The GT Winter Series will complete its semi-final round of the 2022/2023 season at the circuit in Navarra, with around 25 GT cars competing in the penultimate event of the season.

Premiere in the GT Winter Series. In the fourth year of the championship, the GT racing series is making its first guest appearance in Navarra. The championship, organised by GEDLICH Racing, will once again bring a spectacular field of GT3, GT4 and Cup cars to the starting line in Los Arcos.

In the championship, Manthey driver Dustin Blattner has the lead. But after the event in Valencia, the driver competing under a US licence had to end his season. Blattner will now keep his fingers crossed from home that he can still win the GT Winter Series title with the five strike results. In second position is GT4 driver Simon Connor Primm. Primm, who drives a CV Performance Group Mercedes-AMG GT4, is 7.4 points behind Blattner. Andreas Greiling and Jens Richter, who are dominating the season with their Porsche Cayman in the Cup 3 class, are in third championship position.

At the event in northern Spain, the GT Winter Series will once again compete with a mixed starting field of young drivers, gentleman drivers and seasoned professionals supporting the gentlemen, ensuring the special partnership environment of the GT Winter Series.

GT3 drivers set for victory

The GT3 cars will probably fight for the overall victory in Navarra, although the drivers should not ignore the fast Cup Porsches. At the last event in Valencia, the reigning DTM champion team Schubert Motorsport made its debut in the GT Winter Series. Torsten Schubert’s racing team brought a BMW M4 GT3 to the start for Darren Leung. The experienced GT3 driver was able to finish on the podium against strong competition. The same goes for the PROsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Maxime Dumarey and Jean Glorieux. At the event in Navarra, the two cars will be fighting for the top results with the Die Biermacher Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Uwe Lauer and his coach Francesco Lopez.

Is it now the Kapfingers’ hour in Cup 2?

In the Porsche Carrera Cup class, the Kapfingers were able to improve more and more over the course of the season. The two brothers use the GT Winter Series for personal advancement in their motorsport careers and as a perfect training platform for young talent. In the course of the season so far, they have been able to beat championship leader Blattner on the track time and again and have impressed the paddock with their improved performance. Michael Kapfinger in particular knew how to surprise time and again when he was able to keep up with and beat the current models with the 991.2 generation Cup Porsche.
The PTT Racing car will also be a force to be reckoned with in Navarra. Igor Klaja and Mateusz Lisowski won the highly competitive class at the season opener in Portimao.
In addition, the fifth event of the season will see exciting newcomers in the Cup 2 class who are looking to get a taste of the GT Winter Series and are considering contesting the full season in the championship in 2023/2024.

CV Performance Group vs. PROsport Racing in GT4

In the GT4 class, exciting battles are again expected between the CV Performance Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Simon Connor Primm and Jan Philipp Springob and the three PROsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4s for the class win. Reigning ADAC GT4 Germany champion Mike David Ortmann will again share a car with Düsseldorf-based Ukrainian entrepreneur Yevgen Sokolovskiy. Czech Gabriela Jilkova, who was GT Winter Series champion in the 2020/2021 season, will have a new teammate at her side: Sweden’s Jessica Bäckman, who was runner-up in the ADAC TCR Germany in 2022, will be active in GT4 racing for the first time. With the experienced Aston Martin team and Jilkova as her teammate, she is in a perfect position to learn a lot on the race weekend.

Modern race track

The Circuito de Navarra in Los Arcos was completed in June 2010. The track is 3,933 metres long and the longest straight measures 800 metres. The slightly hilly track with six left-hand and nine right-hand corners is mainly used for car races, such as the GT1 World Championship and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, as well as the Superleague Formula. Due to the FIA Grade 1T track licence, Formula 1 test runs are also likely to take place on the circuit.

At 12:10 and 14:25 on 5th March, the two GT Winter Series sprint races will take place at the Circuito de Navarra. At 16:45, the race day will conclude with the one-hour Endurance race. Sunday will be heralded by a two-part qualifying session. On the practice day, the pilots can get to know the circuit very well during extensive test drives.

As a road and race car, the KTM X-BOW in its variants is a dynamic lightweight with solid technology and controllable handling.

KTM and sport auto are launching their own Winter Cup and integrating it into the proven GT Winter Series format. Interested racers can book in for individual races or an entire season and compete for victories or the title of Cup Champion.

The KTM X-BOW consists mainly of components from a racing car and stands for pure driving. The excellently controllable handling and low weight guarantee maximum enjoyment on the track and make it a fabulous race car.

To KTM Wintercup Website >>

Goodyear has been a partner of the GT Winter Series since its launch. Now the extension of the partnership has been announced.

Goodyear is THE name in international motorsport. The partner from Hanau has been part of the GTWS since the beginning. Also in the 2021/2022 season, the experts will be in the paddock to provide the drivers with optimal material.

Goodyear Motorsport Director Alexander Kühn: “The GT Winter Series has developed magnificently and is a great winter activity for many teams and drivers. So it is only logical for us to support. We have excellent products for all classes.”

In the GT Winter Series there is no tire commitment, everyone can drive the brand they want. However, there are good reasons to choose Goodyear, even if you may have driven a different brand so far.

The all-new BMW M2 CS Racing Winter Cup, on the other hand, makes Goodyear mandatory. Project Manager Robin Selbach explains: “In a Cup, everything revolves around absolute equality of opportunity. So it is optimal if all drivers are on the road with identical material. So in the end, only the driver and the team count.”

Goodyear tires can be ordered via the order form, which is available for download on the GTWS website.

The fifth season of the GT Winter Series got underway in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Estoril near Lisbon over the weekend. Three races delivered three different winners in conditions that ranged from greasy to downright soaking.

Race 1

The track was thoroughly wet in Saturday’s first 30-minute race, but at least the teams knew what they were getting into before it began. It was a case of rain tyres up and down the grid, which formed up in front of a busy main grandstand containing around 2000 spectators.

Louis Stern started from pole position in his BMW M4, but the FK Performance man could not hold off the powerful Lamborghini Super Trofeo Evo II machine of Andrzej Lewandowski for long. Just one lap, in fact, as the Polish driver whizzed past him as the pack thundered down past the pits for the second time. And moments later, Stern also succumbed to the GT3 Ferrari 488 of Krystian Korzeniowski.

Despite a safety car around the halfway mark, and the weather acting as a leveller between the GT3 cars and the various examples of ‘Cup’ machinery, the field ended up spreading itself out. Particularly after Stern fell foul of the treacherous braking zone for Turn 1, and slammed into Korzeniowski as the latter turned into the right-hander.

Lewandowski cantered to victory by almost 10 seconds, with Leandro Martins (Racar Motorsport Cup Porsche) and Jay Mo Härtling rounding out the overall podium. The latter was winner of the GT3 class in his SR Motorsport Mercedes.

It was a race in which finishing was an achievement in itself. Among those more than pleased with reaching the flag in such conditions was Przemyslaw Bienkowski. After all, the PTT Racing Team man was competing in his very first car race – and Estoril in the wet is the kind of challenge that forges heroes. Just ask anybody old enough to recall Ayrton Senna’s 1985 Portuguese GP drive…
Lewandowski drove to victory by almost ten seconds, while Leandro Martins (Racar Motorsport Cup Porsche) and Jay Mo Härtling completed the podium. The latter won the GT3 class in his SR Motorsport Mercedes.
It was a race in which finishing was an achievement in itself. Among those more than satisfied with reaching the flag in such conditions was Przemyslaw Bienkowski. The PTT Racing Team driver was driving his very first car race and Estoril in the rain is no easy task then. Just ask anyone old enough to remember Ayrton Senna’s race in the 1985 Portuguese GP….

Handy links:

» Full Photo Gallery

» What is Winter Series?

» Re-Live Saturday

» Re-Live Sunday

Race 2

The action ramped up for the second sprint on Sunday – a race that started damp, finished wetter and had pretty much everything in between.
The Lamborghini, now in the hands of Andrzej’s son Adrian, certainly had the power and pace to score a repeat win. Lewandowski Junior was almost too fast for his own good at the start, as he looked to find a way between the two front-row drivers ahead of him. Unfortunately, the gap between Kenneth Heyer and Leandro Martins closed, which resulted in Martins’ luminous yellow Cup Porsche spearing off into the barriers at considerable velocity.
While Martins managed to avoid taking anybody with him in what was ultimately a racing incident, a lengthy red flag was needed to clean up the mess.

Lewandowski couldn’t stay out of trouble at the second start either. This time around, the issue was moving up the field a little too enthusiastically, as he took the lead moments after an early safety car was called. He picked up a 15-second stop-go penalty for that, and dropped to the back of the pack. A second safety car gave him a chance of a stellar recovery drive, but he tangled with Thor Haugen (Pellin Racing GT3 Ferrari 488) after that restart, which really did put paid to his hopes.
Christian Hook (Rinaldi Racing) was another man who showed terrific pace in the conditions, getting the best out of the field’s only Ferrari 296. He worked his way up from a lowly grid position in impressive style, and actually crossed the line first. Unfortunately for Hook, he was also a little too enthusiastic at that second safety car restart. He called on his car’s power a touch too early as he challenged Uwe Lauer for third place, and he too picked up a penalty. But the punishment was announced late, after Hook had made his way to the very top. So he crossed the line first – but was later demoted to seventh.
So who did get it right on Sunday morning? The fastest man to stay out of trouble was Uwe Lauer, representing Die Biermacher Racing and driving a GT3 Ferrari 488. He came home a little over a second ahead of PTT Racing’s Hubert Darmetko in the leading Cup-spec Porsche.

Race 3

The enduro was the driest of the three GT Winter Series races, but by no means did that mean the track was ready for slicks. Almost all the front runners bolted on wet tyres – with AF Corse’s Pirelli-shod Ferrari a notable exception.

Matt Griffin started that car at the back of the field, and it made steady progress in the race as any further rain stayed away. John Dillon took it over in third place following the pitstops, but despite his best defensive efforts, he couldn’t prevent Joachim Bölting passing him for the last podium spot.

Up ahead, the SR Motorsport Mercedes cruised home by half a minute in the hands of Härtling. The young German’s team-mate Kenneth Heyer had taken the lead from Mateusz Lisowski (PTT Racing Cup Porsche) and never looked back as the slowly drying circuit made it harder for the latter to compete with a GT3 machine.
Solo driver Lisowski came in a lonely second for class honours, ahead of Bölting and Dhillon.

The Lewandowski Lamborghini started the race from the pitlane, and never did run well following the accident at the start of Race 2. It also added a further couple of penalties to its bouquet for the weekend, this time for pitlane infringements. There’s no doubting the speed of the car, which runs in a ‘Cup’ class all of its own, but team and drivers could have a lot more success at the next round in Portimao if they cut down on the errors.

17-year-old Mercedes AMG driver Finn Wiebelhaus impressed on his first weekend in GT racing with two wins out of three at Portimao.

Wiebelhaus, who until this event had only competed in Formula 4, was headed just once all weekend. Defeat to Jay Mo Härtling’s Mercedes in the Saturday sprint was the only glitch in his Algarve outing, but victory in both the sprint and the enduro on Sunday still represented a strong GT Winter Series debut for both Wiebelhaus and the Haupt Racing Team.

Race 1

Härtling (SR Motorsport) and Wiebelhaus simply pulverised their rivals as they finished 1-2 in the Saturday sprint.

Wiebelhaus shadowed Härtling all the way but couldn’t quite summon up a move on the rival Mercedes, which already had a series win to its name following the Estoril enduro a week earlier.

“The first step of the podium would be better,” said Wiebelhaus. “But Jay Mo drove a perfect race.”

The pair’s superiority at Portimao was perhaps best illustrated by what happened after a mid-race safety car period ended with a little under nine minutes left on the clock. The duo had rebuilt their lead over third place to the staggering tune of 34 seconds by the flag.

Picking up the juiciest of the scraps behind the two German youngsters was their veteran countryman Christian Hook, who rounded out the podium in the field’s only Ferrari 296. The Rinaldi Racing man had a fairly lonely drive himself, at least once he’d gotten past the Laptime Performance Cup Porsche 992 of Alex Hardt, which then promptly broke down and caused the aforementioned safety car.

As is often proving to be the case in the GT Winter Series, Polish driver Adrian Lewandowski was responsible for much of the entertainment. After his fast but furious outing at Estoril, he admitted to being extra-cautious this weekend. It showed at both the first start and the safety car restart, as the Pole allowed himself to lose several positions at each. But that simply cleared the stage for two stirring comebacks in the GT3 Poland Lamborghini Super Trofeo Evo II. He’d found his way back to fourth place for the second time in 30 minutes when the chequered flag came out.

Winners of classes with more than one entry were Lewandowski, Leandro Martins (Racar Motorsport Cup Porsche 992) and John Dhillon in the AF Corse Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo.

Martins’ class win was particularly sweet, as his car was an emergency replacement for the one written off in the previous week’s startline accident at Estoril. Having travelled all the way from Germany to the Algarve, the Porsche had only reached the Racar garage just in time to compete on the weekend.

Race 2

Wiebelhaus’ path to victory was always going to be a little easier as the slightly less rapid Kenneth Heyer took over the SR Mercedes for the second sprint race. So it was no surprise that he had established a solid lead over Heyer and Lewandowski when a curious red flag came out on the fifth lap.

The incident began with Thor Haugen (Pellin Racing Ferrari 488) biffing the Cup Porsche of Morten Stromsted (Sunder Motorworks) from behind. When a chunk of Haugen’s front end subsequently went flying, it proved a quite a shock for innocent follower Igor Klaja (PTT Racing). The latter Porsche spun and crashed as it tried to take evasive action, giving the barrier a good clout. The clean-up operation took too long to cover under safety car.

But none of this affected Wiebelhaus, who repeated his disappearing act after the race was restarted with enough time left on the clock for four laps. Heyer and Lewandowski left each other in peace to complete the podium.

Martins earned fourth overall and another satisfying class win. While Lewandowski again claimed the Trofeo Lamborghini class, enthusiastic Portimao fan Motohiko Isozaki (AF Corse) was winner amongst the Cup Ferraris.

Race 3

The final race of the weekend was another reasonably straightforward outing for solo driver Wiebelhaus. Heyer drove the SR Mercedes first in the 50-minute clash, allowing Wiebelhaus to build up a lead of over 20 seconds as the pitstop window opened. Not the sort of deficit Härtling was ever going to be able to make up in the second half of the race, given how similar his pace was to that of Wiebelhaus.

Lewandowski occupied third place over the first half of the race, but there were some concerns about the Lamborghini’s engine and the team made a precautionary oil fill at pitstop time. Lewandowski thus emerged behind fellow solo driver and Pole Mateusz Lisowski (PTT Racing Team Cup Porsche).

Both Polish racers then saw Daan Arrow swoop past in a matter of moments. The Dutchman was positively flying after taking over the Good Speed Racing Mercedes from starting driver Piotr Wira, and reeling off lap times comparable with those of Wiebelhaus and Härtling up ahead. Arrow was too far back to expect any better than third place, but he duly delivered the final podium spot.

Lewandowski re-passed Lisowski for fourth place overall, each claiming their respective classes. Best in the Cup Ferrari class was AF Corse pairing John Dhillon and Matt Griffin.

Handy links:

» Full Photo Gallery

» We asked the paddock!

» Re-Live Saturday

» Re-Live Sunday

The GT Winter Series offers winter racing at the best locations in Spain and Portugal. It is now entering its third season and is becoming even more attractive.

On December 11 and 12, 2021, the GT Winter Series 2021/2022 will kick off this year’s winter season in Portimao. The motto: even more attractive cars, even more attractive calendar, even better conditions for teams and drivers.

The calendar makes impressive reading. With Portimao, Estoril, Jerez and Barcelona Catalunya, the GTWS has four absolute top locations in its program. All races feature identical timings as well as plenty of driving time with two qualifying sessions, two sprint races and a 45-minute Endurance. You can choose whether you drive the weekend alone or share it with another driver.

New for the 2021/2022 season is an alignment of competitiveness, also called Balance of Performance. This relates primarily to the classes in which GT3 and GT4 vehicles compete. This will improve the competitiveness of all vehicles.

In addition, the structure of the classes has been streamlined and added the BMW M2 CS Racing Winter Cup and the KTM Winter Cup, which bring real cup fighting with identical cars to the start.

Registrations start now, the entry fee is € 1,490 per event.

December 11/12, 2021 Portimão/P
January 15/16, 2022 Estoril/P
February 12/13, 2022 Jerez/E
tba March 2022 Barcelona/E

The BMW M2 CS Racing Winter Cup is entering its first season. It sees itself as a complement to the national cups in other countries and as a new platform for the BMW community. 

The BMW M2 CS Racing is the new sports machine from BMW. With an affordable purchase price, manageable running costs and plenty of driving fun, it is equally suitable for young drivers and experienced ones. Its 450 hp is exceptionally easy to control.

Called the “M2 Winter Cup” for short, the race series integrates itself into the GT Winter Series. It can therefore rely on proven structures and solid race execution. The M2 drivers race at four events on the best tracks in Spain and Portugal.

Particularly attractive: the M2 Winter Cup can be raced with a national A license and provides points for the popular BMW Sports Trophy.

To M2 Wintercup Website >>

The season finale of the GT Winter Series and the Formula Winter Series in Barcelona will use the track variant that will be used in Formula 1 for the first time since 2006.

Short-term change for the season finale of the Winter Series racing series from March 10 to 12 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: After Formula 1 announced that it will use the old track layout in the final sector again, the Formula Winter Series and the GT Winter Series will follow the change and will also use the two fast right-hand corners. The two challenging downhill corners will be replaced by a slow chicane, which has not been met with much enthusiasm by drivers and fans. It can be assumed that many other racing series will follow this change from the Formula 1.

Project manager Robin Selbach: “Our Formula 4 drivers want to use the Formula Winter Series as a stepping stone towards Formula 1 and its frame series. To do this, we want to give them the perfect opportunity to learn, and that’s why we’ll be driving on the Formula 1 version of the track at our finale in Barcelona, after the latter announced the change at short notice. We will also use the modified track variant in the GT Winter Series.”

Sportwagenzentrum Mettlen, that is the full name of the small team based near Lake Constance. The Swiss team has been competing with exotics in Central European sports car series for several years. Now they are competing in the GT Winter Series.

“We want to break new ground and get to know new tracks at the same time,” says René Buchs of SZM Motorsport. “So far, we’ve mainly been racing in the AvD 100 Miles and the European Sports Car Challenge, but now we’re extending our season into the winter and racing Endless Summer and the GT Winter Series.” The team is certainly capable of a lot, as it has a lot of experience with prototypes.

The regular driver is Michael Obrist, who not only has a lot of experience with racing prototypes, but is also closely associated with Team SZM Motorsport. His race car will be a Wolf GB08. The flat prototype weighs only 380 kg dry weight and is powered by a 200 hp Honda Fireblade engine. Obrist: “It’s fantastic – the car drives like a thoroughbred formula car, but has disguised wheels. You really feel the lightness when you drive it. It’s a real racing car.”

So the goals of Sportwagenzentrum Mettlen are clear: to be a major player in the GT Winter Series, to be at the top of the prototype class and, above all, to have a lot of fun in the sunny south.

sportwagenzentrum-mettlen.ch »

This year’s season is still in full swing and there is still almost a year to go before the GT Winter Series and Formula Winter Series start their next sunny winter. Nevertheless, promoter Gedlich Racing already announces a preliminary calendar that is not so preliminary at all.

Calendar is similar to this year’s
“Our goal is to be able to offer approximately the same calendar every season. That way, teams and drivers can prepare early and plan their winter racing season,” says Robin Selbach of Gedlich Racing. And so the calendar for 2023/2024 is almost like the one for this season. Only one new track is included in the program.

Now two racing days
The biggest difference is that the new season will feature two racing days per event. While this season the entire schedule took place on Sunday, qualifying and racing will then be spread over two days. This will loosen up the schedule and make room for more race series, which are still waiting to be announced.

Aragón back on the program
Back on the schedule is Motorland Aragón. This ultra-modern track was not only built by Hermann Tilke and is one of the most modern facilities in the world, but is also home to the Moto GP. The latest safety standards, 5.7 km in length and fabulous track layout ensure exciting races in a professional environment. The GTWS already raced there in the Corona year 2021.

GT Winter Series and Formula Winter Series
Also on board, in addition to the GT Winter Series, which includes various classes of GT Sports, is once again the Formula Winter Series. “There will be details of the innovations for this shortly,” says Selbach, “including the number of races, classes and staging modes.”

Calendar already almost fixed, enrollment or reservation possible
Gedlich Racing can already name a preliminary calendar, where almost all locations are fixed. Only the final confirmation of Barcelona is still pending.

For questions or feedback, teams are welcome to contact Robin Selbach or GTWS race series coordinator Stefan Lehner at any time. Here you can pre-register for the race series, so that your starting place is secured. Alternatively, you can already register now.

Robin Selbach
robin@gt-winter-series.com
+49 172 7220111

Stefan Lehner
stefan@gt-winter-series.com
+49 173 5252621

Preliminary calendar 2023/2024
16/17 Dec 2023 Portimao/P
13/14 Jan 2024 Estoril/P
10/11 Feb 2024 Jerez/E
17/18 Feb 2024 Valencia/E
02/03 Mar 2024 Aragón/E
09/10 Mar 2024 Barcelona/E (tbc)