24H Barcelona: HOFOR Racing Returns to Glory After Hard-Fought Win

The 2025 Michelin 24H Barcelona delivered one of the most competitive races of the season, with the lead changing hands between half a dozen teams before HOFOR Racing claimed outright victory on Sunday afternoon.

HOFOR back on top after a decade

The Swiss squad of Alexander Prinz, Maximilian Partl, Torsten Kratz, Michael Kroll and Chantal Prinz guided the #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO to the chequered flag after 733 laps, fending off a strong challenge from the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II entries of HAAS RT and Juta Racing. It marked HOFOR Racing’s first overall win in the 24H Series since 2015.

Wide-open first half

The race had been wide open through the opening 12 hours, with Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport leading at halfway ahead of Proton Huber Competition and HAAS RT. At that stage, Audi power locked out three of the top four positions, with Juta Racing also firmly in the mix. TFT Racing and Scuderia Praha had also enjoyed spells in the lead, while Into Africa Racing and GetSpeed featured strongly in the early going.

But as night fell, contenders began to drop back. Scuderia Praha’s Ferrari 296 GT3 was forced into lengthy repairs with power steering problems, costing the Czech team any shot at victory. Proton Huber meanwhile kept themselves in the fight with the European title in sight.

Read the mid-race report including photo gallery here.

Morning drama decides the race

Sunday morning proved decisive. TFT Racing’s pace had been formidable — with Maro Engel setting the fastest lap of the race in 1m40.607s — but their bid unravelled when the #28 Mercedes-AMG was caught out in the gravel at Turn 13. Continental Racing and Proton Huber also faded as the final hours unfolded, leaving HOFOR Racing and HAAS RT to contest victory. A strong double stint by Alexander Prinz broke HAAS’s resistance and secured the win.

Stories across the classes

In the classes, Mühlner Motorsport triumphed in 992 after a fierce overnight fight with Red Camel and SebLajoux. The Belgian squad’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, shared by Martin Rump, Valters Zviedris, Julian Hanses and Paul Meijer, pulled clear into Sunday morning and managed their advantage to the flag. Red Camel’s hopes of both race and title glory ended with gearbox failure in the early hours, handing the championship instead to RPM Racing despite their third-place finish.

Venture secured GT4 honours with its Mercedes-AMG GT4 after recovering from an early setback. Neville and Christopher Jones, Matthew George and Owen Hizzey combined consistency and pace to take control once NM Racing’s challenge faded, sealing not only the Barcelona win but also the GT4 title.

The GTX battle was a Vortex affair, with the #974 leading early on before the #701 entry of Lionel Amrouche, Philippe Bonnel, Cyril Calmon, Gilles Courtois and Olivier Gomez moved into the lead and stayed there to the finish, enough to clinch the class crown.

In TCE, the #102 asBest Racing Cupra TCR DSG overcame a troubled opening phase to outlast its rivals. Pia Ohlsson, Junichi Umemoto, Rafal Gieras and Sebastian Schemmann nursed the car through setbacks to claim class victory in the final hours.

A fitting end to the season

The result capped a weekend in which no fewer than ten different teams led laps, highlighting the competitive depth of the 24H Series field. For HOFOR Racing, it was a long-awaited return to outright glory and the perfect way to close the European Series season. Proton Huber’s fourth-place finish was enough to secure the overall GT3 championship, while Continental Racing sealed the GT3-AM title. With Venture, Vortex and RPM Racing also crowned class champions, Barcelona underlined the season finale as both a race to remember and a decisive end to the 2025 European campaign.