....(the leading) who in turn was being chased by a quite quick Peter Schmidt #2

Jungs und Mädels in Barcelona: damit ihr seht, was bei euch so läuft.

Für Platz 2 seid ihr bei den offiziellen Fotos eigentlich nicht vertreten!

....(the leading) who in turn was being chased by a quite quick Peter Schmidt

24H BARCELONA | UPDATE HOUR 2 - 3.5

The Code period lasted about 24 minutes, which coincided nicely with many teams’s pit stop plans. The Aston went back in the pits and the team expected a delay of about 8 minutes while the loose wheel nut was repaired—Richard Abra starting the long climb from the back. Also dropping well down is the Lotus after its glorious start. It is suffering from issues the throttle linkage and electrics. After a long delay Hal Prewitt began the recovery process but there were several subsequent pit visits.

Several teams switched to their second drivers during the neutralization. These include Dominik Baumann (in for Siedler in the No. 7 Porsche), Michael Klostermann (in for Ryan McLeod, No. 27 Perfection Racing Aston Martin), Yannik Trautwein (in for Ulrich Becker, No. 29 Tischner BMW), Rory Penttinen (taking over from Nikolai Zhuravlev inthe No. 31 Brunswick Racing BMW), Peter Schmidt (No. 2 Car Collection Mercedes from Mattschull), and Chantal Kroll took the wheel from Bernd Küpper in the No. 35 BMW. Jean-Marc Rivet-Fusil was the second driver in the No. 36 LD BMW, started by Eric Vincenot while Gijs Bessem took over from Harry Hilders in the No. 37 Ymor Racing Seat. “Segolen”—aka Andre Gahinet is driving the No. 39 Breizh Motorsport Seat after Fabrice Reicher started the race. Marcus Mahy relieved David Glasson, No. 43 Motorsport Services Seat and Nick Barrow took over from Richard Corbett in the No. 56 Saxon Motorsport BMW 135d. Dominik Hans was the second driver in the No. 60 TTC Racing VW Golf that was started by Daniel Schilliger.
It was now De Lorenzi’s turn to make a mark on the race. The Mercedes team owner-driver opened up a 90-second lead on Baumann’s Porsche, who in turn was being chased by a quite quick Peter Schmidt. The 997 contest was still led by Paletto, with Harvey about 30 seconds behind. There was a similar gap between 1st and 2nd in A3T, Kaye’s Duel Racing Seat clear of Perez-Aicart’s similar car. The latter, at 8th overall, was the highest placed Spanish entry. Partl had taken over a commanding lead of SP3 with the problems suffered by the Lotus.

The No. 29 Tischner BMW of Trautwein had five laps in hand over the nearest A5 competitor. Fredrik Lestrup was putting in an excellent performance, lifting the A2 class leading Mini to 16th overall. Jim Briody has steadily moved the D1 class leading BMW up the overall order as well. As somewhat expected, the class structure was revised slightly before the start. The two cars previously in the 996 class, the No. 14 and No. 15 Speedlover Porsche Cup cars, have been moved to 997 while the No. 35 and No. 36 BMWs, originally in A4, have been consolidated into A3T.
Other driver changes during the second hour included Thomas Miniberger in for Vitek in the No. 32 A5 class BMW, Mark Radcliffe in for Adam Hayes in the Intersport Racing BMW CSL, Rob de Laat (in for Theo de Prenter, No. 63 MDM Motosport BMW), Jordi Caig relieving starter and Motor rider Aleix Espargaro in the No. 50 Black Motorsport Clio, and Lev Fridman in the No. 17 GC.

De Lorenzi stopped at almost exactly the two-hour mark, handing the overall lead to Baumann, and the De Lorenzi Mercedes to Ivo Breukers. More driver changes from the top of the order were Gabriel Abergel in for Racinet in the No. 10 Ruffier Porsche (a strong 9th overall, second in 997), Paul White, no in the No. 19 Ginetta, 12th overall and 3rd in SP3. Norbert Pauels is in the SP2 class leading ClickVers/Destree Porsche and Jaime Carbo is driving the No. 45 Drivex VW—15th overall, 1st in A3T. Ramzi Moutran is next in the class with the Duel Racing Seat, followed by Jaume Font’s No. 40 Monlau Seat. Alvaro Vela has taken over the No. 26 Ginetta from Tiziano Frazza. Roberto Fecchio became the second driver in the very well-running class leading 997 Porsche of the De Lorenzi team.

The LD Racing BMW, No. 36, became the first team to go to a third driver, the honor handed to Jean-Marc Bachelier. Others on their second were No. 9 Motorsport Services Porsche (Malcolm Niall in, Clint Harvey out), Speedlover No. 15 (Carlos Rivas replacing Jesus Diez Villaroel), Hal Prewitt now in the troubled Lotus, and Kevin Bird replacing Martin Thomas in the Gambler Racing BMW (No. 28). The all-Mexican squad of the No. 38 Astra Racing Seat went from Santos Zanella to Oscar Arroyo and Thomas Tekaat spelled Lestrup in the still strong Besaplast Mini. Further back, Friedhelm Erlebach took the second stint in the Racing for Friends Mini.


At 2-1/2 hours we had a balanced 1-2-3 of one lap between each of the leaders, Baumann over Schmidt over Breukers while the fourth place Mercedes of Frankenhout dropped back with a routine pit call. Continuing with the driver changes, Pierre-Yves Paques was second in the no. 14 Speedlover Porsche that was started by Robert Matot. Josep Zapata took over the long delayed Monlau Seat from Jaime Hernandez while Stephen Borness relieved in the reasonably well running MMC BMW (No. 30). Harald Rettich was the third driver in the Breizh Seat—“Segolen” having a very short stint. Claus Gronning took over from Boris Hrubesch in the No. 51 Roadrunner Clio while Carlos Sarrea replaced Sola in the Sola Clio (No. 52). Ricky Coomber relieved starter Tom Gannon—No. 54 RKC/TGM Honda and Fortia Pares took over the No. 58 Black Motorsport Seat from David Lloret. The Red Camel Seat went from Klaus Kresnik to Youssef Bassil and Dirk Schulz replaced Jim Briody in the Euser team BMW. Significantly, near the front in 6th place overall Michael Kroll replaced Frankenhout in the No. 4 Mercedes while Peter Bonk is wheeling the No. 21 BMW that is in 12th overall and was started by Max Partl. Another top runner, the No. 25 Ginetta, took on Fabio Ghizzi as the second driver, replacing Luis Scarpaccio.
A very long stop for the No. 3 Mercedes (loss of second gear) and a less long stop for the No. 2 Mercedes (Heinz Schmersal taking over), left the No. 7 Porsche with a multi-lap lead. Baumann handed over to Marcel Matter without losing the top position. The No. 4 Mercedes (newy with Kenneth Heyer driving) was about two laps back in third place.

There are other problems in Euser land as the team’s BMW has a broken crankshaft. They are not giving up, however. The Audi has been in the box for a long time, completely replacing the gearbox. The No. 57 D2 class BMW of Küpper Racing lost much time with fuel injection system problems. The No. 55 Synchro Motorsport Honda’s brakes became so hot that the CV joint boot melted. Both of the CV joint boots were replaced and some ersatz ducting was built to improve cooling. However, no sooner did the car return to the circuit that it collided with the No. 28 Gambler Racing BMW. That green BMW was also delayed earlier with a mysterious loss of engine power. Speaing of hot, driver Rory Penttinen was badly overheated and was barely able to climb out of the No. 31 Brunswick BMW, which in any case needed attention to its electrical system.

It was noted that several cars were penalized on their grid starting positions stemming from parc ferme violations. The No. 37 Ymor team’s sin was cleaning the windscreen. Forgotten in our review of families were the Stancos in the No. 48 Glyona Motorsport Renault. It is zio (uncle) Adriano and nipote Luigi.
At the 3-1/2 hour mark the race incurred its second Code 60 interuption with two cars stopped at Turn 4. One was the No. 38 Astra Racing Seat, which caused the situation, while the No. 32 RTR BMW was also stopped. The No. 11 GDL Porsche that had run so well at the start, is in the pits with some sort of engine malady.