Motorsport: Title rain for Swiss Hofor Racing
The FIA International Endurance Series for private teams ended with a 12-hour race that was extended to 24 hours. As in 2015, the season's top performer was the Hofor Racing Team from Aargau with the Mercedes GT3. Not only in the eyes of the Swiss, the epilogue in Brno, as the Dutch organizers called it, was a strange race. Originally scheduled as [...]
Not only in the eyes of the Swiss, the Epilog in Brno, as the Dutch organizers called it, was a strange race. Originally advertised as a half-marathon, the Dutch made it a 24-hour race in the course of the season, but only awarded points according to half the distance. Because the touring cars contested their own 24-hour race at Silverstone in the spring, where they received ten more points per placing than the GT teams in the Czech Republic, Hofor Racing's chances in the overall championship were minimal.
However, 4th place after 12 hours was enough to decide the team and GT standings in their favor. Chantal Kroll, who was the sole overall winner in 2015, occupies second place in the championship behind a French Peugeot duo with her father Michael and Christiaan Frankenhout (NL) and Kenneth Heyer (D). Roland Eggimann, who once scored points only with the second Mercedes, is solo third. The Hofor quartet is ahead in the GT annual standings, Chantal Kroll also in the Ladies Cup.
All GT3 Swiss lead in the championship
After the full distance, the Swiss Mercedes SLS GT3 was flagged off in second position behind the Ferrari F488 GT3 of Scuderia Praha after its last outing (in 2017 the new AMG GT3 will be used). In the early stages, Rolf Ineichen, Adrian Amstutz and Andrea Caldarelli (I) in a Lamborghini and the Porsche with Daniel Allemann as one of the four drivers challenged the Ferrari. The Lambo finished in 21st place after gearbox repairs, the Porsche was parked after half the distance as second team place was safe. Daniel Allemann won the last three races with the German team at Zandvoort (12h), Paul Ricard (24h) and Barcelona (24h), finishing third in GT behind the five Hofor drivers. Hofor Racing never finished at the front in any race in 2016, but always finished in the top 5 and celebrated class victory at the Dubai 24h and Paul Ricard.
www.24hseries.com
www.hofor-racing.ch
Photos: Eric Teeken
