The #30 Ram Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG leads the Hankook 12H ZANDVOORT after the completion of Part 1 of the 12 hour race. The top four finishers ended on the lead lap. The race was marked by heavy rain and high winds for most of the opening three hours. Part 2, tomorrow morning, will start with each car’s lap totals intact but with the margins erased. This means that the top four teams will continue where they left off, side-by-side and nose-to-tail. Behind the leading Ram Racing team came three other Mercedes, #2 of HP Racing, #10 of Hofor Racing and #67 of GDL Racing. The end of the three hour Part 1 marks the start of an overnight intermission. The race resumes with the final nine hour Part 2 beginning on Saturday morning at 08:43.
There was a race between the cars and Mother Nature at the start of the event. No sooner did the field see the green flag that skies opened and there began a long period of driving, almost horizontal rain. Many of the cars came in for grooved tyres but “Professor” Tom Coronel stayed out the longest and gave a master class in finding the right spots to keep the #67 GDL Racing Mercedes well ahead of the field. When he finally pitted, the team took on fuel and switched to Ivo Breukers, thus making a driver change ahead of most competitors. Christiaan Frankenhout assumed the lead in the #10 Hofor Racing Mercedes before it made its second stop, this time swapping to Kenneth Heyer. Tom Onslow-Cole, now in the Ram Racing Mercedes began to hunt down Breukers and took the lead with about 40 minutes left in Segment 1. On the final laps Bernd Schneider grabbed second place and then Heyer took third.
Xavier Maassen was another driver with local knowledge who made a great start. He had the #20 MRS GT-Racing briefly in the overall lead and along with co-driver Charles Espenlaub kept the car over a lap clear of the other cars in the 997 class. The #43 APO Sport Porsche 997 Cup ended more than a lap ahead of its pursuers in the SP3 class after a good battle with the #160 Cor Euser Racing Lotus Evora. SP2 was contested between the two MARC Cars Australia entries with Jake Camilleri ending the segment in first place with the #92 Mazda bodied car. The #208 Team Altran Peugeot 208 GTi fought off a strong challenge from the Lithuanian entered #145 Rimo Racing Team BMW 330d. The CUP1 class was dominated from start to the end of the segment by the #73 Bonk Motorsport BMW M235i Racing entry. The A2 class had one of the closest fights through the rainy afternoon with the #112 Presenza Racing Renault Clio just ahead of the similar car of #126 Team Sally Racing. Both cars were on the lead lap.
The cars are placed into parc ferme overnight and may not be touched by the teams until the race resumes. There were 48 starters and only three cars had significant problems. The #169 Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta suffered a broken differential pump and the #102 Zest Racecar Engineering Seat crashed. That incident and the presence of standing water caused an 18-minute neutralisation of the race. Near the end of the segment the #5 Car Collection Motorsport Mercedes went off at Tarzan Corner and lost its bonnet.
Racing resumes Saturday morning at 08:43 with the finish at 17:45 CET. Live Streaming of the entire race available on www.24hseries.com. Audio coverage is available on www.RadioLeMans.com. There are also regular updates on Twitter (@24HSERIES) and Facebook (24H Series). More information about the Hankook 12H ZANDVOORT and the other rounds of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook can be found at: www.24hseries.com.
Result after 3 hours Press release Creventic]]>
