Four hours in and the Team Bleekemolen SEAT Leon TCR (#100, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen / Melvin de Groot / Rene Steenmetz / Michael Bleekemolen) leads the 2017 24H Barcelona on its return to the series.
The Dutch team makes its first series start since winning the season-opening 24H SILVERSTONE, and currently heads the SP3-GT4 class leader NM Racing Team Ginetta G55 GT4 (#215, Nikolay Dmitriev / Maxime Guillemat / Marc de Fulgencio / Ivan Pareras / Nil Montserrat), which secured pole position during Friday’s qualifying session.
Current TCR standings leader MONLAU COMPETICIÓN SEAT Leon TCR (#107 Alvaro Bajo / Alba Cano Ramirez / Jurgen Smet / Jose Manuel Perez Aicart) holds the final outright podium spot as it circulates the 4.655km Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Fourth overall is NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing SEAT Leon TCR (#125, Gijs Bessem / Harry Hilders / Rob Rappange / Ramzi Moutran), which – briefly – became the seventh different race leader of the afternoon shortly before the four-hour mark. The SEAT heads the sister Bas Koeten Racing powered by Kawasaki SEAT Leon TCR (#155, Kristian Jepsen / Jan Sorensen / Martin van den Berge / Anders Fjordbach), which rounds out the top five.
With NM Racing Team out front, SP3-GT4 standings leader CWS (#178 Ginetta G55 GT4, Colin White Patrik Mathiesen / Joachim Bölting / Tom Wrigley) holds second in-class, despite a prolonged pit stop after an incident on the opening lap. The same collision also hampered TCR class pole sitter Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#303 SEAT Leon TCR, Ivo Breukers / Rik Breukers / Bert de Heus / JM Littman), which had started on the front row but lost more than 15 minutes to accident damage repairs on pit road.
EST 1 Racing (#981 Porsche Cayman GT4, Thomas Padovani / Raimo Kulli / Sten Pentus / Keijo Kaasik / Jukka Honkavuori) completes the top three in SP3-GT4, the Porsche making a stellar start from the third row to lead during the opening stint. Electrical issues meanwhile scuppered the progress of the Stratton Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (#237, Stuart Hall / Tom Black / David Tinn / Robin Marriott) on the British team’s 24H TCE SERIES debut. The Aston Martin had built a 35-second lead before problems hit.
The A2 class pole sitting RECY RACING TEAM BMW 120D (#194, Jan de Vocht / Johan van Loo / Wim Meulders / Thomas Piessens) leads category after the first four hours, just ahead of the Spirit Racing Renault Clio Cup III (#168, Rob Nieman / Eric vd Munckhof / Frank Bedorf / Stan van Oord / Joey van Splunteren). The Cor Euser Racing BMW 120D (#71, Cor Euser / Jim Briody / Carel Krieger / Stan van Oord) rounds out the top three in A2.
The Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type R (#176, Alyn James / Daniel Wheeler / Martin Byford) currently leads the A3 class ahead of the MALTI COMPETITION SEAT Leon Supercopa MK2 (#128, Philippe Burel / Victor Fernandes / Jean-Marc Rivet / Bob Arezina) and the Team Autosport de Jong BMW E46 330D (#177, Peter Terlouw / Patrick Tieman / Marco de Jong / Karel Neleman / Mark Verhaegh). The final A3 entrant – the RKC/TGM Honda FD2-Civic Type-R (#99, Ricky Coomber / Thomas Gannon / David Drinkwater / Andrew Mollison / Mark Symonds) – completed just one formation lap before returning to the pit lane with critical electrical issues.
CUP1 meanwhile is headed by the DUWO Racing BMW M235i Racing Cup (#235, Jean-Marie Dumont / Alexander W. Wetzlich / Nicolas Schmit / Andrey Mukovoz / Stanislav Sidoruk). The QSR Racingschool BMW M235i Racing Cup (#154, Jimmy de Breucker / Mario Timmers / Rodrigue Gillion / Emilie Liljeström / Tommy Graberg) lies less than one lap further behind, and aims to maintain its lead in the CUP1 standings.
The 2017 24H Barcelona will continue throughout the night until the chequered flag flies on Sunday at 12 hrs.