January 23, 2025 | GT4 Winter Series
While three teams and three manufacturers shared the victories at Estoril 12 months ago, the Elite Motorsport McLaren Artura of Joshua Rattican and McKenzy Cresswell swept all three races in 2025.
Saturday:
Saturday’s 30-minute sprint race, held in picturesque sunshine, saw Rattican escape the chasing pack from pole position. SR Motorsport’s Enrico Förderer would be the only driver to stay within sight of Rattican for much of the race. However, an ignition coil problem caused the 18-year-old German’s Mercedes to enter an emergency mode on 75 per cent power. This allowed the McLaren of GT4 debutant Charlie Hart (RAFA Racing by Race Lab) to inherit second position, while Förderer limped home to third.
Pro-AM victory would go to Tim Horrell of W&S Motorsport, who battled with the PROs throughout the race. After two years of development and hard work, the paraplegic racer reported feeling more comfortable than ever with his bespoke hand control setup.
Sunday:
Sunday morning marked the GT4 racing debut of GB3 race winner McKenzy Cresswell, and he would pick up the baton left by his teammate in the second sprint.
Wet conditions made for a largely spread out affair, and Cresswell would eventually win by 17 seconds. Peter Terting of Plusline Racing Team took second, also netting the PRO-AM victory in the #69 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS. 2024 GT Winter Series champion Jay Mo Hartling took third overall in the SR Motorsport Mercedes, ahead of SVG Motorsport’s Owen Hizzey. The PRO-AM class Ginetta moved up from ninth on the grid in the first laps of the race, much to the joy of the British team making its international GT debut.
Cedric Fuchs came home in fifth overall, winning Cayman Trophy in his CS-spec Porsche Cayman. The Cayman Trophy cars are theoretically slower than GT4s, but the 2024 Tourenwagen Junior Cup champion thrived in the wet.
The rain continued to be a factor in the 60-minute pitstop race, and Elite Motorsport saw no reason to change its form. Josh Rattican and McKenzy Cresswell won by over 25 seconds, capping off a magnificent start to Elite’s busy, multi-discipline 2025 schedule.
Alon Gabbay and Maximilian Schreyer took second place in their W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman, with the latter driver performing admirably in the tricky conditions during his first ever weekend of car racing. SR Motorsport’s Hartling and Förderer took third position. Tim Horrell and Nico Gründel won the PRO-AM class, and once again looked to be on pace with PRO cars throughout the race.
Round two: Additional entries add to the thrills at Portimao
In the second round of the 2025 GT4 Winter Series, the grid will be enriched by top teams including Lionspeed GP, FK Performance and Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport. Meanwhile, BWT Mucke Motorsport will expand its effort into the PRO class, entering a Mercedes AMG GT4 for Axel Bengtsson and Tobias Bille Clausen.
After making his racing debut at Portimao 12 months ago, Franz Linden of Speedworxx Automotive will once again enter the Cayman Trophy class alongside his driver coach Arne Hoffmeister.
