Top-ten finish for SPS automotive performance at the 12 Hours of Paul Ricard

SPS automotive performance team enjoyed a successful guest start to this season’s Creventic 24H Series with sixth place overall at the 12 Hours of Paul Ricard. This result also earned the trio of Christian Hook, Steffen Görig and Valentin Pierburg, at the wheel of the #20 Mercedes-AMG GT3, fifth place in the GT3 class at the French Grand Prix circuit.

In ideal weather conditions, the #20 Mercedes-AMG started the 12-hour race at Circuit Paul Ricard, in the south of France, from eighth place. Christian Hook wasted little time in gaining a few positions during an eventful start, before the first Code 60 phase neutralised the field. For the rest of the race, the trio of drivers produced virtually flawless stints to remain in touch with the leading group. After six hours of racing, they were running fifth and still within striking distance of the podium places.

However, their hopes of a top result were dealt a telling blow shortly after the halfway point of the race: having been unfortunate to make contact with another car in the start phase, the red Mercedes-AMG GT3 had to make an unscheduled pit stop to repair the damage sustained. The team consequently lost valuable time and dropped back to sixth place. Steffen Görig, Christian Hook and Valentin Pierburg continued to drive perfect stints in the second half of the race. However, the gap to the cars ahead of them were simply too great following the stop for repairs. As such, finish driver Pierburg crossed the finish line in sixth place overall after 305 laps of racing. This result also earned the Willsbach-based team fifth place in the GT3 class.

SPS automotive performance heads to France next. From 7th to 9th May, Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours hosts the first race of this season’s Sprint Cup in the GT World Challenge Europe.

Stephan Sohn, team principal SPS automotive performance: “The car was very good all weekend and the team did a flawless job. Unfortunately, the unscheduled repair stop cost us a little, but these things happen in racing. We could have been looking at a better result, but we can still be happy with our performance.”

 

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