24H Series: Another victory for Autorama team

As in the premiere victory in Dubai in January, the Autorama Motorsport team, technically supported by Wolf-Power Racing, entered the race with the lineup of Yannick Mettler, Jérôme Ogay, Stefan Tanner (all from Switzerland) and Marlon Menden from Germany. Only Fabian Danz, who subsequently also competed in all four European races and led the championship standings solo, was not at the start. He was replaced by Ralf Hengeler, another Swiss who, like project manager Tanner and Menden, had competed for the first time in Portugal last year. At that time, he was still driving the Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Stanco & Tanner Motorsport, from which Autorama Motorsport emerged.

Everyone solved their issues in the best possible way, the task team made up of people from Zurich and Schwyz as well as the driver quintet. Autorama's VW Golf GTI TCR also worked flawlessly, plus the necessary racing luck that the second Swiss team in the TCR class seemed to lack.

Bad luck during evasive maneuver
The Cupra TCR of TOPCAR Sport by Bas Koeten Racing with Young Driver Julie Apothéloz and the two Finns Antti Buri and Kari Laaksonen managed to pull away from the competition by three laps in the early evening hours after the Autorama team had bad luck with two Code 60 phases and the timing of the pit stops.

Shortly after midnight, one of the two Finns had to avoid a stranded competitor at a blind spot on the Portimão hill-and-dale circuit. In the detour over the gravel bed, the water cooler suffered damage, which resulted in the engine's exit. The car belongs to Fabian Danz, who was at home with a broken collarbone and will drive for the Dutch-backed Bern team at the next race in Barcelona.

The first victory for Henggeler, the fifth in a row for Mettler
As a result, the second Swiss team returned to the top of the separate touring car classification at the halfway point of the race, which started at 12 noon. Two hours before the end of the race, gearbox noises caused worry lines when using third gear, forcing the drivers to drive particularly gently. However, the lead over the three class rivals was enough to see the Golf from Wetzikon cross the finish line as overall winner of the TCE classification after 641 laps completed.

That honor fell to Ralf Henggeler, for whom it was the first triumph on the endurance track. For Yannick Mettler, who also turned the fastest TCR race lap ever, it was already the fifth consecutive class victory in a 24-hour race, the third (Dubai, Nürburging and Portimao) in the current season.

Two championship titles are ready
With this victory, Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing extended its lead in the European and intercontinental standings of the 24H Series. At the next race, the 24 Hours of Barcelona at the end of August, the team can secure the European title. The plan is to field two TCR cars for the first time in Spain.

The finale will be the 24H Cota USA at the GP Circuit of the Americas in mid-November, where the exceptional season is to be crowned by winning the Championship of the Continents.

Kroll wins in GT4
The overall victory was decided among the ten GT3 sports cars. Among them, too, there is already a four-time winner of the season in the shape of Scuderia Praha from Bohemia and its Ferrari 488 GT3. The Herberth Porsche driven by Daniel Allemann from Solothurn and the Germans Ralf Bohn, Robert Renauer and Alfred Renauer retired at the halfway point in second place after a fire on the track.

There was a second Swiss victory in Portugal in the four-car GT4 class. Team Hofor Racing powered by Bonk Motorsport won with Martin Kroll from Aargau as well as Thomas Jäger (A), Michael Fischer (A), Michael Schrey (D) and Alexander Prinz, who is now married to former champion Chantal Kroll, in a BMW M4 GT4.

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