Painful retirement just before the finish in Mugello

27 March 2025

Last weekend, Valters Zviedris, together with the “Muhlner Motorsport” team, competed in the first round of the “24H Series” endurance championship in Italy – “12H Mugello”. Latvia’s leading road racing driver, together with his teammates, fought for victory in the “992” class for a long time, but 30 minutes before the finish of the 12-hour race, their “Porsche 911 GT3 CUP” car suffered a half-shaft defect, forcing them to finish the race prematurely

This year, Valters is competing in the full season of the “24H Series” championship with “Muhlner Motorsport” and together with him, Estonian Martin Rump and German Julian Hanses took the starting line at the Mugello track in the first round. The season opener saw 32 teams take to the field, 11 of which were in the “992” class, where Valter’s team is competing, promising a very exciting race. It should be noted that the Mugello 12-hour endurance race is divided into two parts due to noise restrictions – the first seven hours were held on Saturday, while the final five hours took place on Sunday.

The race weekend began on Friday with practice and qualifying. “We had a successful practice session, preparing the car for the upcoming qualifying. In qualifying, all three of us had good speed and showed a good result, qualifying second in class, just a few tenths behind the leaders. I could have gone even faster on my flying lap, but I didn’t want to damage the tire too much, because all three of us had one set of tires in qualifying. Considering that rain was expected in the following days, the starting position wasn’t that important, but it was still nice to be at the top from the very beginning,” said Valters Zviedris about the first day at the Mugello track.

While practice and qualifying were still conducted on a dry track on Friday, heavy rain fell on Friday evening, with light drizzle continuing into the morning of the race. Already on Friday evening, at the team strategy meeting, it was decided that Rump would start first, Zviedris second, and Hanses third. At the beginning of the race, the “992” class competitors “Red Camel-Jordans.nl” who started from first place managed to pull away a little, however, in the following hours the lead decreased and due to the different strategies, several changes of the leading position took place between the two teams.

“During my drive, it was already drying out considerably and we managed to drive quite a lot on a half-dry track with rain tires. I was satisfied with my first drive, because we gained quite a lot of time during my drive. The speed was good in such changeable and drying weather conditions, because our cars were more designed for dry weather. Julian sat behind the wheel next, who also showed good speed, while Martin successfully concluded the first day at the wheel. After the first seven hours, we were in first place in the class and in a high 6th place overall,” the Latvian driver comments on the first part of the race.

For the second part of the race, cars on the same lap are pushed together, so the main competitors “Red Camel-Jordans.nl”, despite having finished the first day more than two minutes behind the Swedish team, were again close at the start of the second part, with a fuller tank, which was a better starting point for Sunday’s strategy. It also didn’t help that Mugello had rained again during the night, making the track wet and not very suitable for the “Muhlner Motorsport” car’s settings.

“At the beginning of the second day, I sat behind the wheel first, starting again with wet slicks. Due to the aforementioned regulations, I lost quite a bit of time at the beginning. In the drying conditions, I was faster than my competitors again, but by then we had already lost quite a bit. Also, due to the strategy, we could not enter the pits during “Code 60” to refuel, which worked against us. Then Julian sat behind the wheel and in the dry conditions with the slick slicks we were able to start chasing. The speed was good and due to the different strategy, we exchanged the leading position with our competitors from time to time,” Valters describes the unsuccessful start of Sunday.

Then came the final change of the race, in which Rump sat behind the wheel. The Estonian was again very fast in completely dry conditions, took first place and everyone was waiting to see how the strategy of the two “992” class leaders would play out. “Red Camel-Jordans.nl” had a full tank and were behind Valter’s team, but “Muhlner Motorsport” still had to refuel. They waited for “Code 60” to refuel, losing less time and, perhaps, at the expense of that, to stay in the lead, but, unfortunately, 30 minutes before the end, the rear left half-shaft of the “Porsche 911 GT3 CUP” piloted by Rump broke.

“Very unfortunate, because the driveshaft was completely new for this race and it definitely had to withstand these 12 hours. It’s hard to blame the team or the drivers, that’s just the nature of technical sports. Since replacing a driveshaft usually takes 30-40 minutes, with 30 minutes to go until the finish flag, it wasn’t worth fixing anything and trying to catch up. Of course, after this painful technical retirement so shortly before the end, there were emotions and it was difficult to accept it, but overall the atmosphere in the team was good throughout the weekend,” the Latvian pilot comments on his painful retirement.

Despite the unsuccessful first stage, there are still four races ahead of us this season, during which it is possible to continue the fight for the “24H Series” title. Participation in this championship and starting in such a strong team would not be possible without the reliable supporters, to whom Valters began to express special thanks: “Many thanks to my partners “Baltijas Sporta Auto – Porsche Latvija”, “Optibet Latvija”, “iPS Media”, “Industry Service Partner”, Jūrmala, “Blue Shock Race”, “Joker klubs”, “Energolukss”, “I-Con” and SIA “Dārta”.”

The next round of the “24H Series” championship will take place in just three weeks – on 18-20 April 2025 – at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

More information about the “24H Series” championship is available on their website www.24hseries.com, while you can follow Valters Zviedris’ racing progress on his social media profiles on Facebook and Instagram.

Photos by: 24H Series

Information prepared by: Arturs Virbulis

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In Latvian –

Zviedris cīņā par uzvaru Mudžello 12 stundu sacensībās īsi pirms finiša piedzīvo sāpīgu izstāšanos

Zviedris cīņā par uzvaru Mudžello trasē īsi pirms finiša piedzīvo sāpīgu izstāšanos

https://sportacentrs.com/motoru_sports/28032025-zviedris_cina_par_uzvaru_mudzello_isi_pir