Thrilling action and surprise winners at the GT Winter Series Portimao

Sprint races with pepper at the top
The two sprint races of the GT Winter Series at Portimao had it all. The Audi R8 LMS from Olimp Racing left a special scent mark, not only starting from pole but also winning race 1 with commanding lap times. The driver was none other than ace Karol Basz, who shared the Audi with Marcin Jedlinski.
The overall leaders were also a lot of fun in Race 2, as the splendidly mounted Axel Sartingen put a lot of pressure on with his Black Falcon AMG GT3, clawing the LiLac Porsche GT3 R driven by the duo of Jim and Glynn Geddie as early as the first lap. The latter eventually took the win at the head of the field ahead of the crumbling Olimp Audi and Sartingen.
It was a pity that the Razoon KTM GTX could not start for technical reasons. Especially for Portimao a direct comparison with the GT3 cars would have been interesting. Now a start at the January race in Estoril is planned.
It should also be noted that the ex-DTM driver Timo Scheider, who was actually on a commanding pole for race 2, did not start – a pity, because he would have had every chance of taking the overall victory with his AMG GT3 entered by 10Q.

Cup Porsche with speed and discipline
The Cup class in Portimao reflected the speed that was indicated in qualifying. With times of 1:47 min, many a GT3 driver became envious and so the Cup Porsches, all of the 991.2 type, pushed forward into the front field. The Huber Motorsport driver Jakob Schell was particularly sovereign and won the class. Impressively, Simon Eibl from Laptime Performance was hardly inferior to him and finished P2. In race 2 Tim Hendrikx took over the wheel and had to leave the field to Ulrich Ziegler and David Assfalg on the HP-Porsche, they came in P2 after the Huber Porsche.

GT4 with clear fronts – who should beat Oeverhaus?
Theo Oeverhaus drove in front in both sprint races with his AMG GT4 entered by CV Performance as if he was driving in a class of his own. There was no doubt about his victory at any time. Not even the reigning champions Haub/Jilkova could do anything about it, even though they drove solidly and quickly, but ultimately had to settle for P2. In race 2 the second CV-AMG got into better and better shape and even finished ahead of the car of the champions entered by Zakowski van Ommen Racing, which thus only came in third. Reason for the placement was for Robert Haub and “Quick Gabi” above all that they had to take up run 2 because of a defect in need of repair before from the pit lane and had to fight first laboriously through the field.
However, “Team mates on the march” was also the motto at DRAGO ZvO, because the sister car with the line-up of Martin Toth and Josef Liska crawled within sight of the Champs in the lap times and drew solid fast laps.
Father and son Gisy offered a sight worth seeing. While father Christian was slightly ahead in terms of lap times, son Moritz was able to catch up and turn the finishing order for race 2 – here it was “son before father” – great! By the way, the offspring also had to compete in the Sartingen house. Son Mika did better and better on the Black Falcon Porsche 718 GT4 and drove in race 2 already in the good front midfield of the GT4.

BMW M2 and KTM
In the BMW M2 CS Racing Winter Cup Marcel Marchewicz on the Schnitzelalm M2 was the power that could not be beaten. He kept up with the GT4s and left quite a few of them behind him – the 450 hp version of BMW’s current Cup racer obviously has the potential for this.
In the KTM sport auto Wintercup Robert Schiftner drove his Razoon Racing X-Bow R very well. Although he was unable to match his qualifying lap time, the pace was sufficient to keep up with the GT4s. In any case, it was noticeable that at a summery 20 degrees around noon, the times dropped noticeably.

Full throttle throughout in the Endurance
Almost idyllic could be called the conditions that prevailed in Race 3, for with a finish just before half past six it was a veritable red sundowner with temperatures still spring-like just in time for the checkered flag.
If it hadn’t been written on the flag, you wouldn’t have thought that the race was designed as an endurance race, because the race was so lively from the first moment on. Especially Daniel Schwerfeld, who shared the Black Falcon AMG GT3 with Axel Sartingen and was allowed to drive the start, grabbed the Olimp-Audi R8 on new Michelin tires right in the starting lap and drove up and away – he was caught up by the circumstance of a safety car phase, which ended only shortly before the volley of pit stops. Colleague Sartingen could not quite keep up with the other GT3s, although the lap times were very good, but the field was very tight and high-caliber.
Once again Jakob Schell in the Huber Porsche impressed, driving the endurance run alone and finishing in P5 overall by far the best Cup car.
Sartingen’s son Mika, who led the Porsche GT4 field throughout the weekend and thus also in Endurance, can take some credit for his performance. This is by no means a matter of course for a rookie.
The Dutch drivers of RFF Motorsport should also be mentioned, because they managed more than once with their 981 GT4s to leave the newer 718 Porsches behind and keep them in check. We also particularly liked the fact that Karsten Krämer’s GT4 “Caymen” picked up more and more speed and were able to keep up with the GT4 field.

Oeverhaus leads the standings
The overall winners in terms of points are always determined according to the motto “the score is settled at the end”. The credo of the GT Winter Series is that not the fastest car should get the most points, but the driver who has shown the best performance in the most competitive environment. Thus, the GTWS has a points system that primarily takes into account the number of starters in the class.
Theo Oeverhaus takes the lead in the standings with flawless victories in the most competitive class.

The next round will take place on January 15 and 16, 2022, at the traditional Estoril circuit near Lisbon.

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