February 18, 2025 | GT4 Winter Series
In 2024 at Valencia, three manufacturers split the overall race victories in the GT4 Winter Series. 2025 was a markedly different story, thanks to the efforts of Jay Mo Hartling and Enrico Förderer of SR Motorsport.
Thursday’s running was sorely limited for the championship-leading Elite Motorsport crew, owing to mechanical issues in the McLaren Artura GT4. McKenzy Cresswell and the returning Tom Lebbon were ready to go by race day, thanks to the hard work of the team’s mechanics.
On the sighting lap before the first sprint race, Charlie Hart suffered a gear selection issue in the RAFA Racing by Race Lab McLaren. The car, scheduled to start the race from pole position, was instead pulled behind the barriers.
Once the race began, SR Motorsport’s Jay Mo Hartling immediately took the lead as the only car starting on the front row. The German racer was clinical at the front of the field, extending his gap to over 12 seconds by the end of the race, claiming the team’s second victory of the season.
Tom Lebbon repaid the efforts of his Elite Motorsport crew with a second-place finish. In the early stages of the race, the Brit was under pressure from the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin of Maximilian Hewitt.
However, Hewitt would begin to lose touch with Lebbon in the latter half of the 30-minute race, and would some come under scrutiny from Alon Gabbay in the W&S Motorsport Porsche. The two eventually collided at turn eight, as Hewitt tried to squeeze Gabbay out of the apex. Hewitt got the worst of the exchange, spinning out and dropping to sixth as a result. Gabbay finished third.
The battle for Cayman Trophy went down to the wire, as Oscar Ryndziewicz (Mertel Motorsport) was being hunted down by SR Motorsport’s Michael Sander, who received a drive-through penalty earlier in the race for contact.
Sander looked to have the measure of Ryndziewicz going into the final turn on the final lap. However, Ryndziewicz – who only debuted in racing at the GT Winter Series season opener at Estoril – pulled off a masterful switchback to win the class.
Race 2:
Enrico Förderer was on pole for the second race of the weekend in the SR Motorsport Mercedes.
He held the lead off the line, while Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell slotted into second place. BWT Mucke Motorsport’s Axel Bengtsson briefly held third, but was dispatched by Race Lab’s Callum Davies at turn six on the first lap. Baudouin Detout from Racing Spirit of Leman pulled into the pits after a lap, with a technical problem.
As the race whittled down to the final minutes, the McLarens of McKenzy Cresswell and Callum Davies duelled. After several edge-of-the-seat laps, it was Race Lab’s Davies that secured second place, ahead of Cresswell.
Once again, it was the SR Motorsport Mercedes represented on the top step of the podium; Enrico Förderer won the race by ten seconds.
Race 3:
The pitstop race began with a bold round-the-outside move at turn one from Tom Lebbon. The Elite Motorsport driver moved into the lead, but yielded the place a lap later, as he gained the position off-track.
With the lead back in Polesitter Jay Mo Hartling’s hands, he and Enrico Forderer set about completing the sweep of race victories. Even a safety car couldn’t halt the German pair’s progress. The pause to the action was long-anticipated, after Ravi Ramyead collided with Tim Horrell, and the former driver’s Century Motorsport BMW ended up beeched in the gravel. The safety car was delayed until the conclusion of the pit window.
Once the green flag waved once more, Förderer picked up where he left off previously, building his lead up to 9.6 seconds. Meanwhile, Lebbon and McKenzy Cresswell finished second, ahead of RAFA Racing’s Callum Davies and Charlie Hart.
The title battle intensifies as the final leg of the season approaches:
Next up, the GT4 Winter Series moves on to Motorland Aragon on 27 February-2 March.
SR Motorsport’s immaculate weekend means they now sit second in the standings on 155 points. This brings Jay Mo Hartling and Enrico Forderer are within 30 points of Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell, who leads on 184 points.
The Motorland Aragon event in 2024 was a thriller in the GT4 Winter Series, and all indications point to more of the same in less than two weeks!
