24H Barcelona: Multi-Team Battle Rages Into the Night

The opening half of the Michelin 24H Barcelona has turned into a wide-open contest at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Pole sitter TFT Racing led the early phase before Juta Racing, HOFOR Racing and HAAS RT each took their turns at the front. Now, as night has fully settled and the halfway mark approaches, the #69 Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Vasily Vladykin, Andrey Solukovtsev, Maksim Kizilov, Sacha Kakad and Alex Arkin Aka holds the lead.

Yet nothing is decided. Juta Racing’s #71 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II with Lars Viljoen, Gavin Pickering, Arūnas Gečiauskas, Nicola Michelon and Zhang Yaqi remains firmly in the hunt, while Proton Huber Competition’s #73 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jörg Dreisow, Manuel Lauck, Klaus Bachler and Constantin Dressler and Scuderia Praha’s Ferrari 296 GT3 of Miroslav Výboh, Matúš Výboh, Josef Král and Dennis Waszek have kept themselves in striking distance with strong pace and consistency. With multiple contenders all showing race-winning potential, the second half promises a long strategic battle through the night and into Sunday morning.

Class leaders (23:10 CEST):

GT3: #69 Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport – Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
Vasily Vladykin / Andrey Solukovtsev / Maksim Kizilov / Sacha Kakad / Alex Arkin Aka
992: #921 Mühlner Motorsport – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
Martin Rump / Valters Zviedris / Julian Hanses / Paul Meijer
GT4: #421 Venture – Mercedes-AMG GT4
Neville Jones / Christopher Jones / Matthew George / Owen Hizzey
GTX: #974 Vortex V8 – Vortex 2.0
Olivier Gomez / Yoann Olivar / Solenn Amrouche / Arnaud Tsamere / Lionel Amrouche
TCE: #102 asBest Racing – Cupra TCR DSG
Pia Ohlsson / Junichi Umemoto / Rafal Gieras / Sebastian Schemmann