Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Corvette: three different brands fill the top three after first part Hankook
The No. 2 Hofor Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 (#2, Michael Kroll/Roland Eggimann/Kenneth Heyer/Christiaan Frankenhout/Maximilian Buhk) was in the lead as the chequered flag was waved to mark the end of the first three hours of racing in the inaugural Hankook 12H ZANDVOORT. In today’s first part of the race, the team racked up a total of 95 laps. The Scuderia Praha Ferrari 458 GT3 (#9, Jiri Pisarik/Jaromir Jirik/Peter Kox) was classified second, the V8 Racing Corvette (#5, Alex van ‘t Hoff/Rick Abresch/Diederik Sijthoff) came third and the fastest of the two Car Collection Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s (#33, Peter Schmidt/Christian Bracke/Renger van der Zande/Mirko Schultis) finished fourth. All these cars were on the lead lap. They will start the second part of the race tomorrow at 10 am on the same lap. Next up will be the Las Moras Racing Team’s Renault Mégane Trophy (#90, Luc Braams/Jan-Joris Verheul/Jörg Viebahn), the leader of the SP2 class in fifth place overall, two laps down.
The opening stages of the race saw a frenetic battle between Hofor Racing’s two Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 cars (#1, Michael Kroll/Roland Eggimann/Kenneth Heyer/Christiaan Frankenhout/Maximilian Buhk and #2, Michael Kroll/Roland Eggimann/Kenneth Heyer/Christiaan Frankenhout/Maximilian Buhk), with Buhk driving the No. 1 car and Frankenhout driving the No. 2 car. The No. 1 car, however, then dropped back due to technical issues. That allowed other cars to come to the fore. Peter Kox moved up through the ranks with the Scuderia Praha Ferrari after starting driver Jiri Pisarik had lost ground. The Corvette also made good progress following a crash in qualifying while the No. 33 Car Collection Mercedes-Benz, sporting a beautiful Martini livery, lost a little bit of time when one of the gullwing doors opened while on track, but the team were happy after a good run following technical issues in qualifying.
The SP2 class leading Las Moras Racing Team (#90, Luc Braams/Jan-Joris Verheul/Jörg Viebahn) enjoys a comfortable three lap lead over the GC Automobile Factory GC10 V8 (#88, Lionel Amrouche/Franck Leone Provost/Jeremy Reymond) in the SP34 class. In SP3, the Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta (#105, Tony Hughes/Christian Dick/Ross Warburton) is four laps clear of the PGmotorsport.nl-Porsche 996 (#21, Jan van Es/Tjarco Jilesen/Erik den Dekker/Maik Barten). In class A5, the MDM Motorsport BMW 320D WTCC (#82, Bas van de Ven/Simon Knap/Jeroen den Boer) is one lap clear of the two Team Altran Peugeots (#208, Vincent Radermecker/Ronnie Latinne/Gonzalo Martin de Andres and #205, Mathieu Sentis/Guillaume Roman/Vincent Radermecker). In A3T, the NKPP Racing SEAT Leon Supercopa (#41, Harry Hilders/Gijs Bessem) finished only 20 seconds ahead of the Bas Koeten Racing SEAT (#42, Martin van den Berge/Henk Haane). In A2, Danish team K-Rejser led the way with its Renault Clio (#106, Jacob Kristensen/Jan Engelbrecht/Jan Bech Andersen), two laps ahead of the HM Motorsport Peugeot RCZ (#48, Jens H. Hansen/Jens E. Hansen/René Hagedorn). In the D1 diesel class, the Recy Racing Team BMW 120D (#72, Jan de Vocht/Johan van Loo/Wim Meulders) was in the lead, three laps ahead of the TTC Racing Volkswagen Golf V TDI (#71, Daniel Schillinger/Andreas Kempf).
