12H Hockenheim: A new winning team
SWISS SUCCESSES IN BOTH CATEGORIES At the 12H Hockenheim, Haegeli by T2 Racing secured overall victory with a Porsche in only its second outing in the 24H Series, as did Autorama Motorsport in the touring car category. All three contenders for victory in the GT3 class were on the same lap at the re-start of the two-part race on Sunday. As [...]
All three contenders for victory in the GT3 class were on the same lap at the re-start of Sunday's two-part race. When it was released, the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Haegeli by T2 Racing with Pieder Decurtins from Graubünden and the Germans Manuel Lauck and Marc Basseng got off to a brilliant start and immediately moved into the lead.
Different strategies
Behind them followed the Ferrari 488 GT3 of MiddleCap racing with Scuderia Praha, which had led for a long time in Saturday's seven hours. An early pit stop for Leipert Motorsport's third contender for victory (Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo) and different strategies from the Porsche and Ferrari teams meant that the three teams regularly alternated at the front of the field throughout the afternoon.
However, the final Code 60 phase, about an hour before the end, brought the decision: a perfectly timed pit stop for Haegeli by T2 Racing was ultimately the key to the Swiss team's first victory in only its second participation in the 24H SERIES.
Incredible victory in the second attempt
Basseng's lead, which after 384 laps of the 4.574-kilometer Hockenheimring was only 53 seconds over that of the hard-fighting Czech Josef Král in the Ferrari, proved just how close it was.
Marc Basseng: "Absolutely incredible. This was only our second race with this team and the new car. Our strategy worked out absolutely perfectly and we didn't make any mistakes. Sure, we probably had a bit of luck as well, but that's what you need to win a race like this."
Duel with an Audi
With a lead of even just four seconds after twelve hours of racing, the luckier of the two teams from Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing prevailed in the Touring Car category with their VW Golf GTI TCR.
Brake problems on Saturday for AC Motorsport's Audi RS3 LMS from Belgium put Jasmin Preisig, Constantin Kletzer (A) and Emil Heyerdahl (N) at the top of the TCE division at Saturday night's stop. Different pit stop strategies and a strong performance in the afternoon meant that both the Volkswagen and the Audi were on the same lap after each of the two teams' final regular stops.
Heartbreak finale after final fuel stops
Mathieu Detry reduced Heyerdahl's lead by about one second per lap until the Audi had to refuel again with eight minutes to go. Two laps later, the Autorama Golf also had to pit quickly because of this. After both were back on track, the TCR cars were less than ten seconds apart.
In the end, the young Norwegian managed to clinch the second TCE victory in a row for the team from Wetzikon. Thus, the #1 team is back at the top of the championship table.
Technical misfortune for the two other Swiss TCR cars
The second TCR Golf with the Swiss Christoph Hurni, Christoph Lenz, Yannick Mettler and the Briton Rhys Lloyd also had the best prospects for the TCE division victory at the beginning. Gearbox problems robbed the quartet of their chances. After a time-consuming repair stop, they still finished seventh in the TCE standings.
The TOPCAR sport team from Uetendorf was dogged by technical bad luck with its Cupra TCR. Clutch problems slowed down the Bernese already in qualifying, and on the first race day the fire extinguisher went off in the cockpit. Winners of the 24H Dubai did not compete in the second part.
Next in Portugal
The next endurance race in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook, the fifth edition of the Hankook 24H Portimão, will be held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal from July 16-18.
More information about the calendar of the 24H SERIES 2021 and points standings can be found at the following link.
