The Scuderia Praha Ferrari 488 GT3 (#11, Jiri Pisarik/Josef Král/Matteo Malucelli) tops the timing sheets after the first part of the Hankook 12H MUGELLO. When the chequered flag was waved after the first four hours, the Forch Racing powered by Olimp Porsche 991 GT3 R (#29, Robert Lukas/Marcin Jedlinksi/Patrick Eisemann) crossed the line a minute behind the leader ín second place. Time gaps will be closed on tomorrow’s grid for the race resumption though. In third place, the Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (#21, Franz Konrad/Marco Mapelli/Giorgio Maggi/Christopher Zöchling) is already two laps down. But due to the variety of strategies, even lapped cars are still in with a shout for the victory.
The A6-Am leaders are three laps behind the top of the overall field. In sixth overall, the GP Extreme Renault RS01 FGT3 (#27, Frederic Fatien/Jordan Grogor/Tiziano Carugati) is ahead of the Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#1, Michael Kroll/Chantal Kroll/Roland Eggimann/Kenneth Heyer/Christiaan Frankenhout) by a narrow margin only. One lap down, the GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (#963, Mark Ineichen/Christoph Lenz/Roberto Pampanini/Milos Pavlovic) is still on their heels.
Three Porsche are on top of the SP2 class after the first four hours. Equaled on laps, the Porsche Lorient Racing Porsche 991 Cup (#64, Philippe Polette/Frédéric Lelievre/Pascal Gibon/Christophe Bourret) is ahead of the Speed Lover Porsche 991 Cup (#78, Pierre-Yves Paque/Jean-Michel Gerome/Christian Kelders). The second Porsche Lorient Racing car, the Porsche 991 Cup (#65, Jean-François Demorge/Alain Demorge/Gilles Blasco/Frédéric Ancel), follows in third spot with a one lap deficit.
The top three in the 991 class are still classified in the order they qualified in. The Olimp Racing by Lukas Motorsport Porsche 991 Cup (#67, Christopher Bauer/Stanislav Jedlinski/Robert Lukas/Igor Walilko) leads the way from the MSG Motorsport Porsche 991 Cup (#92, Philipp Sager/Luca Rettenbacher/Christopher Zöchling), which is still on the same lap. One lap behind, the PROsport Performance Porsche 991 Cup (#85, Charles Putman/Charles Espenlaub/Joe Foster) settled for third.
The SP3-GT4 pole setter, the Nova Race Ginetta G55 GT4 (#227, Luca Magnoni/Philippe Salini/Luca Rangoni), got back the class lead from the JR Motorsport BMW E90 (#114, Bob Herber/Martin Lanting), after Martin Lanting had spun into the gravel bed. Two laps down, the JR Motorsport BMW rejoined in second spot. The Besaplast Racing Audi TTRS (#233, Franjo Kovac/Milenko Vokuvic/Tomáš Pekař) came home third, but has already lost nine laps on the leader.
The Bonk Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS TCR (#115, Hermann Bock/Max Partl) was in a close fight for the TCR lead with the NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing SEAT Leon TCR V3 (#125, Gijs Bessem/Harry Hilders/Bas Koeten). With only two minutes remaining, Gijs Bessem hit the barriers in turn eight, handing a three lap lead to the Bonk Motorsport Audi.
The only CUP1 car, the Bonk Motorsport BMW M235i Racing Cup (#145, Axel Burghardt/Jürgen Meyer/Michael Bonk/Matthias Schrey), stayed out of harm’s way and came home in 44th place overall.
In the closing stages, the Stanco&Tanner Motorsport Renault Clio III (#112, Andy Stanco/Armando Stanco/Luigi Stanco/Stefan Tanner) took over the A2 class lead from the Team Eva Solo/K-Rejser Peugeot RCZ (#171, Jacob Kristensen/Jan Engelbrecht/Henrik Sørensen).
Racing resumes tomorrow at 10.00 hrs. During the overnight break, working on the cars is not permitted. The cars will also have to resume the race with the fuel load left after today’s first part. Cars with a low fuel level are likely to lose several minutes during early pit stops. Lapped cars starting with filled up fuel tanks will have all the opportunities to make up some ground early on tomorrow.
