JULY 2017 12 HOURS IMOLA 24H SERIES

JULY 2017 12 HOURS IMOLA 24H SERIES ROUND 5

PHOTO BY DIEGO CROTTI

Copyright (C) Diego Crotti

The Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#32, Dimitri Parhofer / Max Edelhoff / Horst Felbermayr Jr. / Toni Forné) has won the first ever Hankook 12H IMOLA 2017 in dramatic fashion. After completing 367 laps of the 4,909 kilometre Autodrome Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Toni Forné took the #32 Audi across the finish line to claim not only Car Collection Motorsport’s first ever victory in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook, but also the first for an A6-Am car in 2017.

Just 37 seconds further down the road, the Scuderia Praha Ferrari 488 GT3 (#11, Jiri Pisarik / Josef Král) came home second, cementing A6-Pro class victory in the process. The Ferrari crossed the line just ahead of the Ram Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#30, Tom Onslow-Cole / Remon Leonard Vos), which finished third overall after a formidable battle in the dying moments. Behind them, the Forch Racing powered by Olimp Porsche 991 GT3 R (#29, Zeljko Drmic / Patrick Eisemann / Robert Lukas) finished fourth on the road, claiming the final A6-Pro class podium place in the process.

Finishing 7th overall, the sister Car Collection Motorsport Audi (#34 Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff / Gustav Edelhoff / Elmar Grimm / Ingo Vogler) finished seven laps behind the #32 entry to secure a 1-2 A6-Am finish for the German team. The MDC-Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#44, Manuel Zumstein / Adrian Zumstein / Philip Zumstein) ultimately finished 19th on the road, but did enough to take third in-class in A6-Am.

The PROsport Performance Porsche 991 Cup (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster) took 991-class victory by 12 laps over its only category rival, the MSG Motorsport Porsche 991 Cup (#92, Petar Matic / Philipp Schlegel / Martin Gasser / Boris Miljevic). Problems for PROsport Performance’s nearest championship rivals – the Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 – means the #85 Porsche now leads the overall GT teams’ standings, while Putman, Espenlaub and Foster have also moved to the top of the overall Drivers’ standings.

Further back, the Porsche Lorient Racing Porsche 991 Cup (#64, Philippe Polette / Frédéric Lelievre / Frédéric Ancel) took SP2 class honours in a close-fought battle with the VDS Racing Adventures MARC Focus V8 (#58, Raphaël van der Straten / Thierry de Latre du Bosqueau / José Close) and the B2F compétition Porsche 991 Cup (#35, Benoit Fretin / Bruno Fretin / Bruno Fretin / Michel Mitieus). The latter benefitted from a penalty delivered post-race to the APO Sport Porsche 991 Cup (#80, Alex Osborne / Paul May), which originally finished less than two seconds behind the #58 MARC Focus.

The JR Motorsport BMW E90 M3 (#114, Martin Lanting / Bob Herber) took a hard-fought victory in SP3-GT4, just pipping the category pole-sitting Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 (#231, Adrian Barwick / Dan O'Brien / Julio Martini) and the Brookspeed International Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 (#40, Rory Butcher / William Paul / Chase Owen). Despite this result, Optimum Motorsport maintains its lead in the SP3-GT4 standings over JR Motorsport.

A combination of hard racing and bad luck in the eight-strong TCR class meant the TTC Racing Seat Leon TCR V2 DSG (#103, Daniel Schilliger / Fredy Suter / Klaus Kresnik) took category honours 13 laps ahead of the Team Altran Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#908, Michel Derue / Thierry Boyer / Jean-Charles Covarel). The SICL.com Seat Leon Cup Racer (#120, Martin Byford / Ashley Woodman / Frank Pettitt) took the final TCR class podium spot.

Finally, the Team Cooksport Renault Clio Cup (#172, Alex Sedgwick / Oliver Cook / Josh Cook / Adam Hatfield) claimed A2 class victory over its only category rivals, the Endurance Team Romania Toyota GT86 (#173, Sergiu Nicolae / Fabrizio Broggi / Viorel Nicolae). This result means Team Cooksport closes to within three points of Team Eva Solo/K-Rejser in the A2 team standings.