2019 California 8 Hours

The 2019 California 8 Hours was the third edition of the California 8 Hours race held on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on March 30, 2019. The race was contested with GT3-spec cars, "GT Cup" for one-make spec cars, and GT4-spec cars. The race was organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO).

Race details
Date March 30, 2019
Location Monterey, United States
Course 3.602 km (2.238 mi)
Race
Drivers Germany Mario Farnbacher
Belgium Bertrand Baguette
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Italy Honda Team Motul
Time 1:23.156
Podium
First Spain Miguel Molina
Australia Nick Foster
Australia Tim Slade
Taiwan HubAuto Corsa
Second Germany Maximilian Buhk
Germany Maximilian Götz
Italy Raffaele Marciello
Hong Kong Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing
Third France Mathieu Jaminet
Germany Sven Müller
France Romain Dumas
United States Park Place Motorsports

The third and final California 8 Hours was the second round of the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge. The event was replaced on the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar by the Indianapolis 8 Hour.

The race was won by Taiwanese Ferrari team HubAuto Corsa. The Ferrari 488 GT3 completed 327 laps in the allotted eight hours, making a race distance of over 730 miles. Miguel Molina, Nick Foster and Tim Slade beat Hong Kong Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing by twelve seconds. American Porsche team Park Place Motorsports was third.

Lamborghini team ARC Bratislava won the GT Cup class, finishing 24 laps behind the HubAuto Corsa Ferrari and completed 678 miles. Winning the GT4 class was the PF Racing Ford Mustang, a further seven laps down, completing 662 miles.

Entries edit

No. Entrant Car Driver 1 Driver 2 Driver 3
GT3 Entries
10   Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo   Christopher Haase   Dries Vanthoor   Frédéric Vervisch
18   KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3   Alexandre Imperatori   Oliver Jarvis   Edoardo Liberati
27   HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3   Nick Foster   Miguel Molina   Tim Slade
29   Audi Sport Team Land Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo   Christopher Mies   Kelvin van der Linde   Markus Winkelhock
30   Honda Team Motul Honda NSX GT3   Bertrand Baguette   Mario Farnbacher   Renger van der Zande
34   Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3   Nicky Catsburg   Mikkel Jensen   Christian Krognes
35   KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3   Alex Buncombe   Josh Burdon   Katsumasa Chiyo
42   BMW Team Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3   Augusto Farfus   Chaz Mostert   Martin Tomczyk
43   Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3   Dominik Baumann   Adam Christodoulou   Christina Nielsen
44   Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3   Gary Paffett   Tristan Vautier   Lewis Williamson
107   Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3   Jules Gounon   Steven Kane   Jordan Pepper
108   Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3   Lucas Ordóñez   Markus Paltalla   Maxime Soulet
888   Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3   Yelmur Buurman   Maro Engel   Luca Stolz
911   Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R   Romain Dumas   Mathieu Jaminet   Sven Müller
912   Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R   Matt Campbell   Dennis Olsen   Dirk Werner
999   Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3   Maximilian Buhk   Maximilian Götz   Raffaele Marciello
GT Cup Entries
88   ARC Bratislava Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo   Miro Konopka   Andrzej Lewandowski   Zdeno Mikulasko
GT4 Entries
41   PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4   Jade Buford   Chad McCumbee   James Pesek
67   TRG Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR   Jason Alexandridis   Chris Bellomo   Spencer Pumpelly
113   RHC-Lawrence/Strom by Storm Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR   Daren Jorgensen   Jon Miller   Brett Strom
Icon Class
P Pro Cup
PA Pro-Am Cup

Qualifying edit

Pole Shootout edit

These were the 10 fastest cars in qualifying[1]

Pos Driver Team Car Time Dif
1 30   Mario Farnbacher   Honda Team Motul Acura NSX GT3 1:23.156
2 35   Alex Buncombe   KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:23.342 +0.186
3 10   Dries Vanthoor   Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo 1:23.420 +0.264
4 27   Nick Foster   HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 1:23.459 +0.303
5 912   Matt Campbell   Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R 1:23.528 +0.372
6 34   Mikkel Jensen   Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 1:23.533 +0.377
7 42   Augusto Farfus   BMW Team Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3 1:23.544 +0.388
8 911   Mathieu Jaminet   Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R 1:23.627 +0.471
9 18   Alexandre Imperatori   KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:23.673 +0.517
10 999   Raffaele Marciello   Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:29.714 +0.558

Official results edit

Bold denotes category winner.

Pos. Class No. Team / Entrant Drivers Car Laps
Engine
1 GT3 27   HubAuto Corsa   Nick Foster
  Miguel Molina
  Tim Slade
Ferrari 488 GT3 327
3.9 L Ferrari F154 twin-turbo V8
2 GT3 999   Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing   Maximilian Buhk
  Maximilian Götz
  Raffaele Marciello
Mercedes-AMG GT3 327
6.2 L Mercedes-Benz M159 V8
3 GT3 911   Park Place Motorsports   Romain Dumas
  Mathieu Jaminet
  Sven Müller
Porsche 911 GT3 R 327
4.0 L Porsche H6
4 GT3 10   Audi Sport Team WRT   Christopher Haase
  Dries Vanthoor
  Frédéric Vervisch
Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 327
5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC Audi V10
5 GT3 42   BMW Team Schnitzer   Augusto Farfus
  Chaz Mostert
  Martin Tomczyk
BMW M6 GT3 326
4.4 L S63 BMW twin-turbo V8
6 GT3 888   Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing   Yelmur Buurman
  Maro Engel
  Luca Stolz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 326
6.2 L Mercedes-Benz M159 V8
7 GT3 29   Audi Sport Team Land   Christopher Mies
  Kelvin van der Linde
  Markus Winkelhock
Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 326
5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC Audi V10
8 GT3 34   Walkenhorst Motorsport   Nick Catsburg
  Mikkel Jensen
  Christian Krognes
BMW M6 GT3 326
4.4 L S63 BMW twin-turbo V8
9 GT3 18   KCMG   Alexandre Imperatori
  Oliver Jarvis
  Edoardo Liberati
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 326
3.8 L Nissan VR38DETT twin-turbo V6
10 GT3 43   Strakka Racing   Dominik Baumann
  Adam Christodoulou
  Christina Nielsen
Mercedes-AMG GT3 325
6.2 L Mercedes-Benz M159 V8
11 GT3 108   Bentley Team M-Sport   Lucas Ordóñez
  Markus Paltalla
  Maxime Soulet
Bentley Continental GT3 (2018) 325
4.0 L Volkswagen twin-turbo V8
12 GT3 35   KCMG   Alex Buncombe
  Josh Burdon
  Katsumasa Chiyo
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 315
3.8 L Nissan VR38DETT twin-turbo V6
13 GT3 30   Honda Team Motul   Bertrand Baguette
  Mario Farnbacher
  Renger van der Zande
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 308
3.5 L Honda JNC1 twin-turbocharged V6
14 GTC 88   ARC Bratislava   Miro Konopka
  Andrzej Lewandowski
  Zdeno Mikulasko
Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo 303
5.2 L Lamborghini V10
15 GT4 41   PF Racing   Jade Buford
  Chad McCumbee
  James Pesek
Ford Mustang GT4 296
5.2 L Ford Voodoo V8
16 GT4 113   RHC Jorgensen/Strom by Strom Motorsport   Daren Jorgensen
  Jonathan Miller
  Brett Strom
BMW M4 GT4 289
3.0 L BMW N55 twin-turbo I6
17 GT4 67   TRG   Jason Alexandridis
  Chris Bellomo
  Spencer Pumpelly
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR 289
3.8 L Porsche H6
DNF GT3 912   Wright Motorsports   Matt Campbell
  Dennis Olsen
  Dirk Werner
Porsche 911 GT3 R 168
4.0 L Porsche H6
DNF GT3 44   Strakka Racing   Gary Paffett
  Tristan Vautier
  Lewis Williamson
Mercedes-AMG GT3 148
6.2 L Mercedes-Benz M159 V8
DNF GT3 107   Bentley Team M-Sport   Jules Gounon
  Steven Kane
  Jordan Pepper
Bentley Continental GT3 (2018) 137
4.0 L Volkswagen twin-turbo V8
Icon Class
GT3 GT3
GTC GT Cup
GT4 GT4


  • Race time of winning car: 8:01:11.484
  • Race distance of cars on the leaders lap: 731.826 mi (1,177.760 km)
  • Fastest race lap: 1:24.287 – Alex Buncombe on lap 5

Notes edit

References edit

  1. ^ "California 8 Hours Intercontinental GT Challenge POLE SHOOTOUT - CLASSIFICATION - FINAL" (PDF). TSL Timing. Retrieved May 27, 2020.


Intercontinental GT Challenge
Previous race:
Bathurst 12 Hour
2019 season Next race:
24 Hours of Spa