24H Series: 50 cars on the grid at season's finale at Brno

The Automotodrom Brno in the Czech Republic will host the Hankook 12h Epilog Brno, the sixth and final round of this year’s 24H Series.  Fifty crews entered the race which will start tomorrow at noon and finish at midnight.

With the battle for the overall drivers’ and teams’ titles still to be decided, and the titles in various classes still up for grabs, we can expect exciting fights at the oldest Czech racing track. It will be the first race at Brno for the 24H Series which attracted 50 cars with teams and drivers from 25 different countries all over the world.

In the overall drivers’ standings, the Swiss lady racer Chantal Kroll, who already won the Ladies’ Cup, is leading prior to the season finale at Brno. With class wins at Dubai and Paul Ricard and podium places at Mugello, Zandvoort and Barcelona, she has a total of 121 points and is two points clear of Australian Peter Leemhuis. German Bernd Küpper, Swiss Martin Kroll and Brits James Kaye and Tom Onslow-Cole are two points further down.

In the overall teams’ standings, German team Hofor-Kueperracing and British outfit RAM Racing are tied in the lead at 117 points. Teams’ and drivers’ championships in various classes still have to be decided at Brno as well.

The entry list for Brno is quite strong. There are ten cars in the A6 class, including four teams that were race winners in earlier rounds of the 24H Series. Three teams are with Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3: HP Racing, RAM Racing and Hofor Racing, while HB Racing Team Herberth will be at the grid with its Porsche 997 GT3 R. Local honors are defended by the Czech team, Scuderia Praha with its Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 and Senkyr Motorsport with its BMW Z4 GT3.

The all-Porsche 997 class has an entry of six cars from five teams. The only car in the SPX class is a Leipert Motorsport’s Lamborghini Huracan. The SP2 class has various entries including MARC and GC Automobile silhouette cars and Czech involvement from RTR Projects with a KTM X-BOW. The SP3 class has a variety of GT4-spec cars, such as KTM X-BOW, Lotus Evora, BMW M3, Ginetta G50 and Aston Martin Vantage, as well as the Saker GT TDI and one BMW M235i. The A5 class includes a variety of BMWs. A3T is the class for various Seat Leon Cup Racers and a Supercopa car, as well as two Peugeot 208 GTIs. In the A2 class, there are four Renault Clios and a Honda Civic Type R.

Track action starts today with free practice and qualifying, but also with night practice, which is important for that kind of endurance races. The fastest driver in the qualifying was Matteo Malucelli, who set the fastest lap of 2.00.918 with his Ferrari 458 Italia, so Scuderia Praha earned the pole position for tomorrow’s start. As expected, A6 class cars dominated in qualifying, with #30 RAM Racing’s Mercedes on P2 and #10 Hofor Racing’s Mercedes on P3.

Leipert’s Lamborghini is ninth overall and the only car which can confront GT3 cars from A6 class. The fastest in the SP2 class and 12th overall was Lubomir Jakubik in RPD Racing’s Ferrari 458 Challenge, while the fastest 997 class driver was Christian Engelhart in MRS-GT Racing’s #20 Porsche. Cor Euser in Lotus Evora GT4 qualified as fastest in SP3 class.

Photo: 24hseries.com