GruppeM won the Gulf 12 Hours, helping Mercedes-AMG to seal the Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers’ title.
Kenny Habul, back in action for the first time since an injury at Spa, just missed out on a Pro-Am podium at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Habul and co-drivers Martin Konrad, Dominik Baumann, and Philip Ellis saw their second-place running #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG spin, pit, and stop on track in the last 16 minutes of the race.
The #75 SunEnergy1 team had a strong race and was in contention for a podium after a tremendous two-hour opening stint by Habul.
Disaster struck early for the #4 Grove Racing/EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Brenton Grove started the race and had the #4 battling for the lead at the end of his stint.
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Stephen Grove took over and, after a Full Course Caution, lost control of the car and made heavy contact with two barriers in Turn 1 after a brake failure.
He was not seriously harmed but the Grove entry was out of the race.
Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, and Mikael Grenier started from pole in the #99 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and took the victory to claim the manufacturers’ championship.
The #99 Mercedes-AMG headed to the pits after the opening lap to serve the first of 10 mandatory 100-second timed stops.
The entire Pro field executed the same strategy. This resulted in Pro-Am and Am teams leading the first half of the race.
The #99 trio battled back from going a lap down after a slow pit stop due a wheel issue.
Grenier was able to put the car back on the lead lap near the halfway mark of the race.
The #99 Mercedes caught a break when the race-leading #14 2 Seas Mercedes made a brake change under a Full Course Yellow.
The #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 trio of Valentino Rossi, Nick Yelloly, and Dries Vanthoor inherited the lead with a little more than four hours remaining in the race.
Rossi held the lead over the #99 until a broken pedal box and slow pit stop gave the lead to the #99 Mercedes with less than three-and-a-half hours left.
The #99 held off the #46 BMW, with the help of a five-second penalty handed to Vanthoor, to claim the victory by 12.811s and clinch the manufacturers’ title.
The #14 Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon, Fabian Schiller and Maximilian Goetz crossed the line in third place.
The podium gave Gounon the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli drivers’ champion.
The #21 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche of Constantin Dressler, Dustin Blattner and Joel Sturm were the Am-class winners and a fifth place overall finish.
The #27 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driven by Rob Bell, Ollie Millroy and Mark Radcliffe took the Pro-Am class victory and finished sixth overall.
The series is back in action at the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour on February 16-18.
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