Sainteloc Audi Secures European Title in Barcelona

Sainteloc Junior Team clinched the Michelin 24H European Series title in the season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend.

Elia Erhart, Stephane Tribaudini and long-time Audi stalwart Pierre Kaffer were crowned both overall and GT3 Pro-Am class champions in their No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II after taking a top-five finish in the Michelin 24H Barcelona.

The French team ended the five-round season with a healthy margin of 14 points to Hofor Racing’s No. 11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

This is not the first time that Erhart and Kaffer have tasted 24H Series title glory; they won the 2022 title for Phoenix Racing alongside Michael Doppelmayr.

Sainteloc’s driver lineup saw a handful of additional drivers throughout the season, including Doppelmayr, Ernst Inderbitzin and Iron Dames racer Célia Martin.

According to the points structure for the Creventic-run series, full season entrants have the opportunity to take a drop score out of the five events.

This is intended to make the overall contest more competitive and accessible to teams which haven’t participated in the full European season.

One such team was Sainteloc, which did not compete in the second round at Spa in April.

It started its campaign with a win at the season opener at Mugello. The Sainteloc crew then made its championship intentions clear with a podium upon its return to the series at Circuit Paul Ricard.

A sixth-place finish at the Nürburgring put it second in the overall championship standings heading to Barcelona.

The Pro-Am Audi didn’t have the outright pace to challenge for victory last weekend, but it did claim a class win and a significant points haul at the midpoint and the end of the 24-hour race.

Hofor’s Mercedes-AMG had been in the championship fight since it took overall victory at Paul Ricard. While the Swiss team may have missed out on the championship, it did narrowly grab the GT3-Am title in the last round.

This was particularly significant for the series regular, as it recently confirmed that this would be its final full season in Creventic competition.

Fellow Am class entrant GetSpeed Team JR286 had entered the season finale with a tight lead in both the overall and class standings. However, it had a disastrous race in Barcelona after losing over an hour in the pits to change a broken gearbox.

As a result, the German-American team could manage no higher than third in the overall championship points table.

Malaysian team Viper Niza Racing claimed a surprising fourth place at the end of the year despite only taking one overall podium. Consistent top-ten finishes were enough to propel it up the order as most of its rivals encountered some form of setback throughout the season.

The Team JR286 squad was not the only GetSpeed-run car to have its title hopes dashed at the conclusion of the season. GetSpeed Team PCX Racing also lost time in the garage for repairs so dropped out of contention for the overall and Pro-Am championship.

The No. 28 Mercedes-AMG rounded out the year in fifth position overall, ahead of Ajith RedAnt Racing in sixth.

The Belgian RedAnt squad brought added attention to the series with Tamil acting star Ajith Kumar in its driver lineup.

Despite only contesting two races this season, Up2Race’s No. 88 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo rocketed up the standings to seventh thanks to its near-perfect results.

The German team – best known for its efforts in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie – made its series debut in the fourth round at the Nürburgring, delivering a second place finish.

It commanded the 24H Barcelona, taking maximum points both at the 12-hour mark and with its eventual victory.

HAAS RT grabbed eighth place after making a mid-season switch from Audi to BMW machinery.

Last year’s teams’ champions Proton Competition were in the title fight for much of the year, but dropped down the order to ninth because the team withdrew from the 24H Barcelona following a biking accident for driver Jorg Dreisow.

The Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi completed the top ten overall.

Muehlner Makes Title Comeback; TCE-TCX Goes Down to the Wire

Muehlner Motorsport secured the 992 class title with a win in Barcelona after its main rivals – Red Camel-Jordans.nl – suffered a mechanical issue and were forced to retire.

Muehlner’s No. 921 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car could be found sparring with the Dutch Red Camel crew for much of the season.

The Belgian team edged out an early lead with back-to-back class wins, but a massive crash at the Nürburgring put it on the back foot going into the final round.

While it may not have had the pace early on, a mostly trouble-free race handed Muehlner the title in the last year of using the 992.1 generation of Porsche Cup machinery in Creventic racing.

The 992-Am class championship went to the No. 928 HRT Performance Porsche.

In GTX, Vortex wrapped up the championship at the Nürburgring after winning the first three rounds of the season. The GTX class saw fewer entrants across the season than some of the other categories, meaning nobody could mathematically challenge the French team after its initial victories.

CP Motorsport grabbed the GT4 class title after it took maximum points in Barcelona.

The TCE-TCX battle went down to the wire in Barcelona with Not Only Motorsport edging out asBest Racing by just six points.

The Michelin 24 European Series returns in 2027 with the opening round at Mugello in March.

The 24H Series will host yet another 24-hour race before then with a standalone race at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa. The venue was recently announced as a replacement for the 24H Dubai, which has become a staple of the Creventic racing calendar.