Month: November 2023

The great end-of-season race, both for lovers of the classics and for those who like to follow the great machines of our day.

December begins with a weekend of great races at the historic Estoril Circuit and using the challenging layout with the famous tank curve. The program includes the long-awaited final of the Iberian Historic Endurance, with a grid full of treasures from the heyday of endurance motorsport and the traditional “LeMans” start to enhance an always spectacular race.

We will also have the fiercely contested finals of the Mighty Mini Trophy and Group 1 and a new Endurance concept: The Estoril 500Km, a race where all competition cars after 1990 can line up, and where the strategy will tend to mitigate the differences in pace different categories of cars and compete for leadership. Dont miss!

Three unmissable classic car competitions, highlighting the great Iberian Historic Endurance race, with the now famous “Le Mans-like” start.

And the Estoril 500 km, a new endurance concept for modern cars from the most diverse categories, in teams with up to 6 drivers, in a challenge of strategy and management of pit stops.

The program will consist of different grids:

– 250km Historic Endurance

– Race of the 80s

– Group 1 + Mini Trophy

– 500 km from Estoril

The organization of this event is in charge of Race Ready, it also has the support of Circuito do Estoril, an event in partnership with the Motor Clube do Estoril and the Portuguese Automobile and Karting Federation.

Circuito Estoril

The second race of the final round of this year’s Iberian Supercars Endurance and Portuguese Speed ​​Championship season, the Estoril Season Finale, was once again dramatic, with José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu becoming GT4 Pro Champions in their first victory. Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina.

After the morning race, the BMW M4 GT4 duo from Speedy Motorsport needed a second place to win the title, regardless of the result of their great rivals – Nuno Pires and Elias Niskanen, in a Mercedes AMG GT4 from Lema Racing.

Jan Duran, in a Mercedes AMG GT4 from NM Racing Team, started from pole position, but at the start, Orlando Batina, in a BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from Batina Racing, from third position, was better when the traffic lights went out and left the first corner in command, followed by the ‘poleman’, of Patrick Cunha, Veloso Motorsport’s Audi R8 LMS GT4, and the two title candidates in the following positions, with Elias Niskanen commanding Francisco Abreu.

This group, also accompanied by Nil Montserrat (Mercedes from NM Racing Team), continued at high speed separated by a couple of seconds, with Jan Duran, trying to overtake Orlando Batina, and Elias Niskanen, eager to overtake Patrick Cunha, the most fierce. .

Close to the driver change window, the Spanish team’s recruit took command, while the Finn rose to third place, increasing his chances of winning the title.

It was in this scenario that the cars visited the pits, but when all the driver changes were made, Nuno Pires, who teams with Elias Niskanen in the Lema Racing Mercedes AMG, was followed by Guillermo Aso, in the Mercedes he shares with Jan Duran, Sérgio Azevedo, BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from Batina Racing, Francisco Cruz, in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 from Racar Motorsport that he shares with Pedro Perino, with José Carlos Pires only in fifth.

In this scenario, the title fell to Nuno Pires and Elias Niskanen, in Lema Racing’s Mercedes AMG, while the driver of Speedy Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4, to secure the title, had to move up to second.

However, two laps later, Guillermo Aso got in the way of overtaking a backmarker, missed the braking point and hit Nuno Pires’ Mercedes AMG, sending him into a spin.

Definitely late and without any prospect of being able to win the title, Nuno Pires entered the pits to retire, which handed the title to José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu, who managed to climb to third place.

Guillermo Aso would end up crossing the finish line in first place ahead of Sérgio Azevedo, but after the race, the Spaniard would end up being penalized with five seconds, due to his role in the incident with Nuno Pires, finishing in sixth place, once that a late Safety Car compacted the field.

Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina were thus declared winners of the last race of the season, followed by José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu, who celebrated the title on the podium, and Francisco Cruz and Pedro Perino, who were classified in third place driving the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 from Racar Motorsport.

Alberto de Martín and Nil Montserrat, in the NM Racing Mercedes AMG, won the GT4 Bronze, but it was insufficient to prevent Jorge Rodrigues and Patrick Cunha, who finished in second place, from winning the titles, but are Champions of their division in the Iberian Supercars Endurance and Portuguese Speed ​​Championship.

Luís Calheiro and Paulo Macedo, in a Mercedes AMG GT4 from Lema Racing, with a solid race, were in third place ahead of Gabriela Correia – also in a car from Stuttgart, but from the JC Group Racing Team – who performed an eye-catching race since the eighteenth rank.

After the excellent recovery in the morning that took him to second place, Daniel Teixeira, starting from pole position in TCR, won his division and won the respective titles and also the Touring Car title in both championships.

The Cupra TCR driver from JT59 Racing Team was accompanied on the podium by father and son duo Paulo Silva and Guilherme Silva, in Audi RS3 LMS TCR from PDauto, and José Correia and Beatriz Correia, in Cupra TCR from JC Group Racing Team.

Borja Hormigos and Héctor Hérnandez, in the Autoworks Motorsport BMW M240i Racing, concluded the season in perfect fashion, with another triumph in the TC, and won the two titles in their division – the Iberian Supercars Endurance and the Portuguese Speed ​​Championship.

The Spanish duo was accompanied on the TC podium by the duo Duarte Camelo and Gabriel Caçoilo and by Mariana Machado, both in Ginetta G40 from the FPAK Junior Team. Duarte Camelo ended up being the best placed in the championships among the young drivers supported by the federative entity.

Álvaro Ramos and Fernando Soares, in Aston Martin Vantage AMR, won the race in GTX and, with that, won the titles of their division and the GTC category in both championships. Miguel Nabais and André Nabais, Speedy Motorsport’s McLaren 570S, came in second place ahead of Tomás Pinto Abreu and Simon Moore, Tockwith Motorsports’ Ginetta G50, who completed the GTX podium with a high-level performance on a track that was not very favorable to the car English.

Rui Miritta won the Cup division, and the Monteiro Competições driver benefited from a penalty from Marcus Fothergill and Dave Benett, who fell to second, which did not prevent them from winning the division in the national speed race and the Iberian race. João Posser and Miguel Caetano, in a Veloso Motorsport Porsche 911 Cup, completed the podium.

Source: RaceReady Iberian

Photos: @pedro_pinto_fotografia

Circuito Estoril

The Estoril Season Finale by NAPA has already started with the free practice session, with all the drivers and teams preparing for the final race of the season of the Iberian Supercars Endurance and the Portuguese Speed ​​Championship and among the candidates for the title already the appointments began.

It was under the glorious sun of the Autódromo do Estoril that the thirty-four registered cars took to the track to start the weekend of all the decisions and, despite some trends, the uncertainty is enormous with the seven fastest ‘stuck together’ ‘ in less than seven tenths of a second.

One of the complaints common to all drivers was the amount of traffic on the track, resulting from a large field of thirty-four cars, and this will be a challenge that in qualifications will have to be very well managed.

Yesterday, Elias Niskanen and Nuno Pires, in Lema Racing’s Mercedes AMG GT4, were the ones who best managed to deal with this problem and this allowed them to reach the top of the timesheets, beating Patrick Cunha and Jorge Rodrigues by a tenth of a second.

The Audi R8 LMS GT4 duo from Veloso Motorsport, which leads the GT4 Bronze on time, was the fastest in its division, starting its title bid in the best possible way.

However, their biggest rivals, Alberto de Martín and Nil Montserrat, in the NM Racing Team’s Mercedes AMG GT4, were not far behind, recording the fourth best time overall and losing just two tenths of a second to their opponents in the fight for the title. of the GT4 Bronze.

In GT4 Pro, in which Elias Niskanen and Nuno Pires were the fastest with their best time overall, it was Guillermo Aso and his new teammate, young Jan Duran, who set the second record, losing just two tenths to the Lema Racing duo, taking third place overall.

The GT4 Pro point leaders, José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu, were in seventh place in Speedy Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4, six tenths of a second behind their great rivals in the fight for the title, but the duo complained about the traffic on the track. , admitting to having the potential for more than what the time sheet showed.

Ahead of the drivers of the Bavarian car were Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina, in the BMW M4 (F82) GT4 from Batina Racing, and Manuel Gião and Roberto Faria, in the Mercedes AMG GT4 from Racar Motorsport, who also proved to be very competitive and are candidates for fight for podium positions throughout the weekend.

In ninth position, with a good lap, was the best of the Touring cars, the Cupra TCR from the JT59 Racing Team driven by Daniel Teixeira, the main candidate to secure the category title.

Their great rivals, Borja Hormigos and Héctor Hernández, were in twenty-seventh place, but the Autoworks Motorsport BMW M240i Racing duo strive for consistency and have not yet demonstrated their true potential, focusing on learning the Estoril route, where both the pilots make their debut. Still, the Spanish duo was the fastest in the TC division.

The returning António Coimbra, in the competitive Sports & You Hyundai Elantra N TCR, was second fastest in the TCR division, six tenths of a second behind Daniel Teixeira

Álvaro Ramos and Fernando Soares were the fastest in the GTC category and the GTX division, driving the Aston Martin Vantage AMR from Araújo Competição, reinforcing their position as candidates for the titles they are fighting for.

However, Dave Benett and Marcus Fothergill, in a Tockwith Motorsports Porsche 911 Cup, were right on their heels, just two tenths behind, being second in the GTC and the fastest in the Cup division, and could seal the title this weekend. of the latter and is still involved in the fight for the category title.

Among the FPAK Junior Team drivers, the Ginetta G40 driven by Mariana Machado was the fastest, with twenty-ninth time, which was ahead of the other cars of the young hopes, with Duarte Camelo and Gabriel Caçoilo ahead Henrique Cruz and Duarte Pinto Coelho .

Qualifications will take place on Saturday, which can be followed via livetiming for those who cannot make it to the Autódromo do Estoril.

The races will be held on Sunday, the first at 9:40 am and the second at 2:35 pm, both of which can be followed live on the competitions’ official social networks and the first also live on A Bola TV.

Source: Race Ready Iberian

Photos: @filiperosaphoto