The crown on a successful season in the 24H Series: Hofor Racing concludes the endurance series in first place of the GT and A6 teams’ classifications and also wins the titles in the GT and A6 drivers’ championships. During the season finale at Brno, the AMG Customer Sports Team secures second place with a convincing performance and thus scores the sixth podium finish from six races.
With a total of 119 points and an advantage of twelve points on its nearest rivals, Hofor Racing sealed the title in the teams’ standings of all the GT cars. The victory in the A6 teams’ standings was even clearer: here, the Swiss outfit had a margin of 30 points after the final race of the season. The GT drivers’ standings saw Christiaan Frankenhout, Kenneth Heyer, Chantal Kroll and Michael Kroll end up in first place. They were also unbeatable in the A6 class drivers’ standings. In the overall drivers’ standings, the quartet was classified in second place. Roland Eggimann, who had raced a sister car during the twelve-hour race at Zandvoort, secured runner-up spot in the GT and A6 drivers’ standings and ended up third in the overall drivers’ standings. With a huge margin, Chantal Kroll had already secured herself an early title in the Ladies’ Cup. Thus, the Swiss lady racer managed to repeat her success from the previous year.
Hankook 24H Epilog Brno: second place for Hofor Racing in the season finale
Last weekend, the Automotodrom Brno in the Czech Republic served as the venue for the Hankook 24H Epilog Brno. A total of 26 cars took the start of the 24H Series season finale that was held in dry conditions throughout the event.
With the #10 SLS AMG GT3, Christiaan Frankenhout started the 24-hour race from tenth position on the grid. After two laps already, the Dutch Hofor Racing driver had worked his way up into fourth place. Until the halfway point of the race, the driver quintet of Roland Eggimann, Christiaan Frankenhout, Kenneth Heyer, Chantal Kroll and Michael Kroll managed to defend this position. Later during the night, the team succeeded in moving up even further and progressed to second place that it kept until the end: final driver Michael Kroll drove the #10 SLS AMG GT3 across the line in second place.
Having finished third in the 24H Paul Ricard, second in the 12H Mugello and third in the 12H Zandvoort, Hofor Racing already scored its fourth overall podium finish of the season at Brno. In the A6 class, the Swiss team was also classified in second place and thus managed to finish on the podium in its class in all six races of the season.
Prior to the start of the 24-hour race, Hofor Racing had a premiere already: with the roll-out of the new Mercedes-AMG GT3, the team and the drivers were already able to complete initial test runs with their new race car for the 2017 season.
Michael Kroll, Hofor Racing: “Second place here at Brno is the icing on the cake after a great season for us. The stability of the SLS AMG GT3 has been a major advantage for us throughout the season. Now, we will be switching to the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Of course, we hope to be equally successful with the new car.”
Chantal Kroll, Hofor Racing: “It has been a great year with the SLS AMG GT3, but now, I am already looking forward to the new season with the Mercedes-AMG GT3. The tests with the new car here at Brno were really promising. Nevertheless, I certainly will also be missing the SLS AMG GT3 with which we had so much success.”
Kenneth Heyer, Hofor Racing: “For us, the season was really successful. We had a good tactic for every race and we were always on the podium in our class. Our team fits together really well, the success we have had this year is by no means a coincidence.”
Christiaan Frankenhout, Hofor Racing: “With victory in the GT teams’ standings and the A6 teams’ standings, the GT drivers’ classification and the A6 drivers’ classification as well as first place for Chantal in the Ladies’ Cup, we have secured the best possible result as a team. We have been racing together as a team since 2013 and continuously improved ever since, starting from the mechanics via the engineers to the drivers. That is what eventually allowed us to win the title this year.”
Roland Eggimann, Hofor Racing: “Being on the podium in every race is a very good achievement. Here in the final race, the SLS AMG GT3 has shown once again that it always is a force to be reckoned with. Now, we are really curious about the new Mercedes-AMG GT3.”
Jochen Bitzer, head of AMG Customer Sports: “The 24-hour race at Brno has shown once again why Hofor Racing is on the top step. Six podium finishes from six races clearly speak for themselves. Congratulations for the entire Hofor Racing team on a great season.”