The MONLAU COMPETITION SEAT Leon TCR V2 DSG (#107, Jurgen Smet/Jose Manuel Perez Aicart/Alba Cano Ramirez/Alvaro Bajo) took the pole position for the 24H SILVERSTONE, the opening round of the 2017 24H TOURING CAR ENDURANCE SERIES.

Jose Manuel Perez Aicart lapped the 5.901 kilometre Grand Prix circuit in 2:13.466 minutes. Second quickest after the one hour long session under dry conditions was the Red Camel-Jordans.nl SEAT Leon TCR V3 DSG (#303, Rik Breukers/Ivo Breukers/Sjaco Griffioen/Klaus Kresnik). On his last lap, Rik Breukers brought down the gap to 0.477 seconds, but could not take the pole position away from the Spanish squad. The Team Bleekemolen SEAT Leon TCR V2 SEQ (#100, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen/Melvin de Groot/Rob Smith/Rene Steenmetz), that led last year's race over long stretches, ended up in third place.

Tomorrow's starting grid will not only be based on the order of the qualifying times. The TCR cars will line up in the odd grid positions with the SP3-GT4 cars showing up next to them on the even places. This grid arrangement is created to have all the cars capable of the overall victory joining on top of the field.

Following this procedure, the quickest SP3-GT4 car, the Endurance Autosport Lotus Exige (#174, Adam Bewsey/Daniel Plant/Tom Bradshaw/Yuji Shinohara/Andrew Dolan), will leave from second on the grid. Fourth will be last year's overall winners, the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing BMW M3 V8 (#234, Richard Neary/Martin Short/Ian Stinton/Graham Coomes). Third in SP3-GT4 was the CWS Ginetta G55 GT4 (#178, Colin White/Philippe Salini/Patrik Matthiesen/Martin Thomas).

Touring cars from five makes battle in the A3 class. In qualifying, the BMW teams were to ones to beat. The Intersport racing BMW M3 CSL (#140, Kevin Clarke/Adam Hayes/Paul Black/Ryan Lindsay) gained the upper hand over the Cor Euser Racing BMW M3 (#71, James Briody/Peter Klutt/Cor Euser/Maarten Mus/John Farano) by a 0.120 second margin. A further 2.6 seconds down, the Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type R (#176, Alyn James/Daniel Wheeler/Martin Byford) settled for third spot.

The CUP1 class features four BMW M235i Racing Cup machines. Quickest was the QSR BMW M235i Racing Cup (#154, Jimmy de Breucker/Mario Timmers/Rodrigue Gillion/Jeffrey van Hooydonck) from the RMA Track Days - JJ Motorsport BMW M235i Racing Cup (#156, Leyton Clarke/Tony Rodriguez/James Little/Jason Baker) and the Sorg Rennsport BMW M235i Racing Cup (#151, Paul Abercrombie/William Lucas/Kye Wheatley/Rob Ellice/Sam Tordoff).

In the A2 category, the Area MS / Owens Endurance Honda Civic (#91, Jack Fabby/Carl Swift/David Vincent/Mark Harris) took a dominant 9.2 second lead ahead of their only rivals in class, the Team Sally Racing Renault Clio Cup III (#52, Martin Sally Pedersen/Peter Obel/Mads Christensen/Steffan Jusjong).

With the first two events of this year in Dubai and Mugello in the books, the 24h SERIES are now on in full swing.

The month of April is extremely busy, with three events in four weeks. Action starts with the 24H SILVERSTONE (31 March-2 April), the opening round of this year’s 24H TCE SERIES powered by Hankook. One week later, the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook continues with round three, the inaugural Hankook 12H RED BULL RING (7-8 April) in Spielberg in Austria.

From 21-23 April, the Circuit Magny-Cours in France will serve as the venue for the second round of the 24H TCE SERIES powered by Hankook and the opening round of the new 24H PROTO SERIES powered by Hankook. “These are busy times for us, but we love it, and so do the teams and drivers, as they keep telling us,” says Peter Freij on behalf of CREVENTIC. 

After the first two rounds of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook, in which touring cars were mixed with GTs and 24H Specials, touring cars will now be battling for outright honours in the 24H TOURING CAR ENDURANCE (TCE) SERIES powered by Hankook. First on is the race at Silverstone, where the series made its successful debut last year.

Racing on home soil, Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing came out on top in the Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE last year and will now be back in an attempt to repeat its success. However, the British team will be facing fierce competition from numerous entries in its SP3-GT4 class and the equally strong TCR class. The A3, CUP1 and A2 touring car classes promise good competition, too.

Once again, the Super 7 Inter Series will be the support class for the Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE. Entry is still open, so teams wanting to participate can still join the action.

Double action at Magny Cours with touring cars and prototypes 

Round two of the 24H TCE SERIES powered by Hankook will take teams and drivers to the Magny-Cours circuit in France, but there is double action at the track, because Magny-Cours will also be hosting the season opener of the new 24H PROTO SERIES powered by Hankook. The former Grand Prix track in the centre of France is a new venue on the calendars of the CREVENTIC SERIES. T

ouring cars will run on Friday and Saturday, prototypes will run on Friday and Sunday, with the spectacular Superkarts as a support category. Entries for both series at Magny-Cours can still be submitted.

Another new venue as 24H SERIES heads to Austria

The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria is another new addition to the 24H SERIES. The state-of-the-art Grand Prix circuit in Styria will serve as the venue for the 12H RED BULL RING, the third round of this year’s 24H SERIES. Here, entries are still being accepted as well.

Like in Mugello, where the most recent 24H SERIES event took place, the race in Austria will be split up into two segments, the first four hours on Friday and the remaining eight hours on Saturday. This is due to noise restrictions, but teams appreciate the possibility to relax and wind down on Friday evening and be fresh again for the remainder of the race on Saturday.

MONLAU COMPETICION SEAT Leon TCR V3 DSG (#107, Jose Manuel Perez Aicart/Alba Cano Ramirez/Alvaro Bajo) has won the second round of the 24H TOURING CAR ENDURANCE SERIE, the 12H MAGNY-COURS.

Jose Manuel Perez Aicart took the chequered flag after having completed 358 laps on the 4.411 kilometre circuit, equalling a total distance of 1,579.14 kilometres. Three laps behind the winners, the Red Camel-Jordans.nl SEAT Leon TCR V3 DSG (#303, Ivo Breukers/Robert Nearn/Anthony Morris) finished in second place. One further lap down, third spot overall went to the winning SP3-GT4 team, the CWS Ginetta G55 GT4 (#178, JM Littman/Philippe Salini/Patrik Matthiesen).

With fourth position overall, the Bas Koeten Racing SEAT Leon TCR V3 DSG (#155, Kristian Jepsen/Jan Sorensen/Morten Jepsen) became third in the TCR class. The Wimmer Werk Motorsport SEAT Leon TCR V3 DSG (#226, Felix Wimmer/Matthias Kaiser/Martin Gasser/Martin Niedertscheider), that had been in contest for the podium positions, retired after two and a half hours with a broken gearbox. The Pit Lane Competizioni Audi RS3 LMS TCR DSG (#122, Zach Arnold/Roberto Ferri/John Filippì/Alberto Vescovi), that had started from second place, dropped out three hours before the end.

Behind the CWS Ginetta, the Vortex V6 GC Automobile GC10 V6 (#205, Leonard Vernet/Stephan Jaggi/Mathiu Lécuyer/Olivier Gomez) settled for second in the SP3-GT4 class. The French team lost time being stuck in a gravel bed and came home in seventh place overall, 18 laps behind the class winners. The third SP3-GT4 car, the Semspeed Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#226, Anthony Lambert/Benoît Semoulin/François Semoulin), retired shortly before the halfway point after a wheel had come loose.

The QSR BMW M235i Racing Cup (#154, Jimmy de Breucker/Mario Timmers/Rodrigue Gillion) won the A3 class with a five lap margin from the RH Race Engineering SEAT Leon Supercopa (#147, Mark Pilatti/Malcolm Niall/Darryl Clarke).

The only Diesel-powered car, the D1 entered Winkler Tuning BMW E46 123D (#167, Markus Reitbauer/Markus Mair/Michael Winkler), finished in ninth place overall.

The third round of the 24H TOURING CAR ENDURANCE SERIES, the 24H MISANO, will be held from 07 to 09 July. From 05 to 07 May, the 24H CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD will mark the fourth round of the 24H SERIES.

Always looking for new opportunities to expand its calendar of 12- and 24-hour races all over the world, Dutch agency CREVENTIC is organising its first-ever race in the US with the 24H COTA USA (10-12 November, 2017).

The announcement of this race at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas, has been met with great enthusiasm by teams and drivers.

More than eight months before the event, 53 entries have already been received. American teams have expressed their interest as well, so the organisers are hoping for a good international mix of teams. Regulations of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook apply for the event, which therefore is open for GTs, touring cars and 24H Specials.

Anyone wanting to be part of this unique experience still has the opportunity to sign up for participation in the race. As usual, CREVENTIC will take care of all the logistical details.

The inaugural Hankook 24H COTA USA isn’t counting towards the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook, but there is a very special prize at stake: the Champion of the Continents title.

For teams participating in the races in Asia (Hankook 24H DUBAI), Europe (Hankook 12H MUGELLO, Hankook 12H RED BULL RING, Hankook 24H CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD, Hankook 12H IMOLA and Hankook 24H PORTIMAO) and America (Hankook 24H COTA USA), there is a separate classification.

Points will be attributed for the results achieved in Dubai and Texas, as well as the best result from the European rounds. The Champion of the Continents titles will be awarded for teams and drivers overall and per class, overall GT and touring cars drivers’ and teams’ titles, as well as a ladies’ cup and a rookie title.

The first-ever 24-hour race at the Circuit Of The Americas

Opened in 2012, the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas has been the venue for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of the United States for five years already. Other prestigious categories to have raced there are the MotoGP, Australian V8 Supercars, FIA World Endurance Championship, Grand-Am Series, American Le Mans Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

The 24H COTA USA will be the first 24-hour race at the circuit, which stands out for its spectator-friendly facilities including the landmark observation tower and the Austin360 Amphitheater, often used for concerts and other activities.

A particular element of the Hankook 24H COTA USA is that, due to noise restrictions during the night, the race will be split up into two segments: the first part on Saturday, 11 November, from 9.00 till 23.00 hrs, and the second part on Sunday, 12 November, from 8.00 till 18.00 hrs.

To make participation in the race easier for teams and drivers, CREVENTIC is providing assistance with the logistics. Like for the race in Dubai, standard transport of car and equipment is included in the entry fee for the 24H COTA USA.

For US-based teams, there is an entry fee without transport. Additional transport requirements can be quoted on an individual basis and can be handled by CREVENTIC as well. “The planning is for the cargo to be loaded during the last week of September and for the return transport to be back by the middle of December,” CREVENTIC’s logistics manager Daphne Gengler says.

“For teams also wanting to participate in the Hankook 24H DUBAI in January, 2018, we recommend sea freight from COTA to Dubai.”

“Another option is air freight to Dubai if teams prefer to return their car to Europe before heading out to Dubai. All these possibilities can be discussed.”