By: Creventic
September 24, 2024
September 24, 2024
Gennep, Netherlands – The Michelin 24H SERIES will be hosted at five Grand Prix-calibre circuits in four different countries in 2025, with series mainstays Mugello and Barcelona bookending the European season and Circuit Paul Ricard making a welcome return.
The Michelin 12H MUGELLO was hosted for a 10th time in 2024, and kicks off CREVENTIC’s European season in 2025 on 21-22-23 March. The Michelin 24H BARCELONA meanwhile, which celebrated its 25th edition earlier this month, is scheduled to bring the curtain down on CREVENTIC’s 2025 European season on 26-27-28 September. In-between, the 24H SERIES is set to visit the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the increasingly popular Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS in April, the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for only the third time for the Michelin 12H MISANO in May, and Circuit Paul Ricard in July, the latter of which brings the Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD back to the 24H SERIES for the first time since 2021.
Helen Roukens, team relations: “We’re very pleased to confirm that the Michelin 12H MUGELLO and the Michelin 24H BARCELONA – two of our most popular events – will once again be the backbone of our European calendar in 2025. We’re also excited to welcome back the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli and Circuit Paul Ricard for our first season officially supported by Michelin Tires. We’re very confident these world class venues will provide competitors with the action and sporting challenges many have come to expect from the 24H SERIES.”
The Michelin 12H MISANO, the Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD and the Michelin 24H BARCELONA will run uninterrupted for their full 12-hour and 24-hour durations respectively. Both the Michelin 12H MUGELLO and the Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS will run as split-events with a mid-race overnight ‘intervention.’
CREVENTIC’s European season in 2025 also marks 10 years since the 24H SERIES was awarded full international championship status for 2015 by the FIA.
Michelin 12H MUGELLO
(21-22-23 March)
First hosted in 2014, and held every year bar one since then, the Michelin 12H MUGELLO is an established part of the 24H SERIES’ annual program. Since 2014, the 12-hour event has been CREVENTIC’s European season opener nine times, and even the Dutch promoter’s European season finale in 2020. Among the more popular 24H SERIES events, the Michelin 12H MUGELLO has featured an impressive number of first-time winners through the years, including AF Corse, V8 Racing, Samantha Tan Racing, Team GP-Elite, and Haas RT, the latter, remarkably, in only its third ever race start. 2017 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Herberth Motorsport also sealed its first series win in Mugello in 2015, and would go on to record an event record third in 2021.
For almost 10 years, the inaugural 12H MUGELLO in 2014 boasted the closest ever finish to a 24H SERIES endurance event, with overall winner AF Corse beating runner-up Stadler Motorsport by just 5.417 seconds. A record that would only be broken at the 12H KUWAIT in December 2023.
Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
(18-19-20 April)
Set to be held for the seventh time in 2025, the Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS made its first appearance on the 24H SERIES calendar as a TCE-only event in 2017. Hosted as an uninterrupted 12-hour race in 2018 (which also welcomed GT competitors for the first time), the Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS was moved to its now-traditional April date in 2019. Fittingly, the event featured its most barnstorming finish yet when the overall lead swapped hands from Herberth Motorsport to champion-elect Scuderia Praha on the penultimate lap.
Back on the 24H SERIES calendar in 2022 after a Covid-related hiatus, the Michelin 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS bade farewell to series mainstays CP Racing with a “fairy-tale” win in 2024, celebrated a first victory for the Saintéloc Junior Team in 2023, and has routinely featured some of the most exciting on-track action as grid sizes have continued to grow beyond 50-plus.
Michelin 12H MISANO
(9-10 May)
Named in honour of the MotoGP frontrunner and 250cc world champion who tragically passed away at the venue in 2011, the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli featured on the 24H SERIES calendar for the first time in 2017. Memorably, the TCE-only ‘24H MISANO’ – as it then was – marked the competitive debut for Hyundai’s brand-new i30 TCR car, the 24H SERIES return of 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Jan Lammers, and the 24H SERIES debuts of five-time overall Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro and World Touring Car Championship legend Gabriele Tarquini.
Hosted as a 12-hour event upon its return to the calendar in 2024, the Michelin 12H MISANO saw the Saintéloc Junior Team secure a controlled win. In a nod to the competitiveness of the latest generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the top three in the 992 class finished inside the overall top five, including an overall podium for Fulgenzi Racing!
Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD
(4-5 July)
Back on the calendar for the first time since 2021, the Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD has featured some of the more eclectic grids in the 24H SERIES’ tenured history since the inaugural edition – as the ‘24H CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD’ – in 2015. Five different manufacturers for example were in contention for overall victory at a very wet race in 2017. Australian independent MARC Cars meanwhile took a fourth consecutive win with its bespoke Focus V8 at Paul Ricard in 2015, a race that also featured Lotus’ Evora GT4 and even Maserati’s Gran Turismo.
While Herberth Motorsport has routinely been the team to beat at Paul Ricard with victories in 2016, 2017 and 2021, Britain’s Ram Racing breaks the Bavarian team’s monopoly with its first series win at Le Castellet in 2015.
Michelin 24H BARCELONA – Trofeo Fermí Vélez
(26-27-28 September)
The most tenured event on the 24H SERIES calendar, the Michelin 24H BARCELONA, which began life as the ‘24 Horas de Barcelona de Automovilismo’ in 1998, was hosted for the 25th time earlier this month, and continues its illustrious history in 2025 in its now-traditional September slot (ironically, the ’98 edition was actually held in July).
Revived by CREVENTIC for 2011, and welcoming GT entrants for the first time that year, the Michelin 24H BARCELONA has rapidly become one of the toughest and most prestigious European endurance events each year. Michelin 24H DUBAI winners Schubert Motorsport (2011), IMSA LS Group Performance (2010) and Herberth Motorsport (2017) for example have all taken overall honours in Catalunya, with the Bavarian team making history in 2024 as the only team to win the event four times outright. Lapidus Racing secured a memorable victory for McLaren in 2012 – Woking’s most recent success in the 24H SERIES – and even Spain’s NM Racing Team ensured Ginetta is on the overall winners’ list courtesy of the one-off, TCE-only edition in 2017.
Since 2003, the event has paid tribute to two-time Sebring 12 Hours winner, Group C2 World Sports Car Champion, and Barcelona native Fermín Vélez, for whom the event’s main prize has been named.
Ahead of the European season, CREVENTIC will host the third edition of the 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy in 2024/2025. After official Dubai Autodrome Track Days on 17-18 December, the 20th edition of the Michelin 24H DUBAI opens a brand-new year of motor racing on 10-11-12 January at the Dubai Autodrome. One week later, the Michelin 6H ABU DHABI will be held on 17-18-19 January at the famed Yas Marina Circuit.
Further details can be found at 24hseries.com/races.