January 28, 2025 | GT Winter Series
The first 30-minute sprint race of the weekend marked the GT3 racing debut of talented Emirati
Keanu Al Azhari, driving a Porsche 992 GT3 R entered by SSR Performance. During qualifying, Al Azhari’s fastest lap time was deleted for failing to slow under yellow flags. His time was good enough for pole position, but instead he would start the race from sixth.
SR Motorsport’s Moritz Wiskirchen inherited pole, holding off fellow front-row starter Jerzy Spinkiewicz, and the fast-starting MZR KTM X-Bow GT2 of Simon Willner. Further back, Al Azhari quickly began dispatching the drivers ahead of him, and had moved up to second after less than ten minutes of green flag racing.
By the time Al Azhari passed the Cup 4 leading UNIQ Lamborghini of Jerzy Spinkiewicz, he had
an eight-second deficit to make up against leader Moritz Wiskirchen. The green Porsche began to repeatedly set purple sectors, and with eight minutes left to go, Al Azhari had caught the SR Performance Mercedes.
However, the dirty air began to play its part, and Al Azhari had to exercise patience behind
Wiskirchen. However, on the penultimate lap, Wiskirchen ran fractionally wide at turn three. This compromised his run through turn four, towards the hairpin. Al Azhari had made several
overtakes at turn five during the race, and fittingly, his definitive move for the lead also occurred at that corner.
Al Azhari won the race by just over a second, ahead of Wiskirchen. Cup 4 winner Jerzy
Spinkiewicz rounded out the overall podium. In Cup 1, AF Corse’s Cristiano Maciel took the victory after a hard fought battle with Oscar Ryndziewicz of Mertel Motorsport. Ryndziewicz thrived in his first race using a Ferrari 296 Challenge, and the fourth race of his career.
On Sunday morning, Al Azhari started from pole position, alongside the identical Razoon – more
than racing Porsche of Simon Birch. The two teenage hotshoes made short work of gapping the
field, and while Birch was unable to find a way by, he gave Al Azhari no reprieve.
The race concluded with a one-lap dash, after a Safety Car was triggered by an accident between
Seweryn Mazur’s GT3 Poland Cup 4 Lamborghini, and the GT3 Mercedes of SPS Automotive’s
Dexter Mueller. The Swiss racer had an incident during qualifying that consigned him to starting last. After working his way into the top ten quickly, an ambitious lunge at turn three caught out Mazur, who cut across the Mercedes to take the normal racing line.
Courtesy of the late Safety Car, Al Azhari won by just four tenths of a second over Birch, while UNIQ Racing’s Jerzy Spinkiewicz once again finished third overall and won Cup 4.
Rafael Duran, on his first-ever racing weekend, took fifth place overall and the Cup 1 win for AF Corse. He finished behind the KTM X-Bow GT2 of Simon Willner, which was entered into the Cup X class. Sunday afternoon’s 55-minute pitstop race was held in slippery conditions, after rain arrived over the lunch break. Keanu Al Azhari’s SSR Porsche was withdrawn from the race, opening the floodgates for a different winner. From the outside of the first row, SR Motorsport’s Kenneth Heyer swept into an early lead.
The race concluded with a one-lap dash, after a Safety Car was triggered by an accident between
Seweryn Mazur’s GT3 Poland Cup 4 Lamborghini, and the GT3 Mercedes of SPS Automotive’s
Dexter Mueller. The Swiss racer had an incident during qualifying that consigned him to starting last. After working his way into the top ten quickly, an ambitious lunge at turn three caught out Mazur, who cut across the Mercedes to take the normal racing line.
Courtesy of the late Safety Car, Al Azhari won by just four tenths of a second over Birch, while UNIQ Racing’s Jerzy Spinkiewicz once again finished third overall and won Cup 4.
Rafael Duran, on his first-ever racing weekend, took fifth place overall and the Cup 1 win for AF Corse. He finished behind the KTM X-Bow GT2 of Simon Willner, which was entered into the Cup X class. Sunday afternoon’s 55-minute pitstop race was held in slippery conditions, after rain arrived over the lunch break. Keanu Al Azhari’s SSR Porsche was withdrawn from the race, opening the floodgates for a different winner. From the outside of the first row, SR Motorsport’s Kenneth Heyer swept into an early lead.
Through turn two, Andreas Bogh Sorensen made light contact with John Dhillon. Sorensen was
sent into a momentary spin, as both drivers shed a wing mirror. At turn five, Heyer drifted wide, and Jerzy Spinkiewicz inherited the race lead. Oscar Ryndziewicz soon found his way into second place, in the Cup 1 Mertel Motorsport Ferrari.
However, as the pit window began, Moritz Wiskirchen was handed the SR Motorsport Mercedes early. He immediately began setting fastest laps, and by the time the pitstops were completed, Wiskirchen had inherited the lead.
Further back, Matt Griffin (AF Corse) dispatched Oscar Ryndziewicz for the Cup 1 lead, in the Ferrari that Griffin inherited from John Dhillon. Soon after, Spinkiewicz lost second overall to Griffin, and in the wet conditions, all of the Ferrari 296 Challenge entries were moving forward.
Griffin was being chased down by the likes of Sean Hudspeth and Mikkel Mac, and as the final lap began, one last twist came as Moritz Wiskirchen withdrew from the race one lap before the chequered flag. The SR Motorsport Mercedes pulled into the garage, and this allowed Griffin to claim the overall win for himself and Dhillon, ahead of Sean Hudspeth in the car he took over from racing newcomer Rafael Duran. Mikkel Mac rounded out the overall and Cup 1 podium alongside Andreas Bogh Sorensen.
GT3 winners Thomas Andersen and Simon Birch (Razoon Porsche) finished fifth overall, behind
Rui Aguas and Cristian Maciel. The Portuguese pairing currently lead the overall championship
by ten points over SR Motorsport’s Wiskirchen and Heyer.
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMAO /P
30 JAN – 02 FEB 6h of PORTIMÃO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
13 MAR – 16 MAR 6h of BARCELONA /E
