Second largest GT4 grid EVER expected at Hankook 24H BARCELONA

CREVENTIC is set to feature one of its strongest GT4 fields to-date at the upcoming Hankook 24H BARCELONA, with two former Overall GT Teams’ champions and the reigning GT4 Teams’ title holder among the 11 entrants already confirmed for the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook European season finale.

Set to be held for the 25th time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 13-14-15 September, the Hankook 24H BARCELONA boasts more than 40 entries, just over a quarter of which will compete with GT4 machinery. As well as being an event record, 11 GT4 entries on the grid in Barcelona would be the joint-second most in 24H SERIES history, bettered only by the 13 GT4 cars that were on the grid for the Hankook 24H DUBAI in 2019.

Such is the depth of competition, the GT4 category alone will represent six different manufacturers and at least eight different nations in Catalunya.

Peter Freij, CREVENTIC operational manager: “Since it was first introduced as a standalone category for 2018, GT4 has regularly been among the most closely fought classes in the 24H SERIES. We’re very much looking forward to see this, potentially, taken to new heights at the 25th Hankook 24H BARCELONA.”

Tellingly, a similarly high number of GT4 competitors are also expected at CREVENTIC’s endurance events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this coming January: of the 90 already registered for the 20th edition of the 24H DUBAI on 10-11-12 January, 10 are set to do so with GT4 cars, while half a dozen of the 45 vehicles currently entered for the 6H ABU DHABI one week later also make up the provisional GT4 field.

Newly-crowned GT4 Teams’ champion Buggyra ZM Racing (#416) is among the most high-profile GT4 entries on the provisional entry list. The Czech-based team has taken four class wins from four entries so far in 2024, and will be looking to complete a clean sweep for its Mercedes-AMG GT4 at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA.

Similarly, season-long rival Lionspeed GP (#424) will look to end its first standalone motor racing campaign on a high note, and secure a fourth class podium – if not a maiden win – for its Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport in Catalunya.

2021 Overall GT Teams’ champion ST Racing (#428) is set to make a one-off return to the 24H SERIES’ GT4 class in Barcelona with a ‘G82’ spec BMW M4 GT4. ST Racing, the overall winner of the Hankook 12H MUGELLO in 2023, secured its second win – of an eventual three – at Barcelona during its championship-winning campaign with a first-generation M4 GT4 before transitioning to the GT3 class for 2022. This year’s Hankook 24H BARCELONA will mark the Canadian outfit’s first series start since the same event in 2022, at which its M4 GT3 led for much of the early going.

Fellow former Overall GT Teams’ champion PROsport Racing (#401) is also expected to make its GT4 return in Catalunya. The 24H SERIES’ outright champion of 2018 last competed with its Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 in Dubai in 2022, and made a long-awaited series return earlier this year in the 992 class.

Team Africa Le Mans (#455) is preparing for its first 24H SERIES outing since 2017 with a Ginetta G55 GT4. The South African outfit competed in back-to-back CREVENTIC events at Imola and Misano in 2017, doing so with five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner Emanuele Pirro, and 1988 overall Le Mans winner Jan Lammers. The pair are expected to compete together once again in Barcelona.

Lithuania’s GSR Motorsport (#405) will also represent Ginetta,and has entered a G56 GT4 for its third attempt at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA.

NM Racing Team (#415) will be eying a third class win at its home event on 13-14-15 September. The Spanish team, based a stone’s throw from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, took overall victory at the TCE-only Hankook 24H BARCELONA in 2017, and, fittingly, took GT4 honours one year later in 2018.

Like Buggyra ZM Racing, NM Racing Team has registered a Mercedes-AMG GT4 for the event. The third and final example of the German brand’s GT has been entered by series debutant Venture Engineering (#421).

KTM is set to be represented in the 24H SERIES’ GT4 class for the first time since the Hankook 12H BRNO in 2019, with series debutants Apex MP Racing (#414) having registered an X-BOW GT4. Aptly for the Slovenian team, RTR Projects’ KTM took GT4 victory on that occasion in the Czech Republic.

British contemporaries Simpson Motorsport (#438) and CWS Engineering (#478) round out the GT4 entries thus far. The former, which has entered a ‘G82’ BMW M4 GT4, is set to make only its second start at the Hankook 24H BARCELONA, while the latter, running its traditional Ginetta G55 GT4, is a two-time class winner at the event.

Alongside the confirmed entries, Xwift Racing Events has expressed an interest in competing. If confirmed, the Belgian team will run a Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO for its first 24-hour event with CREVENTIC.