Phoenix Racing emerged victorious from the 2022 Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS after a sensational, race-long battle with CP Racing and WTM Racing.
Using an opposing fuel strategy, the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#18, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Patryk Krupinski) repeatedly swapped the overall lead with the CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Shane Lewis), who restarted from pole position this morning, and the WTM Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 (#22, Georg Weiss / Leonard Weiss / Jochen Krumbach / Daniel Keilwitz) during the afternoon.
With CP Racing forced to save fuel on its final stint, and WTM Racing, which also suffered two punctures during the afternoon, making a final driver change 10 minutes from home, Phoenix Racing eventually solidified its lead and took its first win. . round free.
Elia Erhart crossed the finish line in the #18 Audi to complete 256 laps of the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, even dealing with a late shower of rain on his final run.
“This is a great feeling. It’s fantastic!” Elia Erhart explained to CREVENTIC after the race. “We really wanted to win this race, and it was so tough, because it started to rain in the last eight laps. It was too early to go to wet tires and we still had to fight hard with CP Racing and WTM Racing. So it was very close, but we also enjoyed that immensely. This is a great result for us!”
While WTM Racing also took second place in the GT3-PRO/AM class behind Phoenix Racing, CP Racing won in the GT3-AM category. Behind the overall top three, the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91, Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Jürgen Häring) finished a well-deserved 4th overall and 2nd in GT3-AM, despite a splash of fuel in the final 10 minutes.
The JUTA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO I (#71, Julius Adomavičius / Andrius Gelžinis / Jonas Gelžinis) rounded out the overall top five and took the ‘GT3’ class victory after a meticulous drive. The Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#34, Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff / Max Edelhoff / Tim Müller) was also en route to a top five finish at Spa-Francorchamps and even led the race on Saturday, but eventually fell back after several punctures, the third came in the closing moments of the event. The Audi nevertheless managed to maintain 3rd place in GT3-AM.
The SAINTéLOC Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#26, Olivier Esteves / Pierre-Yves Paque / Christian Kelders / Simon Gachet) survived two separate collisions at La Source – the second of which gave the Audi a 30-second time penalty. finish 7th overall and just one lap away from the podium in the GT3-AM class. The EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R (#61, Adrian D’Silva / Tanart Sathienthirakul / Jeffrey Kingsley) was the last GT3 runner in the overall top 10 in 9th place.
Red Ant Racing (#903, Ayrton Redant / Bert Redant / Yannick Redant) finished 8th overall on the road and took its first 992-AM win in the 24H SERIES, ahead of its class rival HRT Performance (#929, Antti Buri / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Jim Rautiainen), the latter of which also completes the overall top 10. Speed Lover (#929, Olivier Dons / Dominique Bastien) finished 3rd in 992-AM after podium contender Porsche Lorient Racing (#912, Philippe Polette / Frederic Lelievre / Jean-François Demorge / Franck Dezoteux / Frédéric Ancel) closing time are salvaged from the Kemmel Straight.
The result pushes Red Ant Racing to the top of the European 992 class standings, although HRT Performance remains in the lead in the Championship of the Continents.
Behind the 992 drivers, Van Berlo Motorsport by Bas Koeten Racing (#906, Marcel van Berlo / Bart van Helden / Glenn van Berlo) took a comfortable 991 class victory ahead of close rival E2P Racing (#910, Pablo Burguera / Manuel Cintrano / Ben Clucas)
9und11 Racing (#719, Georg Goder / Ralf Oehme / Martin Schlüter) returned to winning ways in GTX after a clear run with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR. The German team thus took its second series win in as many outings after taking last year’s GTX win in Hockenheim.
Vortex V8 (#701, Lionel Amrouche / Philippe Bonnel / Sebastien Lajoux) survived several spins and front damage to take 2nd in GTX, while the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo (#710, Kerong Li / Jean-Francois Brunot / Tyler Cooke) completed a sensational recovery ride to finish 3rd in class. Despite a failed alternator that cost the team nearly an hour in repairs on Saturday, Leipert Motorsport maintains its lead in the Championship of the Continents GTX-class, albeit only two points ahead of Vortex V8.
An extraordinary run of the ALFAB Racing McLaren 570S GT4 (#400, Erik Behrens / Daniel Ros) came to nothing just hours from home due to a turbocharger failure. GT4 class victory thus went to Team ACP – Tangerine Associates BMW M4 GT4 (#421, Catesby Jones / Wim Spinoy / Steven Thomas) for the second European round in a row, the sister BMW M4 GT4 of Veidec Racing by JJ Motorsport (#422, Hakan Sari / Recep Sari / Arthur Peters) to finish a strong weekend for the Belgian team in 3rd place.
Among the BMWs, the CWS Engineering Ginetta G56 GT4 (#478, Colin White / Freddie Tomlinson / Mike Simpson) finished 2nd in class after an ABS failure and two separate punctures.