CREVENTIC is thrilled to announce that the 25th annual Hankook 24H BARCELONA and the 10th edition of the Hankook 12H MUGELLO will be among the headline events on the 2024 24H SERIES powered by Hankook calendar, with the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, and the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve also set to make their respective returns.
Following CREVENTIC’s Middle East Trophy, back for a second season this winter after a strong inaugural run in 2022/2023, the 2024 24H SERIES will begin with the ever-popular Hankook 12H MUGELLO on 23-24 March, two months after the 19th Hankook 24H DUBAI on 12-13-14 January and the Hankook 6H ABU DHABI on 20-21 January. Including the 2023/2024 Middle East Trophy, which kicks off with the second Hankook 12H KUWAIT this December, the 24H SERIES will be officially hosted across two different continents and five different countries in 2024.
Hankook 12H MUGELLO
22-23-24 March – Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello – Italy
One of CREVENTIC’s most characterful events, the Hankook 12H MUGELLO, will be returning for its 10th edition in 2024. First hosted in 2014, the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello’s annual 12-hour endurance race has been held every season bar one since then, traditionally as CREVENTIC’s European season opener. The event is thus the third most tenured event on the 24H SERIES calendar behind the Hankook 24H BARCELONA and the Hankook 24H DUBAI.
Built in idyllic Florence, and opened as a permanent racing facility in 1973, the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello can trace its motor racing lineage, on public roads, to the 1920s. Owned by Scuderia Ferrari since 1988, the Mugello Circuit has hosted almost every motor racing series of note across its 50-year history, including the World Sports Car Championship, Formula 1, and MotoGP among many others. With only minor changes made to the 5.245km track layout since 1973, Mugello and its diverse range of mid to high-speed corners that roll through the Tuscan countryside, remains a popular venue for competitors worldwide.
In the nine editions of the Hankook 12H MUGELLO run so far, six different teams and five different manufacturers have taken outright GT victory, the most successful being 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Herberth Motorsport, which has won a record three times (2015, 2020 and 2021). Impressively, Mugello has also been the sight of five maiden outright wins in the 24H SERIES for AF Corse (2014), Herberth Motorsport (2015), V8 Racing (2016), ST Racing (2022) and Haas RT (2023).
The 2014 Hankook 12H MUGELLO also holds the distinction for being the closest 24H SERIES finish to-date, with AF Corse taking victory by just 5.4 seconds!
Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
19-20-21 April – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – Belgium
The venerated Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled to make its sixth appearance on the 24H SERIES calendar on 19-20-21 April.
Inaugurated as a fearsome, 14.982km public road course in 1922 traversing Malmedy and Stavelot, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, in all guises, is one of the most respected racing venues worldwide, blending world famous corners, a world-class location and the famously changeable Ardennes climes to create a unique endurance racing challenge. Like Mugello, the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, operational since 1979, has hosted every racing series worth its salt across its 100-year-plus history, and has been home to the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix almost every year, bar two, since 1985.
Dedicated to TCE machinery for the first edition in 2017, the Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS has welcomed GT and TCE competition alike since 2018, and has produced some of the most dramatic 24H SERIES events in the Dutch promoter’s illustrious history: Synchro Motorsport leapfrogged SEVEN different teams to take the Overall TCE Teams’ title at Spa in 2017; Saintéloc Junior Team overcame changeable weather conditions to secure its maiden win in 2022; a first corner spin almost ended PROsport Performance’s overall title bid in 2018; and Scuderia Praha and Herberth Motorsport took the 2019 edition to an incredible grandstand finish, with a pass for the lead on the penultimate lap.
2019 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Europe’ champion Scuderia Praha is the most successful team to-date at the Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS with two wins in 2018 and 2019. Phoenix Racing and Saintéloc Junior Team’s victories in 2022 and 2023 though mean Audi, like Ferrari, will also be gunning for a third overall event win in 2024.
Hankook 24H PORTIMAO
10-11-12 May – Autódromo Internacional do Algarve – Portugal
Round three of next year’s 24H SERIES will be held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, which makes its return to CREVENTIC’s calendar after a one-year hiatus.
Replacing the Hankook 12H ESTORIL as CREVENTIC’s Portuguese round next season, the returning Hankook 24H PORTIMAO will be held for a sixth time in 2024. Scuderia Praha once again holds the record for most event wins, having taken its first of three in succession at the inaugural running in 2017.
The youngest circuit on next year’s calendar, having only been opened in 2008, the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve has nevertheless proven one of the most popular racing venues for CREVENTIC competitors, offering as it does a hearty mix of high-speed straights, punishing low-to-high speed corners across myriad elevations, and world-leading facilities, including a neighbouring five-star hotel.
Though relocated from its traditional July calendar slot, the Autódromo provides one of the toughest endurance tests in Europe, run as it is in the abundant Algarve temperatures. This mid-season calendar placement makes the Hankook 24H PORTIMAO a perfect testbed for OEM brands, with Mercedes’ brand-new AMG GT4 and upgraded AMG GT3 ‘Evo,’ Porsche’s 991.2-generation 911 GT3 R, and BMW’s M4 GT4 ‘Concept’ each having made their 24-hour racing debuts at the event.
The Hankook 24H PORTIMAO also made history in July 2020 by becoming the first international motor race to be held in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Hankook 12H MISANO
5-6-7 July – Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli – Italy
The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, named in honour of the late 250cc World Champion and MotoGP frontrunner, is back on the 24H SERIES calendar in 2024, and for only the second time since 2017.
Opened in 1972, the Misano World Circuit has been a staple for European bike racing ever since, hosting the ‘Italian motorcycle Grand Prix’ for the first time in 1980 and intermittently thereafter until 1993. Significant track upgrades, including a brand-new southern curve extension that made the now 4.2km Misano World Circuit officially eligible for world championship competition, brought the 500cc motorbike world back to the fold, and after further extensive upgrades in the early 2000s – including a state-of-the-art medical centre and more grandiose spectator stands – Misano has been one of the more raucous events on MotoGP’s calendar since 2007.
Alongside its motorbike prominence, the Misano World Circuit, built on the beautiful Adriatic Coast, has hosted European Formula 2, the DTM and World Sports Car Championship (fleetingly), FIA European Truck Racing, and, in 2017, the 24H SERIES. Run as a 24-hour event, CREVENTIC’s first Misano event was also TCE-exclusive, while the 2024 Hankook 12H MISANO will be open to GT and TCE machinery.
Significantly, on the 24H SERIES’ last trip to Misano, Hyundai Motorsport entered its first TCR car – the i30 N – for its endurance racing debut. It was driven by none other than two-time World Touring Car champion, Gabriele Tarquini.
Hankook 24H BARCELONA
13-14-15 September – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Spain
The most tenured event on CREVENTIC’s calendar – the Hankook 24H BARCELONA – returns for an historic, 25th edition in 2024. Set to retain its traditional September slot, the ’24 Horas de Barcelona’ was first held as a touring car-only race dedicated to gentlemen drivers in 1998. Following its revival for 2011, it has been held under the CREVENTIC banner ever since.
First opened in 1991 just weeks before hosting its first Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is an F1 mainstay as both a GP venue and home to winter testing. Alongside its F1 heritage, the circuit still features prominently on MotoGP and World Superbike, and European Le Mans Series calendars, as well as, until very recently, the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The 4.657km layout also remains one of the most recognisable on the calendar, with the high-speed main straight leading into the long, tyre-punishing turn three before beginning its sharp drop into the infield and serpentine climb up to the back straight. Hosted a stone’s throw from Barcelona city centre, the Hankook 24H BARCELONA, CREVENTIC’s biggest European race of the season, has proven one of the more popular vacation destinations for competitors too.
Since 2003, the Hankook 24H BARCELONA has also paid tribute to the life and career of two-time Sebring 12 Hours winner and two-time World Sports Car C2-class champion Fermín Vélez following his passing that year.