24H Barcelona: Swiss clean up big
WINS AND CHAMPIONSHIP The 24 Hours of Barcelona ended with resounding Swiss successes in the overall classification, the touring car classification and the 24H Series championship. Over the entire distance, Barwell Motorsport's Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo and Herberth Motorsport's Porsche 991 GT3 R took turns at the top of the Barcelona 24 Hours. [...]
Over the entire distance, Barwell Motorsport's Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo and Herberth Motorsport's Porsche 991 GT3 R took turns at the front of the 24-hour race in Barcelona. After a total of 38 lead changes, the British team with Adrian Amstutz from Lucerne and Leonid Machitski, Patrick Kujala and Dennis Lind won by 10.5 seconds over the German Porsche. Here, Daniel Allemann from Solothurn took over at the wheel with the Germans Sven Müller, Ralf Bohn and Alfred Renauer.
Allemann won this race in 2016 and 2018 with the East German team, Amstutz never before. With Barwell, he has won the Am category several times in the Blancpain Endurance Cup and won the bronze medal in 2019, as he did last year. The pace was so fast that the two teams set a new distance record at this event with 690 laps on the 5.655-kilometer GP circuit.
First title for Autorama and Wolf Power
In the TCR touring cars, the title was foreseeable for Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing based on their successes so far this season. For the first time, the team from Wetzikon, which is technically and strategically supported by the Schwyz-based company, fielded two VW Golf GTI TCRs.
They realized the fastest race laps, but in the final standings this time there was "only" a third place with the quartet Ralf Henggeler, Jérôme Ogay, Marlon Menden and VW works driver Benjamin Leuchter. The second car with Yannick Mettler and two Danes finished in fifth position. After winning the European Championship, Autorama/Wolf-Power also beckons the intercontinental TCE overall victory in two months.
TCR victory for TOPCAR sport
This time, another Swiss TCR team stole the show. With personnel support from Bas Koeten Racing (NL), TOPCAR sport from Uetendorf entered a Cupra TCR. In addition, the previous Autorama driver Fabian Danz, as actually already planned in Portugal (broken collarbone), drove for the first time with his canton colleagues. With Young Driver Julien Apothéloz as well as the leading Finn in the ADAC TCR Germany Antti Buri and last year's TOPCAR Junior Loris Prattes (D), the Bernese team was well positioned in terms of drivers.
Like last time in Portugal, where the team was robbed of possible success by an accident, TOPCAR co-owner Ronny Jost refrained from driving in order to concentrate on the mission and the strategy. All the greater was his joy afterwards at the perfect performance of his entire squad.
Ronny Jost: "Everyone did a super job. The Cupra ran like a grenade. To win in front of this brand is overwhelming. If we hadn't had problems with the radio and made additional safety stops, our lead would have been even bigger."
First title to Fabian Danz
With his victories in Dubai, Mugello and Brno with Autorama and now his second victory of the season over the long distance, Fabian Danz secured overall victory in the European standings of the 24H TCE Series and the TCR class. In mid-November, the drivers' title in the intercontinental 24H Series will also be up for grabs at the 24 Hours of Cota in Texas.
With Apothéloz, Mettler, Ogay and Tanner (as well as the German Menden), four other Swiss riders are only two points behind in this table and far ahead of the next competitor. So the chance of another and double Swiss title win is very high.
More Swiss successes
With fourth place in the touring car classification, the all-Swiss team TTC Racing with Rolf Reding, Daniel Schilliger, Adrian Spescha and Fredy Suter in a Seat Leon TCR also ensured a respectable success. Alexandre Mottet, Laurent Misbach, Emmanuel Bello and Massimo Salamanca from Orchid Racing won the GT4 class with their Porsche 718 Cayman Clubsport, despite two punctures during the night.
The European championship title in the GT4 class goes to Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport with Martin Kroll's BMW M4, which was entered for the first time, although only third place was achieved after a long repair stop. With the driver from Aargau as one of the drivers, the Swiss-German team won the A3 class with the BMW M240i Racing Cup in Barcelona.
