Hofor Ends Ten-Year Win Drought with 24H Barcelona Victory

Hofor Racing took its first overall Michelin 24H Series victory in a decade, coming out on top to win the Michelin 24H Barcelona ahead of HAAS RT and JUTA Racing.

The No. 11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Alexander Prinz, Chantal Prinz, Michael Kroll, Maximilian Partl and Torsten Kratz finished the race with a two-lap margin over the No. 21 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Matisse Lismont, Ramez Azzam, Peter Guelinckx and Nicolas Guelinckx.

The result marked Hofor Racing’s first 24H Series win in ten years, dating back to when it won the 2015 12H Zandvoort with a Mercedes SLS AMG GT3.

It took a class victory at the 12H Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year, but that race was won outright by Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing.

The German squad, which previously won the 24H Barcelona in 2013, enjoyed a clean run that first saw the team emerge as a threat for overall victory early on Sunday morning.

It established a healthy lead during the final phase and maintained that advantage through a Code 60 in the closing hours to take victory.

The overall podium was completed by the No. 71 JUTA Audi piloted by Nicola Michelon, Lars Viljoen, Arunas Geciauskas, Zhang Yaqi and Gavin Pickering.

In fourth overall, the No. 73 Proton Huber Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R of Joerg Dreisow, Klaus Bachler, Manuel Lauck and Constantin Dressler secured the 24H Series European Series title after winning the 12H Paul Ricard earlier this year.

The overall top five was completed by the No. 16 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi ahead of the polesitting No. 28 TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in sixth place.

In the GT4 class, the No. 421 Venture Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Neville Jones, Christopher Jones, Matthew George and Owen Hizzey took a dominant victory, 26 laps ahead of the next car in class.

The British squad was put on course for the class win well before the halfway point of the race when the polesitting No. 488 Mercedes-AMG encountered gearbox issues with six and a half hours of racing completed.

This dropped the Spanish squad out of contention, eventually finishing third in class behind the second-placed No. 427 Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS of Damon Surzyshyn, Marc Girard, Thierry Chkondali, Michel Sallenbach and Jordan Mougenot.

RESULTS: Michelin 24H Barcelona