinz and Carsten Tilke.

The Swiss squad took the checkered flag 38 seconds ahead of the No. 88 Akkodis ASP car of Mauro Ricci, Jean-Luc Beaubelique, Jérôme Policand and Benjamin Ricci.

The French powerhouse GT3 outfit completed the GT3 Am podium upon its first appearance in the series, leaping into third in class after the No. 34 Land Motorsport Audi suffered a late puncture.

Both Land Audis endured a troubled second half of the race, with the No. 55 sister car headlined by factory driver Christopher Mies eliminated from contention before the green flag even fell on Sunday morning.

The car was found to have a water leak during the overnight intervention and was then handed a 10-lap penalty for repairs in parc ferme without prior permission from the event’s scrutineers.

Atlas BX Motorsports took victory in the GT4 class with the No. 403 Mercedes-AMG GT4 driven by Steven Cho, Roelof Bruins and Jongkyum Kim.

The South Korean squad bounced back from losing a wheel in the closing stages of the first stage to finish ahead of the No. 416 Buggyra ZM Racing Mercedes of Aliyyah Koloc, David Vrsecky and Adam Lacky.

Simpson Motorsport’s No. 438 BMW M4 GT4 piloted by David Holloway, Carl Cavers and Vasily Vladykin completed the top three.

RESULTS: Hankook 12H Mugello

Davey Euwema is Sportscar365's European Editor. Based in The Netherlands, Euwema covers the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, among other series.

Click to comment
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in 24H Series