IMSA LS GROUP PERFORMANCE seals Hankook 24H BARCELONA win

MSA LS GROUP PERFORMANCE has secured overall victory at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA on its endurance racing return, overcoming a race-long scrap with new GT3 Teams’ champion Haas RT and three-time event winner Herberth Motorsport to do so.

Atlas BX Motorsport meanwhile has sealed overall GT European Trophy honours in Catalunya, in its first full 24H SERIES powered by Hankook season no less, after a faultless run in GT4.
 
The pole-sitting IMSA LS GROUP PERFORMANCE Porsche 911 GT3 R (#76, Julien Andlauer / Grégory Guilvert / Simon Tirman / Laurent Hurgon), which made its first start with CREVENTIC since 2017 this weekend, repeatedly swapped the overall lead with both the Haas RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#21, Miika Panu / Mathieu Detry / Max Hofer / Gavin Pickering / Kris Cools) and Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91, Ralf Bohn / Daniel Allemann / Robert Renauer / Alfred Renauer / Patrick Kolb) throughout the course of the event, but eventually stealing a march during the night. Even so, and despite leading 479 laps in total, 2010 24H DUBAI winner IMSA Performance was unable to rest on its laurels on Sunday morning, and collected the chequered flag just 97 seconds clear of Haas RT. 
 
Such was the pace of the GT frontrunners, IMSA LS GROUP PERFORMANCE demolished the CREVENTIC-era distance record at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA. Julien Andlauer completed the 725th lap of the 4.657km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the flag, 29 laps more than WTM by Rinaldi Racing managed en-route to overall victory last year.
 
“It’s been great, but it was a tough race,” Julien Andlauer explained to radiolemans.com’s Diana Binks. “All the other teams were pushing so much during the whole race, so no mistakes were allowed! We were pretty strong during the night, but it was tough in the beginning, and at the end, the [Haas RT] Audi was very, very quick and we were not sure, with the strategy, where we would end up for the last stint. A lot happened during the last Code 60s too, so we really had to push for the last couple of hours to be safe. But it was a fantastic job by the whole crew. Everyone did great, and [the result] couldn’t be better.

 
“I have to say it’s a great achievement for the team, back in endurance racing after so many years. We made no mistakes, the pace was pretty good and for two of us, this was the first time at a 24-hour race, so this will be quite special for them. The whole team did great and it’s what they deserve.”
 
The overall runners-up spot for Haas RT was enough to secure the Antiguan team the GT3 Teams’ title in its first full season of motor racing.
 
A seemingly innocuous spin into the turn three gravel trap shortly before half-distance – while leading, no less – ended up causing significant problems for Herberth Motorsport when gravel blocked the Porsche’s vent pipe. Unable to take on fuel, the 991.2 GT3 R had to pit several times before the issue was cleared, by which point Herberth had lost three laps and dropped to 5th. Impressive pace during the night however meant the three-time Hankook 24H BARCELONA winner was able to recover and the final spot on the overall podium.