Up2Race Holds 24H Barcelona Lead at Halfway

Up2Race led the Michelin 24H Barcelona by over a minute at the halfway mark after twelve hours of trouble-free running for its No. 88 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.

Alfred Renauer maintained a comfortable lead to the No. 65 Viper Niza Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. This meant that the Up2Race crew picked up 20 championship points for leading at the midpoint of the 24-hour enduro.

The Pro class Porsche displayed impressive pace from the outset of the race. This outright speed, along with a lack of penalties and one fewer pit stop than most of its competitors, was enough to hold its advantage.

The majority of teams decided to put their most experienced drivers behind the wheel during the initial night stints. Up2Race followed this trend by putting FIA Gold-ranked driver Tim Heinemann in the car. The German delivered a mighty stint, leading for over 50 laps before handing over to Renauer.

Several GT3-Am class cars were among the top five, including Viper Niza.

Each team made use of an advantage for their category of car which meant they could take on 25 percent more fuel than their Pro and Pro-Am class rivals if they pitted during a Code 60 caution period. Thus, they cycled to the top of the race order when their more experienced rivals had to pit under green flag conditions to take on more fuel.

As a result, the No. 21 HAAS RT BMW M4 GT3 EVO and the No. 11 Hofor Racing Mercedes-AMG which had held the lead at the six hour mark were both within the top five for the second quarter of the race.

While Viper Niza sat a distant sixth in the championship standings going into the weekend, there are still 40 points on offer for winning the race on Sunday in addition to the 18 points it bagged for being second at the twelve-hour mark.

Several title rivals encountered technical issues as the race neared midnight at the Catalan circuit, meaning the all-Malaysian crew could still be in contention to take the overall title.

As the race reached mid-distance, teams enjoyed a lengthy period of green flag running with a just a single caution for a stranded E2P Racing Aston Marting Vantage GT3 Evo.

The HAAS RT crew occupied third on the leaderboard.

Fourth place was held by the first of the Pro-Am runners – Sainteloc Junior Team – ahead of Hofor’s Maximilian Partl in fifth.

A hard-charging Mikhael Grenier sat sixth in the No. 93 Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Jake Hill held seventh place thanks to an impressive recovery drive for the British driver and his Era Motorsport teammates after an off-track moment for Dwight Merriman earlier in the race.

Jesse Krohn rounded out the top eight in the No. 500 Gamota Racing BMW.

Elsewhere, GetSpeed was presented with a nightmare scenario as both of its title-contending Mercedes-AMGs encountered mechanical issues within minutes of one another.

Initially, the championship-leading GetSpeed Team JR286 entry was forced into the garage with a gearbox issue. The mechanics of the No. 286 Mercedes-AMG were forced to entirely replace the gearbox which cost the team over an hour of time in the pits.

With the team’s chances of overall and GT3-Am title glory seemingly falling apart, the No. 28 GetSpeed Team PCX Racing car – a points leader in the GT3 Pro-Am category – was also forced into pit lane from a podium position.

Driver Maxime Martin complained of a faulty left front wheel bearing which was affecting the car’s handling. The fix was not as costly as its sister car’s, but the No. 28 crew were still firmly out of contention when the car re-joined the race nearly 20 minutes later.

Cesar Gazeau was 15th in the No. 28 machine at the halfway point.

In the 992 class, the No. 928 HRT Performance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup held both the 992 and 992-Am class leads ahead of Mühlner Motorsport.

CP Motorsport’s No. 142 Cupra TCR DSG continued a reliable run of form in the TCE-TCX class to grow its lead in the category.

The GT4 class was headed by Team Sorg Rennsport’s No. 426 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport with an advantage of over three laps.