The Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA wins the 12H Mugello

The Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA of Ivo and Rik Breukers emerged victorious in the 12H Mugello, second round of the 24H Series, after a race-long battle with the other CUPRA of Harry Hilders/Gijs Bessem entered by NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing. The AC Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS of Stéphane Perrin/Mathieu Detry completed the podium.
All three teams began ‘part two’ of the 12-hour event on the same lap on Saturday morning, and the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA was quickly on a charge going door -to-door with both the AC Motorsport Audi and the NKPP Racing CUPRA throughout the opening hour. Having played its pit strategy to perfection during multiple Code 60 cautions, the orange CUPRA eventually pulled two laps clear of its rivals en-route to its first win in the 24H Series since last year’s 12H Monza.

“I think the Code 60s were quite lucky for us,” Rik Breukers explained. “In the first half of the race, everyone had exactly the same strategy and the top three were always within 20 seconds of each other. It was a really exciting race and our strategy worked out really well!”

An unluckily timed Code 60 caution ultimately meant NKPP Racing leapfrogged AC Motorsport for second place during the final pit stops, though the pair were still split by just 17 seconds at the chequered flag.  
The Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI (Marcus Menden/Walter Reho/Emil Heyerdahl/Constantin Kletzer) looked set to secure fourth place but was delayed by a broken suspension during the final 15 minutes. The delay thus handed fourth to the RC2 Junior Team by Cabra Racing CUPRA Leon Competición (Rubén Fernández/Victor Fernández/Felipe Fernández), a solid result on the car’s maiden outing in the series.
The 24H Series will resume for round 3 on 22/23 April, with the 12H Paul Ricard.

12H Mugello – Race
1. Red Camel-Jordans.nl #101 (CUPRA DSG), 310 laps
2. NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing #175 (CUPRA DSG), 2 laps
3. AC Motorsport #188 (Audi RS 3 LMS DSG), 2 laps
4. RC2 Junior Team by Cabra Racing (CUPRA Leon Competición), 5 laps
5. Autorama Motorsport #1 (Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG), 7 laps

Championship points
1. AC Motorsport #188, 40 pts; 2. Autorama Motorsport #1, 38 pts; 3. Red Camel-Jordans.nl #101, 33 pts

Picture: Creventic