Ready for action: 24H BARCELONA at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya this weekend

From Friday, September 5, till Sunday, Sepember 7, Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya in Montmeló will be the venue for the 24H BARCELONA, the annual endurance race for GTs, touring cars and 24H Specials. After the 24H DUBAI, the 12H ITALY-MUGELLO and the Hankook 12H ZANDVOORT, the race at the Spanish Grand Prix circuit will be the fourth round of this year’s 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. “The event is growing year after year, it is a great pleasure for us to be involved with this great race,” says Gerrie Willems on behalf of Dutch agency, CREVENTIC, organisers and promoters of the race in close co-operation with the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC). “With 70 cars on the entry list, this is the largest entry in Barcelona for many years and with the great diversity of cars, we expect great racing!”

Following their success from the previous year, race winners Hofor Racing from Switzerland are back with their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. With Michael Kroll, Roland Eggimann, Kenneth Heyer and Christiaan Frankenhout, last year’s winning drivers are back, but the team now also has lady racer Chantal Kroll on board. German team, Car Collection Motorsport, scored its biggest success to date with victory in the inaugural Hankook 12H ZANDVOORT last May. In Barcelona, the team is running a pair of Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s. Opposition in the A6 class comes from Czech team, Scuderia Praha, with a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 with a strong line-up. Swiss team Kessel Racing is running an identical car. British team, Simpson Motorsport, has entered  an Audi R8 LMS GT3. Lamborghini is represented by German outfit Leipert Motorsport while Walkenhorst Motorsport is competing in the A6 class with a BMW Z4.
The 997 class includes four entries from Belgian team, Speedlover, ZaWoTec Racing from Austria, Team Werner Sport from Germany and Ruffier Racing from France, the team that came second overall in the 24H BARCELONA last year. There are also high expectations from teams in the SP2 class: French factory team, GC Automobile has entered two of its GC Automobile GC 10 V8 silhouette cars while another example of this car is run under the banner of Russian Team by GCA. Las Moras Racing Team has entered a Renault Mégane Trophy silhouette car while Australian team, MARC Cars Australia is running three of its new MARC Focus cars. German team, Click Vers, is also competing in the SP2 class with its Porsche 997.

In the SP3 class, French team, LD Racing is running a Porsche 996. Other entries in this class are two Ginetta G50 GT4s of the Italian NOVA RACE team, one Lotus Evora GT4 each for Cor Euser Racing from The Netherlands and Track Enduro from the UK, a BMW M3 GT4 run by German team Securtal Sorg Rennsport, A.R.T. by Racing Car Service’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and Dutch team, Red Camel Racing, with its Audi R8.

Traditionally, classes A5 and A4 are the domain of the BMW touring cars with entries from British team, Intersport Racing (BMW M3), RTR Projects from the Czech Republic (BMW M3), Tischner Motorsport from Germany (BMW E46 WTCC), Hofor-Kueperracing from Germany (BMW M3), LD Racing from France (BMW M3), WEC Motorsport form the UK (BMW M3) and Blendini Motorsport from the UK (BMW M Coupé). Opposition is coming from French team, Altran, with a pair of Peugeot 208 GTis.

The SEAT Leon Cup car is the car of choice in the A3T class with entries from Monlau Competición and Pareras Racing Team from Spain, NKPP Racing from The Netherlands, Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing from Lebanon, MHM Motorsport from Germany, PREFA Racing Team Austria and Zest Racecar Engineering from the UK. The only non-SEAT in this class is the Volkswagen Scirocco GT24, run by Spanish team, Drivex. The CUP1 class includes two BMW M235i Cup cars run by German team, Bonk Motorsport, and another one by Walkenhorst Motorsport.

The A3 class consists of a Renault Clio Cup IV of Spanish team, Monlau Competición, a Peugeot RCZ entered by Nicolas Milan Competition from France and another RCZ run by Danish team, HM Motorsport. The A2 class includes Renault Clios from Team Sally Racing (Denmark), Black Motorsport (Spain), presenza.eu Racing Team Switzerland, TBC POST (Belgium), APO Sport (UK), AD Racing/Flexlease.nu (Denmark) and Speedlover (Belgium), MINIs  from the Besaplast Racing Team (Germany) and Lestrup Racing Team (Sweden), Honda Civics from RKC/TGM (UK) and Synchro Motorsport (UK) and a Nissan Juke R from Spanish team, Beyond FS. The D1 and D2 diesel classes consist of a BMW 135 GTR run by Saxon Motorsport (UK), Volkswagen Golfs entered by TTC Racing from Switzerland and KPM Racing from the UK, a Red Camel Racing SEAT Leon TDI, and BMW 120 Ds by SVDP Racing from the United Arab Emirates and Cor Euser Racing from The Netherlands.

With an existing contract still in place, Dunlop is the official tyre supplier of the 24H BARCELONA while SPAA05 supplies the LED position displays on the cars. Track action starts on Friday, September 5, with an optional private test session from 11.00 till 13.00 hrs. There is an official practice session from 16.30 till 18.30 hrs while the starting grid positions will be determined in qualifying from 19.00 till 19.45 hrs. Night practice is held from 20.45 till 22.15 hrs. On Saturday, September 6, there is a pitwalk from 10.30 till 11.00 hrs. The race starts at noon and ends 24 hours later, immediately followed by the prize-giving ceremony. More information about the 24H BARCELONA and the other rounds of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook can be found at: www.24hseries.com.