Herberth Motorsport crowned champions at the 2017 Hankook 24H COTA USA

he Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R (#911, Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Robert Renauer / Alfred Renauer) has taken a comfortable win at the first-ever Hankook 24H COTA USA. Alfred Renauer drove the Porsche across the line after 609 laps of the 5.49km Circuit of the Americas having pulled a gap of two laps to the 2nd placed Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#3, Ben Keating / Jeroen Bleekemolen / Abdulaziz Al Faisal / Luca Stolz). The Manthey Racing Porsche 991 GT3 R (#13, Steve Smith / Randy Walls / Hari Proczyk / Dennis Olsen) made it two Porsches in the top three and secured an all-German top three in A6-Pro.

The result also confirmed Daniel Allemann, Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer and Herberth Motorsport as the inaugural Champions of the Continents, despite its nearest rivals – the PROsport Performance Porsche 991 Cup (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster) – taking victory in the 991 class. The Freem USA Porsche 991 Cup (#50, Danny Stutterd / Sam Fillmore / Stephen Grove) took the runners-up spot in-class on home soil, while the Slidesports Pallex Porsche 991 Cup (#47, Dave Fairbrother / Nigel Armstrong / Graeme Mundy / Colin Paton) completed the 991 class podium.

The Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#34, Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff / Gustav Edelhoff / Elmar Grimm / Ingo Vogler / Max Edelhoff) took its first A6-Am victory of the season, 14 laps ahead of the V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1 (#18, Luc Braams / Duncan Huisman / Alex van t’Hoff / Rick Abresch / Nicolas Vandierendonck) that finished 2nd in-class, despite suffering suspension failure. The Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo (#10, Harald Schlotter / Aleksander Schjerpen / John-Louis Jasper / Vic Rice / Niels Lagrange) took the final step of the A6-Am podium, becoming Champions of the Continents for SPX in the process. Max Edelhoff could also celebrate becoming the first Rookie Champion of the Continents.

Car Collection Motorsport’s category win was particularly apt, given the fate of its sister cars. The #33 Audi R8 LMS (Pierre Ehret / Stefan Aust / Christian Bollrath / Peter Schmidt / Dimitri Parhofer) retired after its engine ignited on-track, while the Hofor-Racing powered by Car Collection Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#1, Michael Kroll / Chantal Kroll / Kenneth Heyer / Christiaan Frankenhout / Jörg Viebahn) ended its race against the turn two barriers. Despite this, Chantal Kroll would still secure the Ladies Championship of the Continents.

The MARC Cars Australia MARC Mazda V8 (#214, Malcolm Niall / Clint Harvey / Brett Niall / Robert Thomson) led home a MARC 1-2-3 in SP2, crossing the chequered flag just two laps ahead of the sister #210 entry (Jake Camilleri / Keith Kassulke / Morgan Haber / Hadrian Morrall) and the VDS Racing Adventures MARC Focus V8 (#58, Raphaël van der Straten / Thierry de Latre du Bosqueau / Joël Vanloocke / Tom van Rompuy / José Close).

After a difficult start, the Brookspeed International Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 MR (#41, David Pattison / Freddie Hunt / Alan Metni / Joseph Toussaint) took a comfortable win in the SP3 class, Freddie Hunt – son of 1976 Formula 1 World Champion James – emerging victorious on his 24H SERIES powered by Hankook debut. The Aston Martin Lagonda Vantage GT8 (#232, Andy Palmer / Peter Cate / Paul Hollywood / John Hindhaugh) completed a successful series debut in 2nd, while the JR Motorsport BMW E90 (#118, Ward Sluys / Pieter van Soelen / Ted van Vliet / Marco Poland) finished off a strong charge in the top three.

The reigning 24H SERIES Touring Car Champions Team Altran Peugeot took its third TCR victory of the season with the Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#308, Guillaume Roman / Gonzalo Martin de Andres / Thierry Blaise / Marc Guillot). The result also crowned Guillaume Roman as the first Champion of the Continents for Touring Cars.

Team Altran Peugeot secured a 1-2 in-class with the sister #908 entry (Stéphane Ventaja / Thierry Boyer / Michel Derue / François Riaux) and was followed home by NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing SEAT Leon TCR (#125, Gijs Bessem / Harry Hilders / Rob Rappange / Willem Meijer) in 3rd place.

Aptly in an all-BMW CUP1 category, the US-based Classic BMW M235i Racing Cup (#158, Mike Vess / Jason Hart / Matt Travis / John Capesstro-Dubets / Max Fedler) took its first class win in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. Just three laps further back, the Sorg Rennsport BMW M235i Racing Cup (#151, Alexander W. Wetzlich / Simon Tibbett / Benito Tagle / Ray Mason / Quinten Nelson) took 2nd place, while QSR Racingschool BMW M235i Racing Cup (#161, Rodrigue Gillion / Emilie Liljeström / Mckay Snow / Tommy Graberg / John Mauro) completed the CUP1 podium.

The Team Eva Solo / Jönsson Consulting Peugeot RCZ (#171, Jan Engelbrecht / Thomas Sørensen / Henrik Sørensen / Claus Bertelsen / Søren Jønsson) brought a successful season to a close with class victory in A2, its third of the year. The reigning A2 class champions finished almost 60 laps ahead of the THRW Honda Racing Honda Civic Si (#183, Douglas Chan / Jeremy Lucas / Scott Nicol / Ryan Eversley), which had a troubled run to the flag. The sister Civic (#184, Calvin Tam / Michael Tsay / Lawrence Hwang / Derek Ferretti) secured a double podium for the local team on its series debut.

On 5-6-7 January, the 24H PROTOTYPE ENDURANCE SERIES kicks off CREVENTIC’s 2018 race program with the 2018 Hankook 3X3H DUBAI, just one week before the 13th annual Hankook 24H DUBAI on 11-12-13 January 2018. Further information can be found at www.24hseries.com.